grab on to, things that make them feel good. People just want that peace of comfort. They want that security. So a lot of us are moving towards that kind of comfort food model. Again, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s dumbed down or that it’s not as good you can make. Really, it’s creating food that people can have some sort of emotional connection to. There’re so many things happening in the world that are making people not happy. I think food is one of those things that everybody can hold on to, that everybody has a positive memory about. Wong : That is very inspiring. Recently, your knife roll was stolen and then they got returned. What is in there that would be your most prized possession? Sutherland : My grandfather recently passed away and he was really big on his knives and keeping them sharp. So when he passed, I got his knives handed down from him that I still use on a daily basis, especially his fillet knife. Then my grandmother’s brother was a chef in Japan. And when he sold his restaurant, he mailed me his knives. A couple of them were over a hundred and twenty years old, just irreplaceable, passed down from generations. So, it was a set of knives in there that no amount of money could have replaced. That’s pretty incredible to get those back. Wong : That’s nice to hear! In closing, any new things for you coming up? Sutherland : I got a few more restaurant projects on the way right now, nothing too much to talk about yet because they’re very much in developmental stages. Just excited to be back to work, have the restaurants back open, and trying to get through this year. Wong : Everyone can’t wait until 2020 is over. One way or the other. Sutherland : One way or another. We gotta get out of it.
when he turns on the TV or opens a magazine or goes into a restaurant, all he probably sees is old white guys. So, then as a kid, you’re like, ‘oh, that must be a job for them.’ That really inspired me just to constantly be out there and be an advocate for people that don’t have that. Wong : Going back to the food. You have a very interesting culinary background. Tell us a bit about that. Sutherland : I have a grandma from Japan and another grandma whose husband is from Mississippi and grew up in a lot of soul foods. Those two women are whom I hung out with in the kitchen. One was heavy soul food; one was heavy Japanese food. Wong : How do you work with these very different influences? Sutherland : I try to find a way to fuse those together sometimes, and sometimes I keep them completely separate. I love Southern food and soul food because it’s this food of struggle. It started with food that was gonna get thrown away that was given to slaves to figure out how to use. We make these collard greens that nobody wanted, turn them into something that tastes good. The scraps, different pieces of the pig, and all these undesirable foods, that was what those people were able to make very, very well. I’m always just experimenting and figuring out how to marry the two cultures. I’ve got Southern ramen on one of our menus where we take smoked ham hocks and make this really bourbon-y and smoky soulful ramen broth. Topping it with pickled collard greens and different Southern flavors on a traditional ramen. And the first thing when making those fusions is to find the similarities and then figure out how to mimic each other. It’s fun. Wong : Looking ahead, do you see any sort of change in trends? Sutherland : Right now, people are very desperately looking for things to
available and welcoming to them. It’s very difficult to walk into any situation and see nobody that looks like you and then want to spend all of your time there. Our work is where we spend, probably fifty-percent or more of our life outside of home. So, if you’re going to go into a situation where nobody shares the same experiences with you, nobody looks like you, and nobody relates to you, why would you want to go do that job? Wong : You volunteer for a lot in different organizations like the Boys and Girls Club. Is that something that’s important to you? Sutherland : Absolutely. Community activism and volunteer work is something that’s always been huge for me, especially when it comes to kids and underserved youth from communities of color that are underserved. I’ve been fairly blessed in my career and been afforded some
opportunities. I just want to make sure that everybody knows that they are welcome and has the ability to better their lives and to do things. I speak to a lot of kids in schools, especially with inner-city youth. I remember when I first started doing the speaking and I walked into the classrooms and did a cooking demo with fifth or sixth graders in the inner city. I had my chef coat on, I walked in the front of the classroom, and this little kid stands up and he’s like, “Are you a chef?” And I was like, “Yes. Yes, I am.” and he’s like, “No, you’re not, chefs are white.” The thing was, this kid doesn’t even think that he could be a chef. He doesn’t think that everything in the world is available to him, just because of the things he’s presented with on a daily basis. It’s not his fault that he doesn’t think that. It’s not his fault that he thinks all chefs are white. But
66
67
Powered by FlippingBook