FOOD IS a basic human need that affects physiological and emotional states, signifies comfort, and is an essential indicator of building increased intimacy, friendship, and love. Mental health experts have stated that the simple gesture of giving food to another person can be a form of appreciation, affection, and love, leaving a lasting impression on the recipient. It may seem simple, but sending someone food at the right time will make them feel appreciated and cared for.
Tullahoma native Sonja Brown knows all too well the benefits of bestowing something home-cooked to a most deserving recipient. She understands that it benefits both the recipient and the one who prepared it. Throughout her life, Brown has had the opportunity to be both and is taking the culinary gifts passed down to her and sharing them through her cooking.
Brown’s earliest memories are those of cooking alongside her mother.
“I loved the art of cooking before I could even reach the stove,” she laughed. “I remember begging my mom to please just let me peel potatoes. I think she saw that I had a love for wanting to help her. She eventually let me do more and more and taught me how to cook.”
She added that she has fond memories of her mother cooking.
“My earliest memories are of my mother cooking for me and my older brother and younger sister. She was amazing. She was a single mother and worked and made time to ensure we had three hot meals a day. You never caught us eating cereal. She took such great care of us.”
While Brown’s mother has passed, she said she is thankful for those memories of days in the kitchen, elbow-deep in flour, and making something that would brighten someone’s day.
“Cooking with my mom is where my love of cooking developed,” said Brown. “Just watching her and the joy that cooking for others brought her. It didn’t matter how little we had; she would somehow create these great spreads of food and share it with everyone — family, friends, and co-workers. She loved people through food.”
Brown added that along with her mother, she also has learned a love of cooking from her grandmothers and stepmother, who she lovingly refers to as her “bonus mother.”
“My grandmother was another big inspiration for me,” she said. “My mother worked the second shift so that we would stay with her. She was a great cook who I learned a lot from. She was famous for her dumplings. And my daddy’s mama was also phenomenal in the kitchen, along with my bonus mom, who I gained when my dad remarried. Everyone was always cooking, and I was there front and center to learn as much as possible.”
Brown said she is a through and through Southern cook thanks to her upbringing. Those Southern cooking roots have provided her with unique opportunities to share her culinary talents with others.
Brown is known amongst family and friends for cooking a large meal, making to-go plates, and showing up at their doors to deliver a warm meal to brighten their day. She also helps provide meals to those needing access to home-cooked food. Brown said she takes no credit for her act of kindness but is thankful to have an opportunity to show a little love to those in need.
She is also taking her love of cooking to the next level and is now cooking for the public at the newly opened Kountry Cafe in Tullahoma. Brown landed the job through word of mouth about her talent in the kitchen.
“My sister works at First Vision Bank, and I had taken lunch to her and her co-workers one day when I was off from work,” explained Brown. “The cafe owners had come into the bank to open a business account, and my friend, Kelly, who works at the bank, asked them who they had hired to cook for them. She then mentioned my name, and the next thing I knew, I was hired and cooking for the cafe.”
Brown said she enjoys working for the cafe, meeting new people, and showing her love through cooking.
Throughout her life, Brown said she has always found herself helping someone through a home-cooked meal. From a shut-in individual who doesn’t have access to hot meals, the family whose day is brightened by seeing Brown at their doorstep with a takeout box in hand, to her customers at the cafe who line up eager to see what she has ready for lunch, Brown’s mission is to bring joy through what she prepares.
“I want food I cook to make people happy,” she said. “I want them to come away from their meal feeling better and with a smile on their face.” GN
