[ Music ]
>> Sponsored by the
James Madison Council.
>> Jummy Olabanji:
Good evening everyone.
Welcome to the 2021 Library of
Congress National Book Festival.
My name is Jummy Olabanji.
I'm an anchor with NBC4 in
Washington D.C. Thanks so much
for being with us this evening.
And I am just thrilled
to be joined
for this awesome conversation
by Rodney Scott and
Trisha Yearwood.
They're here to talk about
their brand new books.
We have Rodney's book.
I have it right here,
World of BBQ.
Every Day is a Good Day.
And Trisha's Easy Comfort
Food Family and Friends.
Thank you both for
being with us.
I know we've got a lot of people
watching and a short amount
of time, so I want to get
right into the questions.
And the first one will
be for you, Trisha.
So this year's festival theme
is open a book, open the world.
And I know this is your fourth
book that is going to be coming
out in just a few days.
So talk to us about
what this means for you,
and how do books open
the world for you?
>> Trisha Yearwood: Well,
I'm a big reader anyway.
I mean Garth says, my
husband says I eat books
because I'm always
reading about something.
And I like [inaudible]
kind of book.
And I don't want to just like
start being fan girl to Rodney,
but just skimming through
his book I can't wait to sit
down with a cup of coffee, a pot
of coffee, and read this book.
Because it's not
just about the food
and the recipes and
the ingredients.
It's about the why.
Why is this important
and why is this special?
And it connects us all.
You know, we need things
that bring us together
and show what we have in common,
and food is one of those things
that we all share, we
all have in common.
>> Jummy Olabanji: And Rodney,
I know this is your first book.
So how do you hope that this
book opens the world for you?
>> Rodney Scott: Wow, I have to
agree with you, Trisha, that,
you know, food is one of
the universal languages.
And hopefully that this book can
help bring the world together
and help people connect
and enjoy each other
and enjoy making food
together, creating memories.
>> Jummy Olabanji: So Trisha,
I know you start this book off,
and you talk about the
pandemic and what that was
like for you and your family.
When it comes to food and this
cookbook, what did you learn
through the pandemic and
what that meant for you
and your family and this
comfort level with food?
>> Trisha Yearwood: You know, it
was kind of a reminder for me.
I grew up in a really
small town in Georgia.
We didn't have any
restaurants, you know,
and my mom was a
really good cook.
We had a garden.
We killed our own beef and hogs.
And so we pretty much
ate around the table just
as a family every night.
And you know, as an adult and
moving to Nashville and being
in the music industry, I
feel like we all move away,
everybody gets crazy,
everybody travels.
And as hard as this last year
and a half year have been
in so many ways, one of the
good things that came out of it
for me was a reminder of
that family around the table.
And it doesn't need to
be, you don't need to be
out jet-setting all the time.
And really sitting
around that table, that's,
for me and my family, it was
making the food together,
laughing through that,
learning through that.
And we would always sit
around the table long
after the meal was over and
talk until we got hungry again
and maybe someone
would pick at something
that was still on the table.
So it was a reminder of kind
of what's really important.
And it seemed to always center
around the table at my house.
>> Jummy Olabanji: And you also
mention in your book, Trisha,
that cooking is about love.
And I fell like that quote
kind of stuck with me.
Can you kind of deep dive
into that and what you mean
by cooking is love to you?
>> Trisha Yearwood: Well,
I love to cook for people.
I love to, and I'm a home
cook like my mom and dad.
And so I know what I know.
And I always just, I
love to cook for people.
It brings me joy, the
process of cooking the meal
and sharing it with people.
And so and I really feel
like if you really love that
and you love the people
you're cooking for,
I think it makes the
food taste better.
I just do.
And so I think it's a huge part
of preparing food and sharing it
with friends and family.
>> Jummy Olabanji: Rodney,
I want to bring you back
into the conversation.
What I found really
interesting about your book,
I thought cookbook, okay.
Awesome pictures.
And as I'm reading it, the first
several dozen pages read more
like a memoir and
telling your story.
Why did you want to set the
book up like that as opposed
to just opening it up and seeing
the first recipe right away?
>> Rodney Scott: You know,
when we were doing the book,
the first thing we talked
about is the recipes,
then how it started, where it
came from, who gave us the idea.
And in all that discussion, I
was sitting on my back porch
in the middle of the
pandemic, and I said,
let me tell you how
this recipe came about.
Let me tell you where
it started, how the idea
of this recipe came about.
And all of it just started
with me telling more
of what was going on around
me when I found a recipe.
And before you know it,
me and my coauthor, Lolis,
we just said let's tell a
little bit about Rodney.
And I wanted to share Rodney's
world in the recipes as well.
>> Jummy Olabanji: One of the
things I found very interesting
in your story was you
cooked your first whole hog,
which I've never done before,
but I have to imagine it's not
that easy, but you
cooked your first one
when you were just 11 years old.
I mean how have you, obviously,
you've grown up since then.
But what have you
learned since then
and cooking that first full hog?
>> Rodney Scott.
Wow, cooking that first hog at
11, first of all, was a chore.
You know, growing up in
small towns you have chores
and you have duties.
And one of them that day
was to help cook the hog.
And in doing that,
I've learned now
that that was an
early preparation
on doing everything
that I do now.
I apply, that particular day
I remember it so clearly,
to everything that I do
now, dedication, focus,
paying attention to
everything that I do.
How it's done, the
process of the cooking.
And all of the conversation
and learning
around cooking that hog.
Because it's a 12-hour process.
>> Jummy Olabanji: I know
that it can't be real,
as fast as cooking bacon,
which is about the only
thing that I can do.
So Trisha, I want to talk
to you some more now.
I mean when you think about this
fourth book, how did you want it
to be different from
the previous three?
And how was the process
different for you
when putting this together?
Especially with this, you know,
pandemic all around all of us
and the way we're eating
and the way we're cooking
and consuming food
is a lot different.
>> Trisha Yearwood: Well I
wrote my first book with my mom
and my sister right after
my dad had passed away.
My dad was the barbecue guy.
Like my dad would be
loving this conversation
and would love this
book of Rodney's
because this was his thing.
Like he was so good at this,
and he would cook
for the whole town.
And when he was gone, it was
for us, it was a way to kind
of keep him alive and keep his
memory alive with his cooking.
And it was really
just those things
that either weren't written
down or were not that hard,
but if you don't know how to
do them, you don't know how.
Like my mama, we were
doing the fried chicken,
and she was like you cook
it until it sounds right.
And I said Mom, we have to
tell people like how long
to cook the chicken
before you flip it over.
And she's like when it gets
quiet, when it's ready to flip.
And you cook chicken
enough you understand that.
You learn that.
And then, you know, I never
dreamed we would write more
than one book, and never
dreamed I'd have a cooking show.
It's come out of
something I really enjoy.
This book felt a lot like
the first one for me,
even though we've
already shown you how
to make Mama's fried chicken.
And we've already shown you
how to make collard greens.
I took some of those things and
kind of showed how I do them now
and how they've morphed
into other recipes.
And you always seem
to find a recipe
that you thought was lost.
I found a recipe for fried pies.
I see you've got
one too, Rodney.
That my grandma used
to make for my dad.
And we didn't know
where the recipe was.
And it's not that hard,
but he was adamant
that this wasn't
the right recipe.
And we found it in her
handwriting for this book.
So you're always kind of,
it's always reliving
those family stories
and finding those recipes.
And this one just felt really
special to me because I had time
to every day wake up, work on
it, test recipes, tweak things,
write down my thoughts.
And it was just a, it was
a really good thing for me.
>> Jummy Olabanji: Is there a
recipe in this book, Trisha,
that is just like your favorite?
If you, if I were to come over
tonight and you were going
to open it up and put
something together for me,
which I'm sure I
would love everything.
But which one would it be?
>> Trisha Yearwood: Well I think
I would try to impress you with,
I making, my favorite thing
right now is a chicken pot
pie burger.
And it's like it tastes
just like chicken pot pie,
but it's just everything
goes in the chicken burger
and then it's on
a bun with gravy.
And it's like, I don't
know, it's comfort food
and it's different
at the same time.
And it's kind of my
favorite thing right now.
>> Jummy Olabanji:
Well, I did see that.
When I picked that one
out when I was looking.
So Rodney, you know, you had,
I don't know if you knew this
when you were setting
out to write this book,
but this is the first
cookbook by a Black pit master.
Did you know that when
you set out to write it?
And have you even thought
about the impact of that?
>> Rodney Scott.
I did not know that I was
the first Black pit master
to write a cookbook.
I had no idea when I
first heard it said I was
like okay, good thought.
I appreciate the comment.
But never really
paid any attention it
until it kept being
repeated over and over.
And I said oh, this
must be true.
But I never knew.
>> Jummy Olabanji:
And I want to ask you.
Is there a recipe in this book
that would be the first one
that you would make if we were
coming into your house tonight?
>> Rodney Scott: Wow,
if you were coming
into my house tonight,
which recipe?
I would probably try to get
you with that smash burger
or the steak sandwich.
Because at home I'm
that guy that wants
to get it done quick
on the grill.
And probably that steak
sandwich or the smash burger,
just to try to catch you.
>> Trisha Yearwood:
I'd like to come over.
>> Jummy Olabanji: So I
want to talk to you both.
I mean when you think about food
and books, what makes it fun
for you to do what you do
every day in the kitchen
but then put it on paper to
share with the rest of us?
>> Rodney Scott: Trisha,
you want to go first.
>> Trisha Yearwood: Sure.
For me it's that I always
grew up sharing recipes.
There were a couple little
ladies in my hometown
that wouldn't tell you
how to make the whatever.
Or they'd leave an
ingredient out, you know,
because they didn't
want you get the recipe.
But I've always been a big
believer in if it's good,
I want to show you how easy
it is to make, and I want you
to be able to make
it for yourself.
So I think for me,
cookbooks are so cool
because it's really the
ultimate recipe swap, you know.
It's like here's some things
that are not hard to make,
and they're good
and they're easy.
And I want you to be
able to make them too.
>> Rodney Scott: I
would have to echo that.
You know, same thing.
You get to stand around
and talk about the recipe.
Me, I don't mind sharing.
I've told everything that
we've done in our book.
You know, recipes are
just the way we do them
in the restaurant.
And for me, I wanted,
if you notice the spine
of our book is bright colored.
So I wanted to just catch your
attention, make it simple.
Put it in a way that you can
grab it will quick and come
up with an idea or
star another dish
if you don't have your
first dish the way
that you really like
it to be served.
So I want just to be able to
open up a book and be easy
to grab a recipe and
present it to your guests.
>> Jummy Olabanji: And
speaking of guests,
I want to remind every one
watching, you can ask questions
because we are going
to leave time for that
at the end of this conversation.
So please put those in the
chat feature right now,
and we will leave some
time for that at the end.
So Trisha, I wanted to ask
you know, in the book you talk
about going outside your
culinary comfort zone.
What does that mean to you,
and how did you go
outside the comfort zone
when you were putting this
new good book together.
>> Trisha Yearwood:
Well I, like I said,
I grew up making the
things that my momma made.
You know, so I really new
how to make, you know,
time or ten thing, you.
And I learned, I set the table
a lot, and I cracked the ice
for people at the table.
And then when I moved to
Nashville, I missed home.
I missed home cooking,
and I would call home
and ask my mother how to
make the simplest things.
And she never made me feel like
any question was too simple.
And the when I had a cookbook
out and had some success,
I started going to some
of these food festivals,
I thought these chefs
are going to be
like we don't want
anyone to talk to.
You're just a home cook.
You don't know what
you're doing.
And they were the ones, a lot of
these chefs you're seeing on TV,
they just made me feel
like, no pun intended,
that I did bring
something to the table
that was real and that was good.
We started to do the
show for Food Networdk.
I was teamed up with
a couple of,
I call them culinary
goddesses that wok on the show.
And we got to be fast friends.
And they just made feel like
they could learn from me,
and I could learn from them.
And so there are things they
have taught me in the kitchen.
There's ingredients
that they brought in,
that we just didn't
use in my house.
You know, we used, our exotic
spices were salt and pepper
and maybe some garlic powder
if you were getting crazy.
You know, but that
was kind of it.
And they really taught me a lot.
And then I've taught them
things like my mom would say
if you're going to make
deviled eggs to flip the eggs
in the carton the night before
you cook, to boil the eggs,
because in travel, in transit,
all those yokes settle.
And if you flip the egg,
the yoke will land
right in the center.
So the next day when you boil
those eggs you have perfect
deviled eggs for your
social, you know.
Little things like that
that my mama taught me
that I got to share with them.
>> Jummy Olabanji: And Trisha,
how special is it for you,
I have to imagine, to do this
incredible work alongside
with your sister?
>> Trisha Yearwood:
It's really everything.
I mean she's my person.
And Beth and I have,
you know, she's my,
we've been in the kitchen
together our whole lives.
So we have the same stories.
And I always say she's
my much older sister,
but she's not much
older than me.
But she has just a couple more
years of memories than I do.
So sometimes if I'm going
I don't remember that,
she'll fill in the blank for me,
and it's such a wonderful thing.
And she's a really great cook.
I mean she, she's married
and has three kids
who are now grown.
So she really started cooking
for her family before I did.
And so she's a great
cook herself.
I mean my picture's on the front
because I have a record deal.
I make music, and
people know who I am.
But she is just as much a
part of this book as I am.
Because she really
knows her stuff.
And she's, like I said, we have
this shared memory of childhood
in our families that I don't
have with anybody else.
>> Jummy Olabanji:
That's so beautiful.
Rodney, you write in
your cookbook here,
especially in the beginning
when you're telling your story,
just about the sacrifices
that you had to make
to grow your business.
Can you talk a little bit
about that and what you learned
through the sacrifice?
>> Rodney Scott: You know,
growing up in Hemingway,
South Carolina, a
town of 400 people,
the biggest thing there
is your imagination.
And a lot of times
people are so comfortable
with their surroundings and how
things are going in the area
that they are afraid
to step out.
And I was nervous about leaving,
and I decided, you know,
if you don't take a
chance, you'll never know.
And I took the chance
and stepping out,
opening up in Charleston,
expanding my culinary ideas
and thoughts with other, I call
them family now, staff members.
Learning their thoughts
and traditions growing up.
And I decided to go for it.
And I wanted to expand
and learn more
and grow outside of my area.
>> Jummy Olabanji: And what
would you today tell 11 year old
Rodney who was doing that chore
and during that first whole hog
by himself as just a young
boy, what would you go back
and tell him now
that you've learned,
what you've learned
at this point?
>> Rodney Scott:
Wow, I would go back
and tell 11 year
old Rodney, keep,
build your confidence
higher now.
Don't wait until
you're in your 30s.
Learn as much as you
can business wise.
Continue to respect people, and
everything is going to be great.
Every day will be a good day.
>> Jummy Olabanji: Trisha,
I want to bring you back in,
because I think reading
so far one
of my favorite parts
was your essay to bacon.
Which is my, one of
my favorite foods.
I could eat bacon
every single day.
I know I'm not supposed to.
But I thought that
was just so clever.
Can you talk just about this
essay to bacon if you will
and why you even felt that
bacon needed its own shout
out in the book.
>> Trisha Yearwood:
I don't know.
I mean I think bacon, you know,
I think there's a
bacon cookbook.
I think bacon deserves
its own book for sure.
I just, you know, it's one
of my favorite things to eat.
And growing up in
my house, you know,
my mom saved all the bacon
drippings in a coffee can,
and they were, it was
up above the stove.
And you know, it's just, the
flavoring in different things,
I always use bacon drippings
in cornbread instead of butter.
A little butter too.
But then again as I've
grown in my learning of how
to cook more things, I really
learned the value of mixing
that salt bacon flavor
with sweet.
So like we have a pecan
sticky bun in here
that has bacon instead
of butter in it.
And then also bacon
in the sticky buns.
Like just, there's just
nothing ever wrong with bacon.
I just, it's just
the perfect food.
And I so I don't
know in writing,
because I did write
all this myself.
There were a lot of late nights
I'm sitting up going okay,
I need to tell a story
about collard greens.
I need to figure out what
I'm going to say here.
And then I would just feel
like I just want to
write about bacon.
So that kind of ode
to bacon came
out of one of those late nights.
I mean to write a
love letter to bacon,
sometimes you just need to.
>> Jummy Olabanji: And I got
say what does Garth and the rest
of the family, how
proud of you are they?
And just what you've been
able to do with this show
and now this fourth book that's
about to hit store shelves.
>> Trisha Yearwood: Well, they
eat well, so they're happy.
I mean I think that, again,
it's something I don't think any
of us knew was going
to happen as a result
of just writing a book
and it being this way.
You know, I'm married
to a guy who's
like the most famous
country music entertainer
in the history of planet Earth.
So it's kind of fun when we go
somewhere and people are like,
I love you Garth, but
I love Trisha's show.
I'm like really?
Really, that's okay.
That's fine.
But he really, he wrote
the forward to the book.
And he really is my biggest fan.
And tested everything.
He was, you know, and
Garth is really honest,
which is just great sort of.
If he loves the food, there's
like yummy sounds
and no response.
If he thinks it's
missing something,
he'll say that's fine.
I mean maybe the first
10 years of our marriage.
Now he ways, it just
doesn't taste like anything.
Do you feel that way?
And I'm like seriously.
So I think it's a, but he's
honest, and I appreciate that.
And he's usually right, which
I can't believe I just said.
But he is.
>> Jummy Olabanji: And Rodney,
we know the business
is doing real well.
And I mean, is your goal
to write a book two?
Do you want to catch up with
Trisha and maybe go four books?
>> Rodney Scott: I don't know.
Hats off to you,
Trisha for four books.
This one took a toll on me.
It was a lot of work.
But I don't know, I'm thinking
about book number two right now.
I'm not positive yet, but maybe.
>> Trisha Yearwood: You will.
I said no.
I said no there'd
never be a second book.
And here we are.
>> Jummy Olabanji: Well,
we're looking for number five
from you, Trisha and
number two from you, Rodney.
We are getting a
bunch of questions,
so I want to leave
time for that for sure.
So we have one right now.
And either of you feel
free to answer this one.
But are there any
traditional recipes
that people today
may have forgotten
about that you wish
they would rediscover?
>> Rodney Scott: Wow.
>> Trisha Yearwood: Go ahead.
I'm thinking.
>> Rodney Scott: That's a
tough answer because, you know,
growing up in certain
areas, like Trisha said,
you don't always have
a lot of ingredients
that you're exposed to.
So wow. That's a good question.
You know we have a chicken perlo
recipe in our book that's kind
of a different tradition
than what I grew up with.
And the way that they
did it in my hometown,
they did it a little different
with sausage, rice, bacon,
kitchen bouquet and
chicken, yeah.
I think that's it.
>> Trisha Yearwood:
That sounds good.
I was just thinking about that.
We had wild muscadine, some
people call them Scuppernongs
that grow where I'm from, and we
used to eat them off the trees.
But we found a recipe for this
book that was in my mom's stuff
that I don't know
how we've missed.
And my sister and I neither one
remember eating it as a kid.
And it's for a pie.
And I mean you cook the
skins and the filling
and then you strain the skins.
But you put the skins in the
pie so they're kind of chewy.
And then you do like a
peanut butter drizzle.
That was my addition.
I wanted to make it taste
like a peanut butter
and jelly sandwich.
And I mean I don't know why
we weren't making this my
whole life.
But I want everybody to make
this pie because it feels
like something really
traditional.
But it wasn't something
that I was familiar with.
>> Jummy Olabanji: Okay,
I like both of those.
Another question here for either
of you or for both of you.
What's your family's
go to recipe
when you don't have much
time that everyone loves
and that's quick
and easy to prepare?
>> Rodney Scott: Wow.
Pork and beans and rice.
Seriously.
Smoked sausages, cut up
with some onions, some beans
and white rice and
mixed all together.
Quick, simple, great meal, and
everybody's happy in my house.
>> Trisha Yearwood: That's good.
Mine's usually biscuits
and something,
because I almost always
have self-rising flour
and butter and buttermilk.
And so I can make a biscuit.
And then you can figure out any
sort of like if I have sausage,
it'll be sausage gravy.
Or if I have ham, we'll make
ham biscuits or pimento cheese,
whatever we've got on hand.
I can make anything
go with a biscuit.
>> Jummy Olabanji: And I
always have canned biscuits.
See, I'm trying.
I'm getting there,
I'm getting there.
But I'm going to learn
your recipe, Trisha,
I'm going to learn your recipe.
So another great question here.
Someone asked that both of your
cuisines obviously have roots
in the South.
For you, what distinguished
southern cuisine
from other cuisine?
>> Trisha Yearwood:
You go first, Rodney.
>> Rodney Scott: I would have
to say our, not having the fear
of adding the extra salt, the
extra flavor, the bacon flavor
that Trisha spoke on earlier.
Those type of things, just
putting it all in there.
Putting your whole
soul into your food.
>> Trisha Yearwood: I
agree with that 100%.
I think, you know, Julia Childs
said everything in moderation,
including moderation, you know.
And it's like you're not
going to eat, I mean I want
to eat bacon every
day, but I don't.
You're not going to eat some of
these things every single day.
But when you, for
me, if you're going
to eat a really good
dessert, or you're going
to eat a really good meal,
use the good stuff, you know.
And make it worth it.
Make it good.
And that was the way
that we were raised.
I didn't have a vegetable
from a can in a grocery store
until I moved to Nashville.
Because we canned
everything ourselves,
and everything was fresh.
And I was really spoiled.
I think that's the other key
is that they are so, you know,
in the South for us, most of
us had a really good garden.
And you could, if you
weren't growing it,
your neighbor had it.
And so you could
always eat that way.
The one thing that I think
is similar is that, you know,
the stuff that I grew up on
that's very uniquely southern
to me and is comfort food to me,
somebody out in California's
grandma made biscuits
for them too.
They may have been a
little bit different.
But it's their comfort food.
So we all have that.
We're also tied to
the food that we grew
up on wherever that
happens to be.
>> Jummy Olabanji: Trisha,
this question is for you.
Someone wanted to ask.
They say you and Beth
share your family recipes,
but do you ever create recipes
just based on your cravings?
>> Trisha Yearwood.
Oh yeah. I get into a
lot of trouble with that.
I go to bed at night
and most people think
about what they're going
to do the next day.
I think about, so if I were
to like, those potato chips
that are dipped in chocolate,
what if I made a brownie
and I put potato chips in it.
And then I figured out, and
I put bacon in that too,
because bacon goes
in everything.
And then I'll wake up and be
like I think we can make that.
I think that'll work.
And then that's how a recipe
sort of becomes a thing.
I was thinking one day
about I love the inside
of the Oreo, you know.
So I'm going to figure out how
to make the inside of the Oreo,
but I'm going to put it
between my mom's brownie recipe,
and that's going to a thing.
And now we have double
stuffed brownies.
So I get into a lot of
trouble when I have a craving,
and it usually ends
up being a recipe.
>> Jummy Olabanji: I like that.
I like that.
Rodney, question for you.
This viewer has one funny
question, one serious.
The first one is the funny.
When are you going to
put a restaurant I Texas?
And the serious question is, do
you have a great barbecue recipe
that you share, or barbecue
sauce I should say recipe
that you share in your book?
>> Rodney Scott:
Well first of all,
we do have a barbecue recipe
that we share in the book.
We have a couple
of them in there.
The original Rodney
sauce is in the book.
Opening a restaurant in
Texas, hmm, maybe, never know.
We'll see.
>> Jummy Olabanji:
There you have it.
There you have it.
I want to request one in D.C.
if we're putting in requests.
I'm just saying.
And then another question for
both of you, and you've kind
of touched on it in
our conversation,
but if you want to
expand it all.
How did your families inspire
your cooking and your cookbooks?
>> Trisha Yearwood:
For me it was the,
it was the tradition
of just family.
You know, a lot of it centered
around church socials,
family reunions.
Everybody would bring
the thing that they made.
And there was a lot
of socializing
and a lot of food being made.
My dad always believed in
making more than you need,
because he didn't want
anybody to be hungry.
And I've taken that on from him.
My mother was a school teacher
who always had a meal
on the table at 6:00.
I don't do that.
I should. I sometimes
do but not every day.
But she was a really
great maker,
and so I think I got my love
of making desserts from her.
My dad believed in
having fun in the kitchen.
So when he was done in the
kitchen, every pan was used.
There was usually like
flour on the ceiling.
But he was a really good cook.
So I think, in that tradition
of really gathering people,
all my memories of childhood
and my family really center
around food and the farm
and growing vegetables
and all of that.
So I think there, I think they
have, my folks have everything
to do with why I'm
here doing this today.
>> Rodney Scott: Likewise.
A lot of my recipes are
inspired by memories,
and most of them
are through family.
My mom's banana pudding, I
still remember her breaking off
that cookie and giving me that
cookie for the banana pudding.
Grandma's cornbread, how sweet
it was when you bit into it.
The catfish that was fried
on Friday nights, you know,
all these things were
expired through my family.
And not to mention to this
very day my staff will tell you
about the sweet tea.
My mom said you make
it sweet enough so that
when you're finished with
it, it tastes just as good
with the last drink as it
did with the first one.
>> Jummy Olabanji:
Trisha, a question for you.
How does or how can your
music inspire your cooking
or vice versa.
Do you ever feel like
they kind of go together?
>> Trisha Yearwood:
Yeah I definitely think
music and food go together.
I think there's a, for me
there's a creation process
when you're making an album
and when you're making a meal
for people that you
love and to share it.
There's definitely,
it, you know,
to be honest it's ego driven.
You know, you sing when
people applaud you're
like that's pretty cool.
When you make a dish
and people can't speak
because they enjoy the
food, that's applause.
So there's definitely
a selfish aspect of it.
But it is the thing
that brings us together.
I mean we said that
in the very beginning
of this conversation
is that, you know,
it's easy to find the things
that are different
and to pull us apart.
But music and food to me are
two things that really do,
shows what we have in common.
>> Jummy Olabanji: And
Rodney, for you, you know,
how has your South Carolina
roots and being able to have one
of the top restaurants in the
Charleston area, you know,
how does that make you
feel and, you know,
as somebody who started
very young?
Have you just thought about
your growth in all of this?
And do you ever sit back and
think like wow, I did this?
>> Rodney Scott: You know,
every single day I think
back wow, look where I am.
Look how far we've come from
a tiny town of Hemingway,
South Carolina all the way
to Charleston and cooking
in different parts
of the country.
I take a moment every
day, I take about a three
to file mile walk every day.
And I try to reflect on
everything that's going on
and how appreciative
I am and humbled
that hard work does pay off.
And I wish to continue to do
that and hopefully inspire a lot
of people along the way.
>> Jummy Olabanji: I
think you're doing that.
Both of you are.
We have run out of
time, unfortunately.
I hope we answered
many of your questions.
Tried to get to most of them.
Rodney Scott, Trisha Yearwood,
thank you so much
for joining us.
And to everyone watching,
thank you for joining us,
and please enjoy the rest of
the National Book Festival.
Have a great night.
[ Music ]