Lasheeda Perry is using her considerable culinary skills for good.
The “Queen of Flavor” and celebrity chef returned to Super Bowl week to participate in “The Taste of the NFL” on Feb. 10. The event also featured fellow chefs Carla Hall, Andrew Zimmern, Tim Love and Mark Bucher.
Before the event, Perry spoke to rolling out about the event’s good cause and her culinary career.
What is it like to take your talent for baking to the Super Bowl?
The Taste of the NFL, which is the Super Bowl’s largest philanthropic culinary event, is going to have tons of food, tons of alcohol, and NFL greats, but it’s all for an amazing cause. And that cause is to end student hunger. All of the proceeds from The Taste of the NFL go to the national, nonprofit GENYOUth.
Once again, their mission is to end student hunger [and] as a pastry chef, I am beyond honored to be one of the hosts of this event. We’re bringing the fun, food and football.
When was the first time you were conscious of childhood food insecurity?
At a very young age.
I grew up in Philadelphia in public high schools. Back then, I didn’t understand what I was seeing, but I was around students and kids who were experiencing that. And I’m very fortunate that wasn’t my case. But I do know, that the school meals I had were meals for me. I was able to go to school, get breakfast and perform because I had that breakfast. When kids are not eating, they start lacking academically, and the obesity rate can be higher. So I started to realize how important school meals are for children very quickly.
Why do we need to be mindful of hunger issues right here in the U.S.?
If you’re not helping your neighbor, how can you help someone else? You have to help those around you first, and then it’ll just become this domino effect. Once they get help, then that person would help the person next to them to help, and it’ll eventually get to those other areas of the world. But I think it’s very important to start with our communities first.
That’s why I love what GENYOUth does, because they’re able to focus on a national level due to the sponsors and the founding members that they have. So, I agree with you. We have to help our neighbors first, and then gradually take on the rest of the world.
What was one celebrity client interaction that stood out to you?
Sometimes, you’re just thrown in the mix.
For example, working at hotels, you never really know who the client is. One time, a colleague of mine asked if I could take a dessert to the table.
I do that for all of my guests because they’re all VIPs. We don’t want one guest to feel like they’re less important than another, but they didn’t tell me who this particular guest was. She’s a really big deal, like a billionaire big deal. And I’m like, “You’re just going to let me walk to this table and not tell me who I was serving?” In the professional realm, I couldn’t be like, “Oh my gosh! Agh!” It was more like, “Thank you so much, and I hope you enjoy the dessert.”
Was that celebrity Oprah?
I can’t say.
