Chef G. Garvin is heating up the kitchen once again. Widely known for his television series, “Turn Up the Heat with G. Garvin,” now in its seventh season, Garvin talked about his cookbook with Coca-Cola during an intimate brunch with Coke representatives at the 2011 Essence Music Festival.
Who knew that the refreshing Cola brand had a cookbook? Garvin has been partnered with Coca-Cola for over a year now and participated in a coffee table book with them for their 2011 Black History Month project called Celebrate the Taste of Black History. Inside the book, Garvin provides 12 recipes that generally tend to be favorites at African American dinner tables, whether for celebratory occasions or for no particular event at all. The delicious recipes include banana pudding, Southern-style collard greens, succulent shrimp, succotash with fried okra and baked catfish. Also paired with these recipes are inspirational poems throughout in support of Black History Month.
Those who attended this year’s Essence Festival also got to enjoy a cooking demonstration by Garvin at the Coca-Cola booth. “I take the food we are used to eating and teach you to cook it in a more healthy way,” says Garvin.
One of Garvin’s current featured recipes includes a bay shrimp salad, a light meal to enjoy on a nice summer evening. The salad includes a mixture of succulent bay shrimp, cilantro, red and yellow peppers, dijon mustard and much more. For the simple cooking instructions on how to prepare the meal as well as the ingredients needed, you can visit Garvin’s website at www.chefgarvin.com .
What’s up next for Garvin? A viewing party in August in Atlanta for his new show, “Georgia Road Tour with G. Garvin” with the Scripps Network. Garvin’s mission is to help aid in breaking down the diversity barriers within the cooking industry and in society as a whole, where chefs of color are often categorized more often by race than profession. –mckenzie harris
