About Cooking with Granny
Our grandmothers are the real stars of the kitchen. They chop up veggies, throw in spices — all without measuring spoons — and share their life stories while feeding us. It’s these special moments, unwritten recipes, and soulful stories that I want to spotlight on Cooking with Granny.
I’m Caroline Shin, a video journalist formerly at New York magazine and Columbia Journalism School. And Cooking with Granny is my baby.
What started off as a Kickstarter-funded web series with 9 groovy grannies of 9 different cultures sharing their cooking tips and taking us on grocery trips, has expanded into delicious little pop-ups like our Grandma Dinner Parties or our Cooking & Storytelling Sessions.
Follow us on Instagram, subscribe to the YouTube channel, get updates on our next events, and you’ll find that what sets Cooking with Granny apart from other cooking shows is its authenticity.
Now get whisked away into Grandma’s kitchen!
About Caroline Shin
My parents had a jewelry store in Harlem where they would “pay” me with steaming heaps of juicy pernil (roast pork) from the corner Dominican spot. I’d also get fresh matzah ball soup from my Jewish friend’s mom, just-fried poori from my Indian friend’s home, and just-picked zucchini flowers from my Italian neighbors’ garden.
Most of the time though, I was hanging out with my granny, who had left South Korea to fill in the gaps created by my parent’s round-the-clock immigrant work schedule. On weekends, I’d help my granny in the kitchen as she prepared kimchi, dumplings, or acorn jelly. As she cooked, she would tell me about how she escaped from North Korea during the Cold War with her baby (my aunt) on her back. My mind was blown, and I knew that, one day, I’d document her story. It is a piece of world history, a cultural narrative, and a family heirloom.
Once I honed my video storytelling skills at Brown University, Columbia Journalism School, and New York magazine, and saw how food media weren’t really featuring the people from the cultures whose foods had become fads, I started Cooking with Granny. And it’s been one incredible journey!
