Elisa Oldham

What is your signature dish?

Sugar Cookies with buttercream icing. Simple ingredients mixed together to form a soft dough that can be rolled and cut out or dropped and smooshed.Either way, it’s delicious. Once lightly baked, they’re left to cool before icing with American buttercream. Magic happens when the cookie and icing meet. These have been shared at weddings, showers, holidays, and get togethers .They’ve been given as thank yous or thinking of you. I love a multi-purpose recipe!

Who is your culinary inspiration?

It’s not just one” Who” but several. Two of my inspirations, you’ll never meet because they’ve passed on ahead: Ann, better known as Mammy, my mother in law and Owilda, Mamaw Wootie, my maternal grandmother. They had crowd feeding down to an art, main dishes to desserts. Family gatherings could easily have 30 or more. These ladies worked like a well orchestrated symphony making sure everything was cooked and plates were filled.

What would you do with the $25,000?

I’m fascinated by culinary history and food stories. Culinary cooking tours and cooking classes are on the winning bucket list. It’s very important to share cooking traditions, stories and skills. I would love to teach cooking classes for those with food struggles. I volunteered in the kitchen at a local non profit for nearly two years and it was so rewarding. Food is truly a love language.