“I was raised on the Mississippi Gulf Coast then moved to Mobile and became an accountant. My mom died from a heart attack when she was 44. I moved in with my dad and drove back and forth every day from Mobile to Biloxi to help him navigate. I didn’t know how to cook, but I wanted my dad to have nutritious meals. There were a lot of failed recipes and calls to my aunts.

Dad became a great cook and finally didn’t need me to feed him anymore, but food had become our bond. We shared recipes and had gumbo competitions at Christmas. I lost my dad a few years ago to multiple myeloma cancer. I also got a divorce and was a single mom on a budget for the first time in my life. My daughter was four, and we prepared Sunday dinners together. It was more fun for me to watch her and cook with her.

As we looked for summer camps to keep her busy in the summer, she wanted a cooking camp. There was nothing around here, so I took a week off and held a cooking camp. That was in 2014, and Alec Naman loaned me some things we needed. Word spread among the moms about the camp, so we expanded it the next summer.

I was approached by Pratt Paterson, the executive director of Wilmer Hall, to teach cooking and nutrition classes and to their kids. Since 1864, Wilmer Hall in Mobile has served young people in need and provided a safe home for them.

I started working with underserved youth and teaching food literacy. As kids learned to trust me and began cooking, they loved class. I once had them make salmon cakes with roasted carrots. They smelled the salmon out of the can and protested. I told them if they liked crab cakes, they would love this. They fussed the whole time and said they weren’t eating it, but all I ask is if you put the work into cooking something, just try it. That was one of their favorite things that we’ve made.

I make the macaroni and cheese for Thanksgiving every year. The big joke in my family is that my daughter, who is now 17, didn’t know for years that I hid cauliflower in it. I’m the master in hiding vegetables. You can hide spinach in spaghetti by blending it in without changing the flavor or the texture.

Most of these kids I work with are latchkey kids and who fend for themselves. I teach them easy, healthy meals they can prepare when they are alone at home instead of a box of macaroni and cheese. There is a home at Wilmer Hall for single mothers, and I teach them how to cook healthy meals that are cheaper than McDonald’s. They are now on the bandwagon for hiding vegetables. One of my students from Wilmer Hall went through an apprenticeship with Airbus and just got an amazing job. He proudly told me that he started his job and takes his lunch to work every day to save money and eat healthier.

Working with these kids inspired me to teach more classes. We became a nonprofit called The Cookery Project and work with Mobile County DHR, the foster care program, and Girl Scouts of South Alabama. One of my best friends said, ‘Karrie, your second baby has been waiting to be picked up and loved forever.’ She was right. It was time to leave accounting and work for The Cookery Project full time.

Word has gotten out. Mobile Parks and Recreation has seven empty kitchens and asked us to do the classes around the city. Feeding the Gulf Coast has 2,000 kids they want to have programs for after school. I can’t say no to anybody.

In 2022, The Historic Avenue Foundation is focusing on healthy children, and we’re going to be working with the kids at Florence Howard Elementary School and the Boys and Girls Club. We are trying to get a catering trailer to go to schools and cook on site. We do everything out of Wilmer Hall, but I would love to have my own location. I can’t raise enough money fast enough to reach the kids we need to reach. On January 8, we’re having our inaugural Kid Chefs Best on the Bay at the Exploreum. We will pair four chefs with four kids for a mystery basket-style cooking exposition.

It’s hard running a nonprofit, but it’s the best job I’ve ever had besides being a mom. There were times I worried about sustainability. I’d worked 40 hours, and then on the weekends I’d prepare for classes.

In 2020 there were no camps or birthday parties and the grants shifted to pandemic-related efforts. We lost the majority of our funding. That’s when Chefie Kit, a meal prep kit for kids, was born. All proceeds from Chefie go to The Cookery Project.

We have hundreds of child-proven recipes from years of doing camps, so the Chefie Kit idea seemed like it was given to us. We launched in August and our first boxes went out in October. It’s like Hello Fresh or Blue Apron for kids. Each box has a recipe card and ingredients for a meal, a kitchen tool needed for the recipe, and a dessert recipe card. We throw in a healthy spin and encourage them to try different things.

I promised my mama I would get my master’s degree. It took a while, but I got my MBA two years ago. My daughter was in her 8th-grade year and made a couple of Cs. She was very smart and not trying. Her dad and I sacrifice a lot for her to go to that school, and she was throwing it away. I wanted to challenge her so she could see me work 40 hours a week, run a non-profit and, and get my masters degree. I got straight A’s my first semester and she started working harder and matching me to show she could do the same thing. She has excelled.

These kids I teach have taught me to be thankful for what I have. Christmas break and summer vacation is a time of hunger for a lot of them. The most important thing we do is to gain their trust so they can open up and grow. One of the biggest rewards is when a kid tells me he or she wants to be a chef. I care for all of these kids and want to teach them better eating habits that will bring real change for the rest of their lives.”
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The Our Southern Souls book. It’s now available for presale and makes a great Christmas gift. Shipping is free for presales through December 11. Order here: https://bookstore.dmclients.com/our-southern-souls/

I will be signing the book on Friday, December 10 at LODA Artwalk at the Mobile Arts Council Gallery on Joachim Street and on Saturday, December 11 at Page and Palette in Fairhope.