Home Cooking for the World

Brenda Gantt comes full circle in kitchen after cooking video goes viral

BBrenda Gantt’s childhood love for cooking as her mother’s assistant led her to become an Internet sensation where she passes along stories steeped in tradition and kitchen skills to a very large audience.

Growing up in a family of cooks, her upbringing led to opportunity and stardom in the spring of 2020 when her Facebook video, intended to teach others how to make homemade biscuits, went viral. Since then, the Southern grandmother has accumulated 3.5 million followers and a perfect 5-star rating on her Cooking with Brenda Gantt Facebook page.

“I grew up cooking. I’ve never had any sort of culinary training. I grew up in the kitchen. My grandmothers on both sides of the family cooked huge country meals at noontime each day. The menfolk seemed to be always hungry after a long morning of working in the fields. They were ready for good food and a short nap before heading back to work.

I was usually attached to one of my grandmother’s hips, watching every move,” Gantt said.

Her grandmothers were not the only ones to inspire her in the kitchen.

“I’ve had other great teachers, too. George’s momma, Edra Gantt, was a fantastic cook. She was the one that taught me how to make jelly. One year, early on in our marriage, George and I made nearly a hundred pints of blackberry jelly, all from the recipe Edra taught me how to make. I guess we were excited that we had learned how to make jelly. Y’all, that was enough jelly to last us a lifetime. The kitchen lessons that Edra, my grandmothers, and others have taught me have lasted a whole lot longer than those jars of jellies lasted.”

Gantt remembers her mother as the one in the kitchen the most.

“She married Daddy when she was only 17, and she knew nothing about cooking whatsoever. Daddy’s mama, Bertha (my grandmother), and my Aunt Hattie Bee took Momma under their wings and taught her everything they knew. Then, she taught me, and Momma turned out to be a marvelous cook. Even in her last years - she died at age 85 - she would put on a spread of food fit for a king,” she said. She spent time with her mother in the kitchen as long as she could remember.

“Stirring a pot, breaking an egg, setting the table, and cleaning up messes, she always had something constructive in the kitchen for me to do. That’s how I learned to cook. That’s how I learned to make a biscuit. That’s what I try to get people to do. For all you mommas out there, don’t run your children out of the kitchen. Keep them under your wing while you cook. Let them mess up. Let them spill something. Let them break something. Soon enough, they will get it right more than they get it wrong. That’s how we all learn.”

Gantt recalled a story when she and George lived in their first apartment.

“It was a little two-story apartment at Abrams Court in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. There was a train track about 25 feet behind our apartment, and the whole building rumbled when the train came by. We had an aquarium for entertainment because we were too poor to have a television, and we had one of those little bitty refrigerators for our food. I remember I was so excited the first time I went to buy groceries. George was excited at the thought of a big mess of turnips, but, boy, would we both be surprised before the day was over. You know, I wasn’t always successful in the kitchen. In fact, I still mess up from time to time today. George would have certainly testified to that.”

She put the turnips in the pot and thought she had cooked them up nicely.

“The hot, crunchy cornbread was ready. George was smacking his lips awaiting his first bite of some good, fresh greens and corn bread. Oh, glory! George chomped on that first bite and had a mouthful of grit and sand. I had forgotten to wash the turnips. All we could do at that point was laugh. Life is too short to pitch a fit, so we ate cornbread and felt blessed to have that.”

Even with the opportunity to eat at nice restaurants and fine culinary establishments, Gantt still prefers a home-cooked meal.

“When we go out to eat, I still find myself thinking, ‘I’d rather be at someone’s table.’ Home-cooked meals taste better to me. Maybe the best ingredient for a meal is the heart that goes into it, and maybe that’s why home-cooked meals are so good to me. I also like the fellowship that comes from eating at home. My second cookbook, ‘Linger Around the Table, Y’all’ is all about the value that comes from family and friends breaking bread together. That’s why George and I loved to entertain and cook for other folks. It was as much about the fellowship as it was about the food,” she said.

She added that her father and George were both into grilling.

“My Daddy would grill big Boston butts and other meats. He loved that hickory-smoked flavor. He always grilled with real wood… never charcoal. George loved smoked meat, too and did most of the grilling in our home. I sometimes might could talk him into putting a few vegetables on, too.”

Gantt also prefers home-cooked meals and grilling over pre-made meals.

“I just don’t know what all they put into those ready-made meals. I don’t want ‘just add water’ meals either. I’m sure they are fine, but I like to pick my ingredients. That way, I know it’s going to be good, and it will be healthy. The trouble is, people are leaning more to those easy made meals because they are just that— easy. I’m trying to teach people that once you learn a few basic things about cooking, that cooking homemade meals is just as easy, too.”

One of her favorite summer activities is making homemade ice cream.

“One of my grandchildren’s favorite treats is homemade ice cream. I know when I am long gone, they will reminisce about ‘when Big Momma made us homemade ice cream.’ Your kids will, too, and it is so easy to make and is so much cheaper than store-bought ice cream. How do I know? I remember when I was in first grade, and we lived in Circlewood in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Every Saturday, every family on our street would go out to the end of their driveway with an old-fashioned ice cream freezer that had to be turned with a crank. Us children were in charge of ‘cranking.’ One of us would sit on a towel on the top of the freezer to hold it steady. Another child would turn the crank. We took turns crank- ing because we thought our arms might fall off, but our arms never got too tired to hold a coffee cup and a spoon. When all the freezers were ready, we would race up and down the street tasting all the different flavors: banana, strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, black walnut, and caramel. Heck, the adults went from freezer to freezer, too. They would sit in lawn chairs eating ice cream until night fell. Mosquitoes seemed to drive us all into our house until the next Saturday,” Gantt said.

Another one of Gantt’s summer memories is going to a location in Tuscaloosa she referred to as Queen City.

“They had a big pool and a picnic area with some tables. The area was fenced with some trees, and my mother would take my cousins and me there along with any friends from the neighborhood. She would fix us a big picnic with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and bologna sandwiches and chips. It was a lot of fun; in the summertime, it’s good to get out as much as possible eating ice cream or watermelon.”

After having a family of her own, she tried to continue the tradition her mother taught her.

“Because I was a teacher, I didn’t work during the summer, so I took my children to Point A when they were little. Just like my momma taught me, we packed a simple lunch and went swimming and played all day long until it was time to come back to start supper for when George got home. Now, my daughter, Hannah, does the same things with her kids. That family mealtime is just so important,” she said.

Although Gantt never planned for cooking to bring her fame, she embraces the stardom.

“This is a God thing. After George died, I prayed and prayed God would show me what my purpose was in his absence. I had always been a teacher, and I prayed often God would make a way for me to teach others in this season of my life. Then, someone asked me how to make biscuits, but I don’t think of myself as famous. I am just a teacher with a lot of students. I am happy to hug necks and say, ‘Hey, y’all’ to folks when I see them around town. At the end of the day, I am still just Brenda trying to figure out what God wants of me next.”

Originally from Tuscaloosa, she made her way to the southern part of the state and has called Andalusia home since 1975.

“George, my late husband, grew up in Andalusia. He was born in the old Andalusia Hospital. I first met George at college at what was then called Livingston State. I remember him with his Buffalo Sandals, Hawaiian shirt, and cutoff blue jeans. I knew from that moment he was going to be mine. He was as cute as a speckled puppy. He tried to kiss me on our first date, but I wouldn’t do it. He won me over, and meeting him was the best thing that ever happened in my life,” Gantt said.

The couple lived in Linden, Alabama, as newlyweds, but moved home to Andalusia 45 years ago in 1975.

“Our children, Dallas and Hannah, were babies at the time. They were raised right here in Andalusia. All the memories they hold so dear were made right here. All of our family memories are here. I taught school, and George worked with the ABC Board. Hannah was a cheerleader, and Dallas played football. Andalusia is a special place. There aren’t many communities (notice, I didn’t say towns… there aren’t many communities like Andalusia anymore. I say community because that is what we are. We are one big family and a community of people who look out after each other. Now, I get to show the world a little bit of what Andalusia looks like.”

When she is not in the kitchen, she attends Bethany Baptist Church and spends time gardening and collecting antiques.

“I’m a big plant person, and I like to be in the yard. I like how dirt smells, and I love to grow veg- etables and flowers. I love tending to the wildflowers with Hannah and Walt and their girls, and I still cut my own grass. I’m 76 years old, and I’ve always said, ‘If you want to die when you retire, just sit down and do nothing.’ Well, not me. George and I started the Cottle House Bed and Breakfast in 1996, and I still run it to this day. I even cook for my guests three times a week. I also spend a lot of time at or with church.

I go to line dancing classes, and we even have a few line dancing shows every once in a while, too. I do enjoy my grandchildren who have become my life,” Gantt said. Gantt was previously a teacher for 25 years, with 24 of those years in Andalusia.

“I am a science teacher. I taught at Andalusia Middle School, Church Street, and East Three Notch. I taught mostly fifth graders, and I loved those years I had a classroom with a handson science lab. I’ll never forget that time we caught a snake in the schoolyard and then put it in the terrarium. The kids loved it. Of course, it was a garter snake and wouldn’t hurt a fly, but I still didn’t tell anyone when I came in one morning a few weeks later and realized he had escaped. I still have students from years ago who stop me in the grocery store or the post office and remind me I was their teacher. It warms my heart to know they remember,” she said.

Gantt does not have a favorite celebrity chef and models her cooking after her mother.

“Somebody else is chopping up vegetables for most of those celebrity chefs. They tell other people to do all of the hands-on work, and the television studio decides what they are going to cook. I do my own thing, and I cook the things I like and don’t copy anybody. The only one I’d copy would be my mother who has passed on, so I guess if I had to pick the celebrity chef I like the most, it would be my Momma. My favorite chef is that young woman who doesn’t really know how to cook much, and she just spent a couple of hours learning and trying. She put a meal on the table for her husband and family. Maybe it’s not perfect, but I know it will be good. What makes her a celebrity to me is that she tried, she learned, and she made the meal with heart. She is my superstar whoever she is.”

Brenda and George were married for 50 years before he passed away in 2018 at the age of 72. They are the parents of Dallas (Anna) Gantt and Hannah (Walt) Merrell with five grandchildren: Isabella Gantt, William Gantt, Bay Merrell, Cape Merrell, and Banks Merrell.

For more information, visit her Facebook page at Cooking with Brenda Gantt. n