The daughter of a Baptist deacon will be blending faith and food for The Cooking Channel.
According to reports, the former “The View” co-host is headed to the Cooking Channel as the host of a new show “Holy & Hungry” that explores the spiritual dimensions of food. Premiering Aug. 23, Shepherd will visit a bistro run by a pastor, a kosher deli, a halal butcher, a Catholic bakery and much more over the course of six episodes — all along the way asking the chefs about their spiritual journeys with food.
“For every single restaurant or chef I visited, food is their calling and it’s how they minister to people,” Shepherd told the Huffington Post.
Take for example Shepherd’s visit to Veniero’s, a pastry shop run by Catholic bakers in the Big Apple. There the 48-year-old learned how to make Sfingi, a fried pastry stuffed with ricotta cream and topped with crushed pistachios.
“The love that went into making this, it wasn’t just stirring the cream,” Shepherd said. “They felt they were doing a service to everyone who came to their bakery.”
As the daughter of a deacon, the marriage of faith and food is something Shepherd learned early on. On Sunday nights following services, she would watch as her mother lay elaborate feasts on the table for the family to enjoy. Shepherd recalled “a lot of laughter” as the table filled with her mother’s specialties including apricot-covered chicken, collard greens and peach cobbler.
It was those early years that instilled a deep understanding of the ways in which food can act as an outlet for deepening the connections between people. “It wasn’t just eating the food,” Shepherd said. “It was the fellowship with my family.”
Visit the show’s website for more. And you can get a taste of the show—ha!—from the preview below. And yes, I think that’s the celebrated clergy cook, Fr. Leo, dancing with her.
