Maybe It’s Not a Philly Cheesesteak
Bitefully
Chef Chris Scott joins Chef Claudia Sandoval to discuss his unique culinary heritage, which blends Black Southern traditions with Pennsylvania
Key takeaways
- Chris Scott explores the intersection of Black Southern and Amish culinary traditions, specifically highlighting dishes like scrapple and chow chow.
- His new short film, 'What's Left', focuses on the marginalized stories of kitchen staff, such as dishwashers and servers.
Main topics
- Culinary Heritage
- Food Memories
Notable quotes
The perfect meal sometimes takes a lifetime.
Conclusion
A poignant exploration of how food serves as a vessel for identity, re
Transcript preview
Speaker 2 (0:00) Welcome back to Bitefully. I'm Chef Claudia Sandoval. Every single person that comes to the table has what I call a food memory archive. Those food memories are the ones that connect us to who we are, our culture, our history, our legacy. So welcome to Bitefully. You're at the table with us. Speaker 2 (0:34) Today's guest is Chef Chris Scott. He is a chef, a filmmaker, an author, a storyteller whose work explores food, culture, identity, and history. He is a Top Chef finalist, a James Beard Award-nominated author, for a book called Homage, Recipes and Stories from an Amish Soul Food Kitchen. Chris traces his own story. and family history to the intersection of Black Southern cooking and the Amish foodways. His storytelling now extends to his newest film called What's Left, which continues his work of continuing to tell these stories and give visibility to stories of people that are often overlooked. Speaker 1 (1:17) Welcome to Bitefully, Chris. Thank you. Thank you. Absolutely wonderful to be here. Haven't seen you in a minute. Speaker 2 (1:25) Chris. Every time that we come to the table here on Bitefully, we do what we call the food memory. So indulge me, close your eyes. I want you to take me back. I don't know if it's Philly. I don't know if it's New York, but think about one of your first food memories. Where are you? Who's there? Who's around you? Is there noise? Is it quiet? What are you eating? And more importantly, what is the food memory? Speaker 1 (1:59) There are so many. The one thing that I always talk about with young cooks in my kitchen is that I'm envious of them just for that. Because although we've worked with different products since forever, there's nothing like that first time. The first time that you have sea urchin, the first time that you have white peach, the first time that you have kumquat. You know, like being that young cook in the kitchen and you're holding this thing in your hand, like, what is this? And then the chef is just like, try it. And then you eat it and there's like a flavor explosion. But more than that, it almost becomes like a body memory that's forming right then and there. Isn't it wild? It is wild. Now, I've been cooking professionally. hold onto your hats for almost 40 years now. Although those kumquats and the sea urchin and all that is still wonderful, there's nothing like your first time. Speaker 2 (3:03) So what is that for you? Speaker 1 (3:06) I remember there was a penny candy store down the block from where I lived in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, right in the middle of Lancaster County and Philly. And they had all the usual suspects. They had like the Mary Janes, a bit of honey, you know, the little jawbreakers. But they had great Swedish fish. Not purple. Grape. Grape? Sweet? That's a thing? It used to be because I've been trying to find this because I talk about it with my kids all the time. And they're like, all right, well, put it in front of me. Like, well, I can't find it. But the flavor of that, it's almost like this conquered grape kind of sensation. Speaker 2 (3:51) Yeah. Speaker 1 (3:52) But in the form of a Swedish fish. Now they have purple ones that taste like purple. But back in the day, they had like this concrete grape kind of feel to it. And when I would eat those, I'm riding my bike. You know, I got dirty hands from playing football or basketball. You know, I'm sitting on the basketball court or on the football field or walking to or from track practice, you know, as a young version of who I am. But the candies back then were... Like, I always have a sweet tooth. Sweet tooth. Like, I'm the type of guy that will have dessert first and last. Speaker 2 (4:33) Really? So you're the one that orders dessert before you've even ordered dinner? Speaker 1 (4:36) For sure. Speaker 2 (4:37) I love that. I would have never guessed that about you. Oh, Speaker 1 (4:40) my Speaker 2 (4:40) God. Speaker 1 (4:40) I got a sweet tooth like it's going out of style. Speaker 2 (4:50) I'm going to go on this like rampage search to try to get you and if not like make them myself. You know Speaker 1 (4:57) what I mean? That's the move. I Speaker 2 (5:00) feel like that would be like the perfect Christmas present for you, Mr. Chris Scott. Wow. Speaker 1 (5:07) Wow. Wow. That would be great. I Speaker 2 (5:09) have to admit, I have a fascination with, do you remember there used to be like these like bags of Big League Chew that were grape flavor? My mouth is watering. Speaker 1 (5:19) Oh, yes. Those are like my favorite. Speaker 2 (5:22) But you're going to laugh. When I was finally like old enough to buy my own, there was a little kind of like liquor store, mercado, bodega, whatever, right down the street from my house. And it's called Big Ben Market. And I would like go there and they would always have them. And then one day I was older and I found them and I was like, what? Because my mom would obviously, you know, be a mom. she would like limit the amount that I could put in my mouth. Well, I like literally had always craved like dropping the whole thing of like big league chew in my mouth and just having like this drink. Speaker 1 (5:53) My Speaker 2 (5:53) mouth is watering remembering that moment because my favorite flavor is grape Kool-Aid, right? Like I love, love grape flavor. It's like one of my favorite things. So I kind of love that we have this love for the Concord grape. Speaker 1 (6:09) It's funny that your mother would monitor. How much candy you could eat. See, mine was the same way. So I would hide the candy in my pillowcase. Stop. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. Because even if I didn't make my bed and she would come in my room like, oh, he didn't make his bed again. And she did it. She would never find the candy. Speaker 2 (6:30) Oh, you're so smart. I was never that smart. My mom knew for sure, though, that I was like, she was like, if I don't limit this girl, she's going to go full excess. My mom would always say, like, I know my monkeys, you know? She's like, I know my kids. Like, I know my babies. And she definitely did. Like, I would have, I mean, you saw. I mean, I had zero control. I was like, the whole bag. I need the whole bag. Speaker 2 (7:07) One of my favorite things about you, Chris, is that you Speaker 1 (7:09) are Speaker 2 (7:09) a person that has really created a career in being a storyteller. I'm starting to create kind of this collection of friends that I invite to this podcast that are doing similar to what I'm doing here with this podcast, right? Is really being able to share stories and dig in deep to some of the things that people aren't necessarily talking about all the time. And one of the things that I really... found fascinating about you through your James Beard nominated cookbook, Homage. Your book is literally at the intersection of Amish and Black soul food cooking. Can you explain that for someone like me who's from the West Coast, Mexicana, doesn't get it? You know, there are no Amish people in San Diego, right? So talk to me, explain that to me. Speaker 1 (7:56) So let me first preface it by saying that Amish soul food was a catchphrase that was made by the producers at Top Chef back in the day. As you know, during TV, producers will come up with a bunch of shit that sells the tickets. You know what I mean? So they're like, so where are you from? Oh, like the Amish country? Oh, and you do soul food? Oh, how about we call it Amish soul food? Like, yeah, man, whatever. You're like, sure. Let's just cook. Yeah. You know, but. That intersection is very real. My ancestors originally from Virginia. Speaker 2 (8:36) Okay. Speaker 1 (8:37) And after emancipation, they moved up into Coatesville, right outside of Philly, where a lot of the German, the Dutch, and the Amish lived. So here you are bringing this food culture, you know, this Southern food culture into this area of Pennsylvania. And throughout the years, they sort of intermingled, at least in my house. So by the time that I was born, this was the food that I know. Just like here in Brooklyn, in Sunset Park, you have the Chinese and the Latinos. Speaker 2 (9:14) Now Speaker 1 (9:14) you have Chino Latino. Chino Latino people, Chino Latino food, Chino Latino music, Chino Latino art. Yeah, Speaker 2 (9:24) 1,000%. Speaker 1 (9:25) You know, so the culture comes together and it did the same way with the intersection of Black Southern food and the Amish. Give Speaker 2 (9:36) us an example of what that would look like. Speaker 1 (9:38) So German food, as you know, has like a lot of the sweet and sour. Okay, yes, yes. In Amish cooking, there's Speaker 2 (9:44) a Speaker 1 (9:44) thing called chow chow. Sort of like a piccadilly or piccadilly, you know, in the Haitian community. It's a vegetable that is both sweet and sour. In Pennsylvania Dutch, they do it with like stewed tomatoes. They do it with beans. Corn chow chow is a huge one. And with that, you can put it with all your meats, all your fish, or whatever it is that you're eating. In the book, I do one with okra. I do one with like sorghum and stewed tomatoes. So there's a wide range of different things that you can do from a chow chow. Another thing is that we... Don't get rid of anything. Scrapple, for example. Scrapple is