As a writer, there is a special joy and a particular responsibility when doing a piece about a fellow writer whom I deeply respect. I first met Cheryl Alters Jamison about six years ago when I was nibbling my way around the Santa Fe Reporter’s downtown parking lot food truck party. I was chatting with another food-writer friend, Laurel Gladden, a longtime reviewer at Pasatiempo, who saw Cheryl across the crowd and said that she MUST introduce us. I liked Cheryl instantly because she has a kind of hearty giggle which bubbles through her ebullient approach to life. She has kindly had me on her show many times to talk about The Liquid Muse cocktail and culinary events so the launch of my new “Famished in the Fe” blog, about the people behind the food and drinks we love in Santa Fe, gives me a turn to interview this culinary powerhouse about her interesting past, present, and future.
Originally from Galesburg, Illinois, Cheryl fulfilled a childhood dream by moving to the Rocky Mountains in August 1980 to pursue a career in art management. Over the next ten years, she worked her way up to Deputy Director of Western States Arts Foundation. Unfortunately, the organization’s board made it clear that they did not feel a young woman would be the right candidate to ascend to Executive Director. Little did she know, then, that parting ways with that group’s outdated (shall I say “sexist”) way of thinking would lead her to an exciting three-decade long career (so far!) in the culinary arts… the stuff of food writer dreams.
Photo credit: Gabriella Marks (took this portrait and many food photos in Cheryl’s books)
Shortly after Cheryl and I became acquainted, she invited me to her charming Tesuque home. While sipping wine and tucking in to her divine scallop ceviche, I learned that not only had she written a slew a cookbooks but has earned FOUR James Beard Awards – the Oscar of the foodie world. So, of course, I asked to see them. And, I asked to touch them. And, I had to take a photo of them just casually hanging on a hook in her kitchen. I also had to ask her how it feels to win a James Beard award. Plus, of course, I wanted to understand how she arrived at such a destiny. Her third cookbook, Smoke & Spice, was her first James Beard Award winner, and she describes that experience, below:
“We [she and husband Bill] spent what felt like a fortune to go to New York for the awards for several days of parties and press events, where we generally felt not only like fish out of our tank, but fish that had somehow landed on Mars. On the day of the awards, we were finishing lunch at Douglas Rodriguez’s then-hot Patria and musing about how this was really dumb use of our time and money, which included buying a tux for Bill because it was cheaper than renting one for the number of days we had to be away. We were of the opinion that we could never win, because we were finalists along with two wildly better-known authors of the day. And then that night, at the glittery Academy Awards-like ceremony, presenter Ella Brennan of Commander’s Palace in New Orleans, called out OUR names. We somehow tripped to the stage, croaked out the few thank yous scribbled on a piece of scratch paper, and then it was on to the photographers and champagne…I rushed out to a bank of phones in the lobby to call my parents, our biggest fans. I had to steady one hand with the other to punch in the numbers. When Mom and Dad, back in Illinois, picked up two phones simultaneously, I was so choked up I was just sputtering, and Dad burst out "You must have won!” I will be ever grateful that they were both alive to share that moment. It’s also very special to be recognized by your peers. Receiving that award, and the ones that followed, catapulted our career into overdrive. It continues to be an amazing run. I’m so lucky.”
The other three medals are for The Border Cookbook, American Home Cooking, and The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking & Entertaining. Cheryl says that their common thread is a celebratory sense of boldly flavored home-cooking, appropriate for new and experienced cooks with a load of background about how the dishes evolved. After winning, Cheryl also got to be on the James Beard Chef and Restaurant Awards Committee for nearly 18 years.
Luck may have had something to do with it but so does following a path once it reveals itself. Cheryl says that she was “crazy for cooking” from the time she could toddle around the kitchen. During the 1980s, Bill wrote travel articles and books to fund their wanderlust. Much of that focused on what they were eating so a cookbook was the natural next step.
“We found out through mutual friends that the Jaramillo family, owners of Rancho de Chimayo, were interested in doing a cookbook marking the restaurant’s 25th anniversary in 1991. They appreciated our work in The Insider's Guide to Santa Fe (later Taos and Albuquerque), especially its depiction of the area’s history and culture. The publisher of our travel books jumped at the chance to produce the Rancho de Chimayó Cookbook because he was looking for a cookbook project. See—serendipity!”
The book found success celebrating the unique cuisine of northern New Mexico, and spurred her on to do more. Delving deep into specific subjects, conducting interviews while traveling, and digging through libraries fuels Cheryl’s passion. She says that creating the structure of a book—what to include, what to ignore—as well as recipe development excites her, as does sharing all of that with readers. She exclaims, “Can you imagine both [barbecue and New Mexican cooking] were “under-recognized" when Bill and I first wrote about them? Also, I love the combination of art and science required in a good cookbook.” Cheryl also taught cooking classes, and was the Culinary Editor of New Mexico Magazine and a culinary consultant to the NM Tourism Department.
However, even in a charmed life such as Cheryl’s, there can be some tragedy. She suffered a devastating loss when her beloved Bill passed away from cancer in 2015.
“I lost my husband, the love of my life, my best friend, my co-author, in-house editor, business partner, financial advisor, among other things. We truly were partners in all senses…One of the cruel things that came after his death was that cooking and being in the kitchen was just painful. Actually, for a good while, it was difficult to be in our home, so I traveled, & got comfortable again in being myself instead of part of a duo. I don’t think you ever truly recover from a loss so profound, but you learn how to move forward, and how to find joy again in different aspects of life.”
“Moving forward” has included her newest cookbook Texas Q which features both bbq and delish side and meat-free dishes. And, she launched a radio show / podcast called Heating It Up, which recently celebrated its five-year anniversary. She enjoys telling local peoples’ stories and celebrating food heritage, and featuring people from around the world who offer perspective on some aspect of food or beverages. Her show also includes a fun segment called “Scoop from the Coop” about her home-raised chickens which I enjoy. Personally, I’ve personally struggled with being both a foodie and an animal advocate so I was eager to ask Cheryl how a culinary professional can separate the love for their backyard pets with dishes that feature their meat.
“Raising my own little flock has made me ever more mindful of buying well-raised, humanely sourced meat. I feel like having my own chickens, that eat organic feed & peck around my yard where no pesticides are ever used, is my small statement about sustainability. I raise my girls not for meat, but for their eggs, which are fabulous. They go into "hen-opause" and stop laying around age 3 or 4, but they get to live out the rest of their lives here, in comfort.”
Cheryl’s success also offers opportunities to take groups to far flung destinations. In September 2021, ten guests will join her on a week-long culinary trip in the South of France. They will stay in a renovated 18th-century stone warehouse in Sete, west of Marseille, where Cheryl will teach homey French dishes. The rest of the meals range from from casual picnics to Michelin-level fine dining. This trip will focus on the bounty of the sea, in particular, and include visiting oyster beds, jaunts on fishing boats, and checking out a sustainable caviar operation. Plus, they will visit Nouilly Prat (vermouth), Languedoc wineries, olive groves, markets, butchers, explore the UNESCO World Heritage Post du Gard, and see several villages, including the Camargue’s Aigues-Mortes.
Cheryl has been a Francophile since college, when she studied in Austria, for a year and hopped trains every weekend to explore Europe. She says that traveling along the Cote d’Azur, she was dazzled by the joie de vivre, landscape, and the food. Some of her favorites reign from my own father’s hometown of Nice, France, which I also love—pissaladiere, socca, salade Nicoise, fresh grilled fish. Cheryl’s husband, Bill, did consulting work for British Airways in London which gave them many opportunities to jump down to France to eat and drink. Cheryl recalls:
“For some 10 years, from 2003-2013, Bill and I took small culinary groups to the Dordogne, another breathtaking area in southern France known for its food. The couple we worked with back then sold their property and got out of the tour business. I had been thinking I would like to return to taking groups there again but needed to find the right French partner & location again. I have! No French cookbook is currently in the works, though I do have a book's worth of recipes and stories to go along with them. Those that we use each time go into a booklet for the participants.”
This year’s trip is full but people can sign up for a similar itinerary in September 2022 and/or a Provence trip next June by visiting Absolutely Southern France run by Cheryl’s friend and tourism partner, Nancy McGeem, or directly on Cheryl’s site.
So, what is next for Cheryl? One truly wonders what someone who has accomplished so much has left to do. She says, “I think I’m just about ready to do at least one of those BIG cookbooks for which we, as a team, were known. I’m also looking at doing a truly more introspective book, a memoir of sorts…I’ve accumulated what amounts to a lifetime of stories.” Naturally, given Cheryl’s vast array of life experience in the culinary realm, I was also interested to hear her most memorable dining experiences. The following passage, alone, almost reads like a book:
“The first time I ate barbecued brisket at Kreuz Market in Lockhart, Texas, back when there were no plates and the knives were chained to the wall, or a bbqed pork sandwich with coleslaw on it in some now-forgotten Georgia joint.
Cooking a whole hog at the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest with a team of Arkansas farmers. Getting to share dim sum on Chinese New Year with nonagenarian Cecelia Chiang at San Francisco’s Yank Sing. She had the chef create these amazing dumplings shaped like dragons with a coating of gold leaf. Being invited by legendary cookbook author Marion Cunningham’s to her home to have her famous waffles for breakfast. Several dinners Deborah Madison and I have orchestrated on behalf of our farmers’ market. Being invited by my Hispanic Little Sister, from Big Brothers/Big Sisters, to share in her family’s Christmas Las Posadas posole and biscochitos. The opportunity to collaborate with Jennifer and Martín Rios, a chef I truly believe is among the best of his generation, on their Restaurant Martin Cookbook. The first time I devoured a wood-grilled fish fillet doused with lime and hot sauce on the sands of Puerto Vallarta, back when it was still a smallish fishing village. Savoring that first egg from one of my own chickens— a sage green beauty from Ginger, my original Ameraucana.
There was the time we decided to use our frequent flyer mileage to go around the globe to places we wanted to eat. That became a book, Around the World in 80 Dinners. Some of the experiences were grand but one of the most memorable was being invited by our Balinese taxi driver to dinner in his home. After sampling a couple of mediocre versions of Ubud’s signature duck dish, we asked our driver's opinion of where we could get a better version. He said at his house, and his wife did indeed make us a swell bebek betutu. I’ve had the great privilege to have meals prepared by some the world’s finest chefs, like Ferran Adria and Juan Marie Arzak and Elena Arzak in Spain and Alain Chapel and Joel Robuchon in France. I followed Joel Robuchon around to so many cities that Saveur magazine asked Bill and me to write about him for an issue on Ten Restaurants That Matter.
And of course, the first time I experienced a real New Mexican green chile—not something out of a can. It was at the Pink Adobe in 1977. What a ride it’s been! And continues to be.”
Cheryl counts herself fortunate to have supportive friends and family such as Jim Glover and Marianne Tenenbaum from Once A Day Marketing who helped her figure out her post-Bill, solo "excited about food” identity. She sees innovation as putting one’s own spin or voice to an idea, whether it's a dish or a book. And, she appreciates harnessing the political and social power of food, whether Chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen or our local restaurants figuring out survival during this pandemic. Finally, to sum things up, for now, in Cheryl’s own words:
“I will be forever thankful that I began to look more inside of myself – rather than to a whirlwind of things around me - to find happiness. Choosing to stay here was perhaps the single best decision I've made in my life. I now can’t imagine living anywhere other than fabulous Santa Fe.”
Well, I think it’s fair to say that now we couldn’t imagine Santa Fe without Cheryl in it.
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