Taste Archives - At Home in Arkansas

Test Kitchen

January 5, 2023 by Laura LaRue

Self-taught home chef Marquis Brown finds joy in cooking for others

When Marquis Brown was young he was intimidated by the kitchen, often viewing it as the domain of his mother and grandmother. “The kitchen just had such a female-dominated presence in our family,” he says. But that hesitance didn’t last forever. The 30-year-old (who’s an architect by trade) eventually taught himself how to cook, starting with breakfast foods and making meals for friends and family. “I love food so I figured, why not learn how to make it?” he says. “Seeing my mom and grandmother prepare food was an inspiration. They were feeding their family and there’s a lot of gratitude that comes from that.”
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Cranberry Craze

December 1, 2022 by Laura LaRue

In Northwest Arkansas, blogger Hannah Huddleston brings sweetness to this tart Christmas-table staple

Hannah Huddleston and her husband, Frederic, moved to Northwest Arkansas in 2021 with future retirement in mind. So far, it feels as though she was meant for life in the Ozarks. “I had chickens in San Diego; I always felt a little like a misplaced farm girl,” she says with a laugh. The pair looked all over—including in Texas, Arizona, and other parts of the Natural State—before finding the 17-acre plot of land they now call home in Berryville. “In San Diego, our yard was so small, you could be outside and touch your house and your neighbor’s fence,” she says. “Now we live on a river and have this beautiful view and quiet space. It’s what we’ve always wanted.”

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Eat Your Veggies

September 1, 2022 by Tiffany Adams

Little Rock chef Alicia Watson cooks up plant-based dishes that wow the masses

“Change your plate, change your life.” That’s the philosophy behind Alicia Watson’s plant-based meals-to-go business, Vito & Vera. Named after her grandparents, the moniker carries Alicia back to her days of growing up in Chicago around a table that was laden with stories alongside sustenance.

The idea for Vito & Vera came after 20 years in the occupational therapy field, where she found plant-based diets to be improving the health of her clients. This spark led her to culinary school, a place where she learned to make dishes that were as tasty as they were healthy. “You must recreate the taste and texture,” she says of her methods. For example, the mushroom crab cake (seen at right) has the flavor and crispness of its namesake while being completely plant-based. Alicia notes people are often stunned that the dish not only looks beautiful but tastes like the item it was inspired by. …

A Backyard Smash

July 1, 2022 by Steph Smith

A Little Rock foodie draws on his love of cooking while exploring endless possibilities at the griddle

Like many a Southerner, Ben Adams’s love of cooking is an inherited one. “My grandmother was a great cook,” he says, recalling summers spent staying over at his Mamaw’s house just outside Keo where lunch plates were piled high with ham and beans. Back at home, Ben also saw his mother’s knack for cooking. “She would just throw stuff in and the meal would come out perfect,” he says. “That’s where I get my love of cooking—from the two of them.”…

Sweet Somethings

November 2, 2021 by Stephanie Maxwell Newton

One Bowl, Big Taste: Baker Kelli Marks’s first cookbook promises to delight your palate, one bowl of ingredients at a time

In Little Rock, the name Kelli Marks is synonymous with sweets. That’s why it’s hard to believe a love of baking was something Kelli didn’t discover until her 20s, when she provided the cake for her grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary. “I’d never done a ton of baking, but I thought it’d be so fun if their granddaughter made the cake for the party,” Kelli recalls. “This being 2001, I had to buy a book and sit down and teach myself how to do it.” By the time the party rolled around, she presented the couple with a four-tier vanilla cake—and she was hooked….

Tasty Tailgate

July 28, 2021 by Stephanie Maxwell Newton

Sweet Greens Vegan gives game day classics a fresh spin

With the motto “Making meatless Mondays more fun,” it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Shakayla Scott is skilled in creating mouth-watering vegan dishes. So much so that she decided to share what she was cooking with the world through her website, Sweet Greens Vegan. Wanting a healthier lifestyle and a way of eating better she could practice long-term, Shakayla went vegan in 2018 and hasn’t looked back. “I had tried a number of diets but nothing really stuck,” she says. “Then, I noticed doctors would mention eating more fruits and vegetables when people around me got sick. I wanted to listen to this and heed the advice before someone had to tell me to do it,” she says….

Hello, Honey!

May 3, 2021 by Stephanie Maxwell Newton

The Bee’s Knees: There’s something sweet about the story behind Brothers Honey Co. in Conway

Hard work, lots of fun, and very sticky: That’s how Katie Opriş describes her first experience harvesting honey in 2016. When she and her husband, Elvis, started beekeeping a year prior, they were already using honey in their food prep and well aware of its health benefits. Elvis had watched his father keep bees when he was growing up in Romania, and some of his brothers—he is one of six boys now spread over four countries in three continents—had taken an interest, too. When one of them came to visit in 2015, he got Elvis and Katie started with their first hive. “As far as the bees go, they’re just fascinating,” Elvis says. “Watching them, learning about their behavior—they draw you in and become addictive.”…

Connection Through Cooking

February 8, 2021 by Stephanie Maxwell Newton

Food for Thought: With the launch of her cookbook, this Northwest Arkansas blogger continues to inspire togetherness through milestones large and small

For Little Rock native Abby Turner, food is a way of building community. Now a resident of Rogers and marketing professional at Walmart, Abby developed this philosophy as she moved across five cities in four states while establishing her career. “I was living in Birmingham, Alabama, about five or six years ago and was the loneliest I had ever been,” she recalls. “I was having a really hard time finding friends. I was working all the time, and I felt that I needed people and community. My mom threw out there, You need to invite people over, you need to cook! So I did.” Abby made dinner for three guests, squeezing everyone around her two-top table, and soon she found she had a circle of friends. “I made cheese tortellini—and it was terrible,” she laughs, “but they wanted to come back over and do it again.”…

Creative Mixology

January 4, 2021 by Tiffany Adams

Shaken or Stirred: Cozy up with a cocktail made with Fox Trail Distillery’s coffee liqueur

Fox Trail Distillery is more than your average distillery. While distilling, aging, and bottling multiple lines takes place at its Rogers headquarters, what sets this producer apart is its on-site bar. Here, carefully crafted seasonal cocktail menus allow patrons to sample the brand’s products in interesting ways. “As a bartender, I’m always trying to curate an experience that either explores new possibilities or revives cherished memories,” says beverage director Brendon Glidden. “As a spirits producer, we have the ability to achieve those goals on a larger scale.” To this end, Brendon and the staff at Fox Trail are constantly playing around with ingredients to create new cocktails that “contextualize their products,” he says.

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Picture-Perfect Pastries

July 2, 2020 by Stephanie Maxwell Newton

Berry Good: We talk learning to cook, food photography, and summer galettes with Savya Kuncham Ramesh of Wickedly Whisked

Scrolling through the mouth-watering images on Savya Kuncham Ramesh’s Instagram feed (@wickedlywhisked), you’d never guess she’s not a baker by trade. As an industrial engineer, Savya hadn’t even tried her hand at cooking until it was entirely necessary. “I lived in India until I was 22, and I had never entered the kitchen—like, never,” she laughs. “I decided to do my masters in the United States, and before I moved, my mom was so worried because she knew I loved to eat, but didn’t know how to cook!”…

Test Kitchen

Cranberry Craze

Eat Your Veggies

A Backyard Smash

Sweet Somethings

Tasty Tailgate

Hello, Honey!

Connection Through Cooking

Creative Mixology

Picture-Perfect Pastries

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