Interview with Sunny Anderson
of Food Networks' Cooking for Real
2009-10-22
By Courtney Nzeribe

Sunny,  tell us a Little about your background for those that don't know. 
I grew up as an Army Brat, moved around a lot. I joined the Air Force a Military Broadcaster for 4 years in Korea and elsewhere. Moved to New Orleans and started in radio while attending Loyola. I wnet on to Montgomery andDetroit and finally ended up in NYC at Hot 97.

I started cooking and that turned into more and more requests for food. I  started charging and then catering.

Do you miss radio? 
I miss the immediacy of radio. I miss having an idea or reading the paper and talking about it that day or the next. I miss talking to the listeners.

How did you make that segue from radio into Food Television? 
Emeril Lagasse was a listener, and I was talking about food on my show, he suggested I come onto his show. After I came on I was like. «WOW» after that one show! My mind was blown. I was experiencing something I thought I would never experience. It felt right, something I wanted to do more of. It’s sharing. Cooking on Food Network is sharing your thoughts, your stories, your kitchen, and your recipes. It’s all the same thing, like radio where you share your thoughts and music.

How - what  - do you cook at home after a  busy day at Food Network and as spokesperson for sponsors? Do you cook at all?
I cook all the time! I have to cook. I get my recipes from my experiences in travel, eating and bringing it back home. Every time I cook, I am thinking of the show, writing it down. When I started, I had 100 recipes under my belt. I used up most in the first season, and they wanted 13 more episodes or specials,  which need 3-4 recipes per show.

Where do you get your inspiration? 
Eating out, traveling, reading books, sometimes  daydreaming about food. I think like how an artist would sit and paint a picture, I think what would taste good, look good. I'm hungry all the time, so it's not really hard.

Where have been some of your favorite places to travel? 
I love Puerto Rico, just came back. My first time! The food was great there. It’s all about the pig there. Pig on a spit.That was great. I grew up in Germany and love that food. Authentic Mexican… Korean food  is good. Hard for me to say. I love food. I will eat anything. As long as its not an animal on an endangered list or cruel and unusual punishment for the animal.

Who are some of your food mentors? People who have influenced you with your  food? 
Definitely my parents. My mother and father  were really into cooking. They were foodies before foodies were cool. My Mom never repeated meals in the kitchen. My grandmother is the cake lady at  church. People buy them.  I have the cake gene. I really feel there is a cake gene. I made my grandmothers Bundt cake for the show colleagues  made it over and over again and it didn't turn out, I said you know its my cake gene...

Are you more of a cook or baker? 
I would say equal parts. Love both. Baking  is more methodical, exact and you can get in your Zen mode.

Any book plans? 
I do have a cookbook in the plans. Haven't figured out a title but \t's on the way. I come from a journalistic background I always wanted to be published. I didn't know how it would work out, but now I know how. It's one of the things I can check off my list. I'm having fun.

I was reading about the culinary empire chefs are developing -- the licensing deals, restaurants.

What does your empire look like so far? 
No, no plans for licensees or lending my name out.   I'm working  now with Viva Paper Towels. It' s a really great product I believe in. Its a towel I used prior to them approaching me. We are trying to get people to think of paper towels as more than just  that. They are really cloth like. As far as plans it's just the book. I didn't know how. I always was thinking how was I going get my goal, a book.

Maybe you should write a book on how to get on the Food Network. It seems so many people want to cook on TV. 
I always tell people don't try to get on TV. If that's your goal, work towards it but  I wasn't trying to get on TV when I was cooking for my friends and catering at a nightclub. I was just happy to feed people and doing what I love.  When you do what you love sometimes the next step may be  television, but sometimes the next step is opening a culinary school , or teaching , traveling. There are so many ways to end up successful. Sometimes putting an end to your success is almost like giving your self an end. 

Any advice to young people about Culinary School? Would you advise it? 
YES! Even if I didn't go to culinary school per se, I have school of life credit. Many people don't have a chance to see where and how bratwurst is made, but I got that in Germany. Culinary School will offer many opportunities. At Food Network it's not who you just see on TV, but those behind the scenes who have Culinary School backgrounds - styling, development, testing, writing. So many career builds. Any good Culinary School will have an excellent management program as well. I think it's great more people are seeing themselves successful on Food Network, seeing people that have similar stories to themselves,  that awakens a part in them to give this a try. This  is what motivated me.

Some of fellow Twitter friends want to know where you get your clothes. They love your style. 
Really!? Am I that stylish? I'm learning. I'm a regular sized woman 12-14. I like Lucky Brand hoodies, tops. Jeans from Joe's Jeans go up to 33 which is about 12/14. Nordstrom .com. I love online shopping. Dianne Von Furstenburg is really good with  larger sized woman.

Any holiday tips? 
Brine.

Wet Brine or dry brine? 
Wet.
 
Click HERE for some of Sunny's Favorite Recipes