Ayesha Curry gets competitive on TV this summer
Chef, restaurateur and cookbook author Ayesha Curry is expanding her culinary empire with ABC’s “Family Food Fight,” an eight-episode summer series (Thursdays, 9 EDT/PDT) that features diverse, multigenerational teams competing for the title of “America’s No. 1 Food Family” and $100,000.
Curry, 30, who is executive producer, host and judge, is joined by renowned chefs Cat Cora and Graham Elliot on the show, which premieres after the first episode of “Holey Moley,” an extreme miniature golf competition produced by her husband, Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry.
Curry, who is raising three young children, Riley, 6, Ryan 3, and Canon, almost 1, with her husband, speaks to USA TODAY about her new show, cooking for and with her family and how she copes with the limelight.
Question: What makes “Family Food Fight” stand out in a big field of TV cooking competitions?
Ayesha Curry: It’s just this big melting pot of diversity and I think it’s a perfect representation of what America truly is ... The show is multigenerational, everything from brothers and sisters-in-law to a mom and her daughters to a mom and her sons, so many different combinations of what families look like.
Q: Does that result in varied dishes?
Curry: Absolutely. Different spices, flavors and sauces. Pretty incredible. Their pantries look very different from one another.
Q: Are there any literal food fights?
Curry: People aren’t throwing food at each other, but they’re definitely throwing around some verbal tension. Endless amounts of trash talking.
Q: At home, do you cook as a family?
Curry: All the time. I’ve had my oldest – she’s now almost 7 – in the kitchen since she was old enough to sit on the counter by herself. My biggest message is: “Cook with your kids.” It gives them confidence. It builds relationships. There are studies that show that if you cook with kids and give them a task, they’re more apt to try whatever it is they had a hand in making. That’s how I get my kids to eat their veggies.
Q: Does your husband cook? Curry: Occasionally. It’s so cute. He has one thing he makes really well. It’s five-ingredient pasta and if I’m sick or exhausted, he volunteers to cook it. I know I’m getting something super simple but delicious – bell pepper, basil, parmesan, egg noodles and some pancetta that gets rendered off so the fat covers all the noodles – so yummy. It’s either that or burnt toast, so I’ll take the pasta all day.
Q: Do you make anything special for him?
Curry: He’s always requesting one of two things, either my chicken parm, which is your classic Italian chicken parm. I make my own breading, so that’s what makes it special. And I do a spiced chicken with parsley-mint sauce. He loves that.
Q: Are you two competitive regarding your shows?
Curry: Heck, yeah, I’m going to be competitive. People better tune into “Family Food Fight” so we can have a little ratings battle. … But at the end of the day, he’s the opening act. His show comes on at 8, mine at 9. That’s my story
and I’m sticking to it.
Q: After your appearance on Jada Pinkett Smith’s “Red Table Talk,” you received criticism but then a lot of support (after comments about feeling self-doubt over lack of attention from men as women flock toward her NBA superstar husband). How do you deal with people’s responses?
Curry: You’ve got to take the good with the bad and realize a lot of times people aren’t getting a grasp on the whole story. Things often get compartmentalized and a lot of people pick and choose what they want to receive from a message. I think a lot of that was misconstrued and reformatted to make it look like something it wasn’t. But it is what it is. It happens to the best of us.
Q: Many people admire your honesty, but that means you put yourself out there. Curry: That’s true. I don’t have much of a filter (laughs).
Q: Now that the NBA season is over, do you all get to relax a little?
Curry: It’s so funny. Our off-seasons tend to be a little busier than the (basketball) season, but we’ve definitely put away some time for a little vacation and family time and just spending good quality time with our kids, so we’re excited about that.