CHICAGO | A delectable afternoon was had at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts where chef, restaurateur and internet cooking sensation, Sohla El-Waylly presented her debut cookbook “Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook,” at the Chicago Humanities Festival.
Over the years I have seen the evolution of Waylly. I first remember watching her early internet days of short snippets on the Bon Appetit YouTube channel and her Harper’s Bazaar “What I Eat in a Day.” Since then, she has been featured in the New York Times and has her own TV shows on the History Channel and HBO Max. It is incredible to see her get the recognition that she deserves.
Before the presentation, I talked with a fellow audience member and asked why she loves Waylly. She said that she started watching Sohla on Bon Appetit during the pandemic and fell in love with her personality. She was so fresh and lacked any fake niceness, and especially loved both of Sohla’s dogs, who she features in a lot of her social media content. She also mentioned how Sohla was very approachable, which I came to learn as the lights dimmed and the presentation began.
Sohla was interviewed by Sara Faddah and Dario Durham, hosts of “77 Flavors of Chicago,” a podcast following their journey of going to all 77 of Chicago’s historic community areas to learn about their heritage and sample their cuisine. When Dario first asked how she was doing, she responded that she had not slept in a while because she and her husband and chef, Ham El-Waylly had become parents just nine short weeks ago.
Throughout Waylly’s talk, I came to understand how much she prioritized accessibility and wanting to give everyone a seat at her table. She mentioned how it wasn’t the coolest looking book in town but wanted it to be easy to read and learn from it. She said she “made the book I wish I had when I started.”
Waylly formatted the book where each chapter focused on a certain technique and each new skill builds upon the last one; making the kitchen more of a comfortable place and less of a place where you constantly fear setting off the smoke detector. Some recipes even have a “What the Hell Happened” section, where Sohla tells you common mistakes that can happen when cooking something more advanced.
Sohla went on to talk about more about how it took a year and a half to write the outline of her book, how the editors had to design every single page (the book is nearly 600 pages) and her 5 kitchen essentials: a “big, good thick cutting board,” the biggest bowl you can find, chef knife, rubber spatula and tweezer tongs.
However, an extremely compelling point that she made was about attending culinary school. Waylly attended the Culinary Institute of America but did not enjoy it and found herself learning far more while working at restaurants. Her goal became to work at places that held highly coveted Michelin stars but after letting go of this goal, she found herself having more fun and freedom. The journey directly upward was making her miserable, so she zigzagged. She also mentioned how she did not get out of her schooling debt “until she became famous” and said that fame should not equate to getting out of debt; a statement that elicited a large applause from the audience.
Furthermore, Sohla shared an extremely detailed step by step method of how she makes the perfect popcorn which I will graciously share:
- Use a Whirly pop (very important) pop kernels in clarified butter (about half a cup clarified butter to 1/3 cup kernels) for optimal butter-iness and to prevent sogginess after the kernels have been popped
- Choose your seasonings, whatever your heart desires
- Get 2 large bowls and mix the hot popcorn and seasoning between these two bowls to coat the kernels AND release steam to prevent sogginess and ensure maximum crispiness
- Revel in the beautiful thing you have created
Sohla’s priority to include people from all culinary backgrounds while curating her cookbook and journey in the food industry left us all inspired and hungry for her future endeavors and projects.