A Chef Nourishes the Soul: Mothers of Invention

During her first year, Brydie sat in a play saucer in Zazu’s kitchen while her parents prepped for dinner. Once she was old enough to dislodge wine bottles from their shelves, Duskie stayed home with Brydie during the day and then went to work at 4:00 pm, the schedule she’s had ever since. A second daughter, MacKenzie, was born in 2003.

“I figure I see my kids more than many working moms,” she says, commenting that the time away from them is during dinner and sleeping. As Brydie enters school, however, it’s becoming harder to find time together.

When I ask how her daughters have inspired her cooking, she smart alecks, “Child labor.” The girls often help her pick berries and herbs on the family’s two-and-a-half acre farm or in the restaurant’s garden. While her older daughter is a gourmand who has eaten pig’s belly, truffles, and any stinky cheese put before her, little McKenzie can barely stand peanut butter. “Sometimes I try to invent things she’ll eat,” says Duskie, “but at the moment, she’s pretty obstinate.”

More important is the ethics she promotes to her daughters. “I want to raise children who are respectful of hard work and of where things come from. We walk the fields together and talk about our food. We don’t use high dollar, top trendy equipment in the kitchen. I want to care for people with my cooking; foams and tall foods aren’t about nourishing people.”

Duskie believes there are masculine and feminine forms of cooking. Although she’s always been drawn to the latter, being a mother has only heightened that instinct. When she recently took part in a macaroni and cheese competition, she made a silky variation, served inside of an artichoke with a spoon. “I like soft foods, round shapes, eating out of bowls,” she says.

As a kid, Duskie grew up painting and surrounded by art. She believes she found the most creative form of all in cooking. “It involves every sense. When I’m imagining a potential dish, I think of how to balance all the flavors. I think about how it will feel in your mouth—crunchy or soft. What are the colors and the shapes that will be on the plate? What about the smells and the temperature? There’s nothing with as many layers as cooking.”

As any artist knows, one has to recharge the senses in order to stay fresh.