Inside Kamala Harris' Deep Love For Cooking

Kamala Harris made history when she became the vice president of the United States in the 2020 election; she was the first woman, first Black person, and first Asian American to hold the office. Before she became the vice president, Harris started out as an assistant district attorney in Oakland, CA. She went on to become San Francisco district attorney, then California attorney general, and finally senator with her own run in the 2020 presidential primary (via Politico).

Her work in politics and public service was informed by her childhood. Her mother was from India and her father was from Jamaica — Harris said her parents fell in love "while marching together for justice in the civil rights movement of the 1960s," per The New York Times. And they would bring Harris with them to civil rights demonstrations, according to The White House. When Harris spoke at the Democratic National Convention accepting the nomination to be vice president, she spoke about the values that her mother instilled in her growing up, including the idea "that service to others gives life purpose and meaning," via The New York Times. It turns out that Harris' mother also passed along a love of cooking.

As a child, Kamala Harris was impressed with all the dishes her mother would make. Vice President Harris told Glamour that her mom would say "Kamala, you clearly like to eat good food. You better learn how to cook." It seems like she took that to heart. By the third grade, she had her first specialty dish — scrambled eggs topped with cheese cut into the shape of a smiley face.

These days, Harris calls herself an incredible cook, according to Ebony. Some of the dishes she does well include mushroom lasagna, bolognese, and pork chops. She also has a signature roast chicken recipe that impressively can be used as the basis for three meals; after the chicken is slow-roasted, whatever isn't eaten at dinner the day it's cooked gets made into chicken salad, and then the bones and leftover bits are used to make chicken broth that's then the base for a soup, via Glamour.

Kamala Harris has given some of her fellow politicians cooking advice. In 2020, Harris went live on Instagram with Democratic Senator Mark Warner who had previously shared a video of how he made a tuna melt — it was widely panned on social media, per CNN. She went through the full process of a better way to make a tuna melt, while wearing an apron from her alma mater Howard University, with tips for chopping celery, red onion, and emphasizing the need for toast — Warner had used un-toasted bread for his.

She also gave some pointers to Senator Cory Booker. Booker, as Harris told Glamour, is "a vegan, but he doesn't cook." Harris said her birthday present to him was to give him some cooking tips and a vegan recipe. Booker reportedly has convinced Harris to go at least partially vegan; she's vegan before 6 p.m., according to VegNews.

The vice president's love for cooking has even made headlines. After a trip to Paris, it was reported that Harris spent over $500 on a French souvenir at the renowned French cookware store E. Dehillerin, per The Washington Free Beacon.

For Kamala Harris, spending time in the kitchen cooking has benefits beyond just the final dish. She told Bustle that cooking for her is "stress relief and my way to show love to family and friends." Whenever she can, she likes to cook and enjoy Sunday dinner with friends and family. Harris is only human though and she has a pretty busy job. Harris acknowledged that as much as she loves to cook, she can't do it all the time. Her husband Doug Emhoff does some of the cooking, and apparently, while he may not cook quickly, the end result is tasty, according to Glamour. 

If you want to cook like Harris, pick up a copy of "The Art of Simple Food" by Alice Waters; per Politico, she's made nearly every one of the 200+ recipes in the cookbook. There are also the seven videos on the "Cooking with Kamala" YouTube playlist that her office put out that includes Harris cooking things like bacon fried apples, a recipe she got from her mother, and monster cookies.