Chef Sohla El-Waylly reflects on her culinary journey starting in her mother's kitchen, blending global flavors with traditional dishes. She shares insights on resilience, creativity, and the importance of balance. Learn how to make her mother's flaky parathas and explore the power of food as a gesture of love and hope.
Sohla El-Waylly blends traditional recipes with fusion ingredients, showcasing her open-mindedness and creativity.
Sohla El-Waylly reflects on the challenges of pursuing a culinary career and advocating for equal pay for female chefs.
Deep dives
Sola L. Whaley's Culinary Journey
Sola L. Whaley, a chef, restaurateur, and TV personality, shares her culinary journey influenced by her Bangladeshi upbringing. Learning resourcefulness and resilience through her mother's cooking, she recalls fond memories of making parathas together every Sunday. Sola's approach to blending traditional recipes with fusion ingredients reflects her open-mindedness and creativity, shaping her career in the culinary world.
Challenges in Pursuing a Culinary Career
Sola reflects on the challenges and sacrifices of pursuing a culinary career, contrasting the demanding lifestyle of restaurant work with her current balanced routine. Despite familial expectations of traditional professions, Sola's dedication to cooking led to pivotal moments like representing female chefs and advocating for equal pay.
Family Influence and Life Lessons
The significance of family and kitchen traditions resonate in Sola's life lessons, emphasizing the inclusive nature of meals and the interconnectedness of food and relationships. Her mother's resilience and hospitality transcended the kitchen, instilling values of openness, creativity, and connecting through shared meals.
Cooking as an Expression of Love and Resilience
Cooking symbolizes love and hope in Sola's narrative, rooted in her mother's nurturing approach during challenging times. Food becomes a language of care and comfort, reflecting the resilience and strength found in preparing nourishing meals. The act of cooking extends beyond sustenance, embodying gestures of love and positivity.
Chef, restaurateur and online food person Sohla El-Waylly shares some of her impressive food wisdom with us, taking us back to where it all began – her mother’s kitchen in the diverse suburbs of Van Nuys, California. We hear about how she was shaped by her mother’s knack for fusion and experimentation and her aunt’s love for classic, American dishes. Plus, she walks us through how to make her mother’s deliciously flaky parathas.
Sohla El-Waylly is a chef and online food personality known for her appearances on shows like Netflix’s The Big Brunch, the New York Times’ Youtube channel and the Binging with Babish Youtube channel. Her book, Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook, is a New York Times BestSeller and a James Beard Foundation Book Award Nominee.