Food Means Family

Foreword The Spotlight

The subtitle of this book references the spotlight. The spotlight is where the director wants you to focus your eyes and ears. It highlights the performer and creates negative space to ignore. You know someone is special when they’re under a spotlight.

When my generation was growing up, our favorite performers were in spotlights. We saw our TV stars, movie stars, and rock stars in their element. We didn’t see their full lives, but we invited them to be a part of our lives, almost like they were our friends. This is especially true of our local stars, the ones we were proud were “ours.” The news anchor, the lawyer on the billboards, the talented band that played at all of the parties—these were shared people and experiences among those from a particular time and place. When we meet others from our hometowns, we can immediately connect around these touch points that only we know. There’s magic in someone being a star to you but a stranger to others.

My sister and I grew up with a TV mom in the local spotlight. As a kid, going to a Charlotte grocery store with my mom was like going to Liverpool with Paul McCartney. But at the grocery store in another city, she was just a regular shopper. Those trips were much faster. To my sister and me, we just had a regular mom whose job included making a new dish every day. But others saw her in a different way. That was hard to understand as a little kid. But looking back, it’s fun knowing that someone in

our family taught a generation how to cook and set an example for how to go for what you want.

Today, there are no more spotlights on prominent people. Instead, there are floodlights. Floodlights show us the grime, the junk, the dust. Floodlights show us everything around a person whether we want to see it or not (and whether they want us to see it or not). Floodlights take away the specialness.

I’m so thankful that my mom’s TV career was in the spotlight era. This book is a throwback to that time. It’s intended to be comfortable, informative, and for my mom to share some of what she’s learned in a life well‑lived. And, of course, it’s intended to share so many recipes that have helped define her and many of our family’s best moments.

Some of you may have never heard of my mom until you saw this book. I hope you’ll agree that it casts a spotlight on who I think is a pretty impressive woman.

Michael Stutts