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Kardea Brown is opening up about her life and culture, and offering readers much-needed culinary reassurance in her forthcoming cookbook, Make Do with What You Have.
The Delicious Miss Brown host, 37, has much to celebrate this year as new endeavors and milestones unfold for her. Last month, the Food Network star married her partner, Bryon Smith, 38, in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
“It feels like it just happened yesterday,” Brown said of the movie trailer-worthy event. “I’m trying to stay in that moment and enjoy the newlywed phase as long as possible. So, I’m really happy, we’re happy.”
Of course, the self-proclaimed foodie served her guests with enough delectable options with many buffet-style food stations.
Celebrating the heritage and culture of the region, Brown included seafood choices like aguachile, a shrimp and raw fish dish similar to a ceviche. “You had a grill station, you had your lamb station, you had your seafood station, and we had a dessert table,” Brown recalled. “I think most of our guests were like, ‘Overwhelmed,’ but overwhelmed in a great way because I know that going to weddings, sometimes you can leave hungry, and our guests did not at all.”
For her cake, Brown expertly went with a two-flavor option. Created by a local cake artist, the bottom layer featured dulce de leche with the top as red velvet, Brown’s favorite flavor.
And if an international wedding wasn’t enough to keep her on a natural high, then wrapping her first hosting season of Kids Baking Championship may have been the ticket. Brown was first announced as the new co-host alongside Duff Goldman back in October, following Valerie Bertinelli’s debut of the series in 2015.
Brown called back to her predecessor advising her to “be soft, but also be stern” with the tweens.
“You got to put your foot down at some point and just tell them, ‘Hey, you’re here,’” The chef recalled. “Encourage them, but also to put on that motherly role… she said her being a mom, it was kind of between nurturing and also like, ‘Hey, get it together. We’re on a show. You’re a big kid. You got this.’”
Brown also brings her own expertise to the new position as a former grade school teacher and social worker, adding, “It was just like a no-brainer when they asked me to fill in and take over that position.”
And now, with her sophomore book on the horizon, Brown brings all of her passions and truths into one seamless narrative sewn together with the recipes passed down from her foremothers.
Following her debut New York Times bestselling cookbook, The Way Home, which Brown looks to as an introductory glimpse into her life, Make Do with What You Have is a culinary dive into her heritage as a descendant of Gullah Geechee people.
“This book is really getting into how I grew up and the lessons that I’ve learned in my life through my mother, and my grandmother with making do with what you have,” Brown explained. “We can all remember as kids, especially within the African-American community.”
As the daughter of a single mother, the South Carolina native recalled her own mother making do with whatever she had as a child. “If we wanted a burger, we may not have gotten a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger or whatever,” she laughed, “but we got something at home, like a burger with sliced bread.”
Brown wanted to give others encouragement during their own tough financial moments.
“Money may be tight, and you [may] can only afford a certain amount of groceries and things, that’s fine,” she declared. “I’m going to show you how to make meals with the things that you can afford, that’s already in your refrigerator or pantry.”
Brown went on to reminisce on times when her mother had to choose between paying an essential living bill and putting food on the table, a common situation for many families. With Make Do with What You Have, she’s hoping to offer families alternatives to have so those situations are not the norm.
“You don’t have to get bogged down with the idea of like, ‘No, I may not be able to go out to eat today, but I do have a few things in the house, and I’m going to make them taste really, really good,” she encouraged.
Across 100 affordable and approachable recipes, Brown takes new cooking enthusiasts and veteran chefs alike through the legacy of the Gullah Geechee people with a mixture of personal and historical references.
“I like to think that recipes make more sense when you understand where the chef, the writer, is coming from,” said Brown. “So, in order to understand me, you have to understand my past. You have to understand why I cook the way that I do.”
She continued, “In order for you to understand that, I have to tell you about my upbringing and my past and my family’s history. It makes [readers go] like, ‘Oh, that’s why she uses that,’ or, ‘It makes sense why she knows about that.’”
Brown views her recipes as elevations of classic Black American dishes that many were raised on, adding her own modern flair and honed craft. “You can make a really decent pot of greens that doesn’t have to have smoked meat in it,” she said, as an example. “You can make it taste smoky and delicious without that.”
While many of the dishes in the cookbook will be comfort foods, the collection will also feature surprising dishes, including affordable seafood-based options that aren’t readily available alternatives for most low-income households.
“There is a variety of recipes that I think will appease any palate,” Brown shared. “I want everyone to look out for the seafood section, but also to know that these recipes across the board can really fit into any household.”
Brown also believes “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” and will also feature recipes that she inherited from her mother and grandmother.
Brown describes the Gullah Geechee people as a major part of the fabric of American and Southern cuisine, and calls Make Do with What You Have a celebration of that.
The book is also a step in Brown’s journey of documenting her ancestry and having the opportunity to pass down stories and recipes to the next generations, a privilege many Black Americans were not granted, she explained.
“My grandmother never wrote her recipes. Her mother never wrote her recipes. That’s partially because my great-grandmother did not know how to read and write,” Brown noted. “I am the first in my generation to be able to write and share my recipes vocally and through the written word. I make sure that no matter what I do, I’m able to put that story into words as eloquently as I can speak it because I want that to be a part of my heritage.”
Make Do with What You Have will be available where books are sold on November 11, 2025.
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