Mary Graham, a Santa Clarita Valley resident and self-taught cook, has been competing in cooking competitions for years. Currently a champion of numerous competitions including the show Chopped, Graham is furthering her career as a cooking competition judge and brand ambassador focused on developing and sharing recipes online. .
Ms. Graham’s days consist of doing what she loves most. It’s about developing recipes directly from home, documenting her process to share online.
This is a dream come true for Graham, who has spent much of his time raising children. She can now develop a passion that will open new doors for her and give her a platform. She has amassed around 5,000 followers on Instagram.
Although this new endeavor comes with its challenges, the nearly 70-year-old has successfully learned to be her own photographer and video editor. Like many others, I use the internet as my main source of information when I run into problems during the content creation process.
“Of course I take photos and videos of all my dishes, so I had to hone in on my photography, and I also had to learn video editing. I’m no spring chicken, but I felt motivated to keep going.” ” she said enthusiastically with a laugh.
Recently, Graham has been working on developing recipes that focus on barbecue and smoked dishes, such as smoked deviled eggs.
Although Graham has achieved many milestones through his culinary endeavors, he does not call himself a chef.
“I personally don’t claim to be a chef…I always think chefs have to go to culinary school, but I didn’t,” she said.
Graham, who has a supportive family, has since traveled to different parts of the world, made meaningful connections and is now able to stand on the other side of the table, tasting and judging contestants’ dishes. Now you can.
“I absolutely love it,” she said of the jury experience.
Through his travels, which have taken him to multiple states and countries like Panama and Scotland, Graham has made friends with other chefs and home cooks who have followers on social media.
“It was just word of mouth. All of my brand ambassador roles come from winning contests or through the company,” she said.
She always encourages her fellow contestants to embrace family ties in each recipe.
“I want to encourage people to try writing down recipes, whether it be tweeting old recipes from their mom or dad. It’s really important to keep the history of hand-me-downs alive. We don’t want to lose sight of the beauty of family cooking,” Graham said.
Graham said he shares his love of cooking with his five grandchildren. Every time they come over, she prepares the kitchen to make fresh food. There they can explore flavors and take over their creative thinking to create something new without her input.
“All my grandchildren love to cook, mainly because I passed on the love of cooking to their parents and as a family,” she said. “As a grandma, I love to inspire them to cook, so I set the scene…I didn’t control their thought process and let them explore flavors…just like I do. So that you can really enjoy your culinary adventures.”
To follow Mary Graham’s efforts and recipes, visit: www.amerryrecipe.com.
