By Rashod Davenport | Photos Courtesy of TV One
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Gerry Garvin, better known as TV One’s celebrity chef G. Garvin, wants to make sure that his new book “Make It Super Simple,” is going to help more people spend time with their families, and less time in the kitchen preparing lengthy means.
“It was a book we did for people that had an interest in learning how to make a great meal when you don’t have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen because you have a busy schedule,” says the Atlanta, Ga. native. “It’s about going in there and doing something that shouldn’t take long to do.” And he should know, he’s been in the kitchen most of his life.
“It’s one of those things that started when I was really young working with my mom and it was an opportunity to make extra ends,” Garvin explains. “My mom said ‘I’ll get you what you need and what you want, you just better get yourself’.” And from that moment, Garvin knew that the ball was in his court. He spent years learning and working in different restaurants, molding himself to be a high-class chef. But more importantly, he doesn’t want anyone to think the road was easy.
“I washed a lot of dishes, scrubbed a lot of floors and read a lot, created a lot, wrote everything down, traveled and eventually took everything that I learned and put it into my own world of things in food,” Garvin reflects. Utilizing his time in the kitchen as his personal classroom, Garvin was able to hone his craft until eventually he was ready for his next step, and unlike Woody Anderson in “Coming To America,” it wasn’t washing lettuce.
“I knocked on a lot of doors to get this opportunity, and even though I enjoy it, it was no easy track.”
In 2000, G. Garvin developed his own show and named it “Turn Up The Heat.” He pitched the pilot to The Food Network and did a pilot show. But after a lot of negotiations and not being able to reach a deal, the two decided to go their separate ways and allow the universe to do what it does best…work. After working and creating, TV One came onto the scene and into Garvin’s popular Los Angeles restaurant and made the deal happen.
Becoming the first black male to have a cooking show that wasn’t dry nor boring, brought him instant recognition in the African American community. His down-to-earth persona won over fans and his unique style of culinary simplification, made cooking fun for a lot of people. In addition, Garvin was showing that it’s cool to be a guy and still be in the kitchen cooking. But looks can be deceiving, and despite how easy it looks on TV, there are still a lot of hardships Garvin must endure.
“I feel both responsibility and pride because I was the first of my type to be doing this,” he says. “I knocked on a lot of doors to get this opportunity, and even though I enjoy it, it was no easy track. Just the challenge of being an African-American on TV, everybody thinks that it’s easy, but you’re offered a lot less and expected to do so much more. So you have to create ways to do more. The challenges are that you don’t get the same budgets that a lot of people get, but I don’t let it bother me. I take my job very seriously but I don’t lose my mind about it. It was an opportunity that was given to me.”
Garvin doesn’t take any of his good fortune for granted, nor does he keep his blessings to himself. Whether it’s bringing his camera to someone’s restaurant or bringing guests into his own kitchen, he is far from a “camera hog.” With his show, Garvin has found a way for others to use his platform. “I felt that it was something that I wanted to do so these places can get some publicity and some interest,” Garvin says about the featured restaurants. “We shot at a lot of different places and restaurants; African-American owned and family run places.”
“I see a lot of young cats that say ‘I’m a chef” but they don’t take it seriously. There’s a lot more to being a chef than cooking and working somewhere."
With guests such as Musiq Souldchild, Hill Harper, and Bishop TD Jakes, Garvin has been able to make “‘Turning Up The Heat-Celebrity Edition’” a hit with, what he calls, “just fun conversation.”
“It’s basically just people coming by and hanging out, and we do a meal,” he explains. Then I do a thing called five for five, which is five questions and answers and then they just hang out and kick it with me in the kitchen.”
Celebrities aren’t the only people gracing Garvin’s kitchen. The newest addition to the cooking squad is his daughter. “She’s four-years-old,” Garvin says with a smile. “She enjoys it (cooking). She can actually cook pretty well. She makes eggs, omelets, bacon, and sausage. Oh, and she makes rice pretty good and does her version of oxtail soup. I doubt that it’s what she’ll do, but she loves it. She enjoys being in the kitchen. I don’t have to make her, she just wants to come in and chill and hang out.”
And for Garvin, his little girl easily holds the title as his favorite woman in the kitchen. But being famous, Garvin has discovered, comes with a lot of attention, and with so many new women trying to come into his kitchen—between the fans and personal interest—he’s learned to just treat the new attention like anything else in life.
“You have to be very selective and very careful,” he explains. “It’s not about being a player, it’s about being smart. Anything can be misconstrued and misunderstood. So you have to be careful with what you say or do. You don’t put yourself in or around a situation by yourself with women that you don’t know. Very suddenly things can change. I hang out with the people that I’ve been hanging out with for years and that are cool and I like it that way.”
With Garvin’s help, more men are finding themselves working and contributing in the very place that for years has been reserved in the home as a woman’s domain. But Garvin, more than anything, just wants fellas to know that while he may be opening doors for up-and-coming male chefs to walk through, it takes a lot of hard work to keep those doors open.
“You have to take it seriously,” Garvin urges. “I see a lot of young cats that say ‘I’m a chef” but they don’t take it seriously. There’s a lot more to being a chef than cooking and working somewhere. Be a great cook first and grow into a great chef. God has you where he wants you to be. So I’m not the type that worries. Whether its TV One, Food Network, or BET, it doesn’t matter because I’m where I’m supposed to be and my responsibility is to do what I need to do to improve. There are many challenges; you just have to make sure you don’t let them handicap you.”
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MsSexyTanya Mar 27 2010 - 9:52 AM
I LOVE G. Garvin! I watch his show all the time on TV One. He is such a cool guy and he seems so down to earth. Great article on him…I'm really lovin this site!