Recording artist Kelis paid a visit to Bed-Stuy's Restoration Plaza Wednesday night for a signing of her new cookbook, "My Life on a Plate."
Before the book signing, she chatted with the audience members about some of the challenges she had experienced as a singer and what led her to pursue a life in the culinary arts, where she is now an author, television personality and the owner of her own line of cooking sauces, Bounty & Full .
She answered that at one point during the middle of her singing career, she had developed polyps on her vocal cords: "It took so long for me to heal and get back to a place where I could own my voice again," she said. "I never thought I would lose it until I lost it. And that was a real wakeup call for me."
She said, losing access to what had become her financial and creative everything was a blessing in disguise, because it spurred introspection and eventually led her to pursue other areas of interest, including cooking and traveling:
"More is more for me! And even though I'm traveling all around, I travel because I want to do this, and now I try to suck up every possible thing that I can when I can," said Kelis. "I'm like Go! I love my life, I'm really blessed. I don't take for granted that this is a blessing, so I live my life. I do this!"
One audience member asked Kelis about her favorite celebrity chef:
"Whether it's music or food, I kind of isolate myself from [celebrities]," she answered. "It's just that, I have a hard time distinguishing my own influences, so I try to stay in my own lane.
"And a lot of the chefs that people are so obsessed with, I don't discredit them, at all But I don't want foam and crudité for my meal." She motions as though she's looking at a tiny plate of food. "I love the art of it but I come from a different place, and I'm really hungry."
*Laughter*
"I'm like, that's beautiful, but ummm Let's go eat something else! So, there's that!"
Kelis's mother, Eve, and her son, Knight, joined her at the book signing as audience members.
"She's always been a good cook," said her mother. "But she puts her own twist on old family recipes in that she's a little more fusion, and I'm a little more traditional.
"She's a new and improved version of me," said Eve, smiling widely. "And she can cook for me any day!"
