Jada Pinkett Smith, her daughter Willow and mother, Adrienne Banfield-Jones, affectionately known as Gammy brought talented home-cooks to Red Table Talk to share holiday traditions and intimate conversation.
Among the guests included Will Smith‘s ex-wife Sheree Zampino who shared she did not start eating fresh vegetables until adulthood.
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“My mom [was a] single mom raising two kids. She’d get home – she’s working, [a] working mom – so she’d get home at about seven o’clock and we’d be home at three. That’s a big gap! So I cooked out of the necessity to not starve to death, you know what I mean? So I cooked for my brother,” Zampino remarked. She also revealed she was around 9-years-old when this began.
As members of a blended family, Pinkett Smith and Zampino recalled Thanksgiving celebrations of the past.
“Now Ree, let me ask you a question. What would be some of your tips for bonus families that are getting together and it’s potluck? Because one of the things that you and I would do if we were doing like a potluck,” the actress asked.
“I would do all the cooking,” Zampino responded.
“You would do all the cooking! First of all, you would do all the cooking, but sometimes I’d bring a dessert. Remember when I was baking?” said Pinkett Smith.
Yes I do. That’s one of my fondest memories of you by the way,” her special guest remembered
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41-year-old internet sensation and vegan influencer Tabitha Brown also brought her talents to the Red Table for the holiday episode. She shared the recipe for Tabitha’s Jackfruit Pot Roast for viewers looking to try meat-free options this holiday season or, on future occasions.
“I never thought I’d be viral anything or vegan! I had been sick for a year and a half… My body started to attack itself, and I would go to the doctor every week, every month, [to get] MRIs [and] bloodwork, and everything would come back normal…I literally thought I was gonna die. I grew up in the church. I prided myself on being a woman of faith, but my faith had got completely wavered and shaken…I had what I call ‘my coming to Jesus moment’ in the bathroom one day,” Brown reflected.
“I was really in search of seeing my soul and they say the only way you can see that is through your eyes. So I got in the mirror…I sat in the mirror and I really cried out to Him and I said, ‘God this is my final call but i’m asking you, if you heal me, you can have me.’ I had lost my way…but that day I was like ‘I’m going to pull from wherever I can and this is gonna be it,'” continued Brown
theGrio reported Brown hosts her own show on the Ellen DeGeneres network, Ellen Digital Ventures. The series, All Love, is a web show that features Brown giving advice on cooking, parenting, social media, and self-care.
The women also invited social media influencer Joshua Nishi, who makes step-by-step cooking videos on his social media accounts @NishCooks. He echoed both Brown and Zampino’s sentiments about why they started cooking.
“My dad, he would leave [for] work early in the morning. Me and my brother would get to school at 5:30 in the morning, like pitch black. And then my dad would get home at like 10 and cook for us, so I noticed that he was working hard for us. I was like, ‘I could help out a little bit if I just get in the kitchen and cook something, just make some mac and cheese or something for dinner,’ and that’s not the only reason why I started cooking,” he remarked.
Nishi continued, “I was, lowkey, I was fat. I was kind of down about myself and I would do research [about] how to lose weight as a fifth, sixth, seventh-grader. It’s all about the food that you eat, so I can make that difference if I just cook.”
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