Chef Felisha Nicholson brings us the tools and tastes of her family traditions in this digital series called Cooking with Chef Fe.
Meet Chef Fe
Chef Fe’s Recipes
Chef Fe’s Okra and Tomato Stew
Chef Fe shares a family favorite recipe that blends okra, tomatoes, corn and more into a delicious and hearty stew.
Chef Fe’s Buttermilk Fried Chicken
Chef Fe always thinks of her grandmother and auntie’s kitchens when she smells this recipe cooking up. She always
More about Chef Fe
The story of Felisha Nicholson, also known as Chef Fe, is about more than just someone who creates excellent meals. She also helps others learn about different foods and how to turn them into delicious feasts. Her motivation stems from her own childhood, where learning to cook was a bonding experience for her whole family.
A Leap of Faith
Felisha Nicholson’s first step on the road to success as a chef and cookbook author started when made pancakes for the first time as a child. “My parents always involved me in the kitchen,” she said. “I learned how to cook at a very young age, and I just never stopped.”
But cooking as a career was not her initial goal. Felisha studied to become a teacher and worked as an Elementary Math Specialist with the Leon County School District for years. Things changed during one of the most trying times for the entire world in recent memory: The COVID-10 pandemic.
At that time, Felisha stepped away from the classroom and back into the kitchen. She started a business called “The FE-Nominal Experience.” It provided special dining experiences for people in the privacy of their own homes. She also does cooking demonstrations and wrote a cookbook called “Cooking with Fe”. Felisha calls the move away from education “a leap of faith.” She says she realized she could do something she loved and could also bless customers with great food.
What’s cookin’?
Felisha planned two dishes for her first WFSU Cooking with Chef Fe recording session. First an Okra and Tomato stew as well as Buttermilk Fried Chicken. She got in her position in front of the camera, took her deep breath, and began. She was efficient in the way she chopped the tomatoes, created her seasoning plates, and fried the chicken, but she also explained why these meals were some of her favorites. As she mixed and fried the food, the scents rose in the kitchen along with the anticipation to eat it. When everything was presented at the end, it looked like something out of a magazine. One of the benefits of working on a cooking segment is we are able to taste the results. Both dishes were delicious!
“if you’re not sneezing, you’re not seasoning.”
Chef Fe
Tastes like home
Many of the meals Chef Fe makes come from recipes passed down from her own family. Chef Fe says the distinct and delicious aromas coming from the kitchen is what she remembers most from her childhood. “One of my favorite things about being at my grandmother’s house and my aunties’ house was coming in and smelling all of the food,” she says. “It feels like home to me.”
Part of the secret to her recipes is the very selective seasoning lists. At one point in the demonstration, a cloud of seasoning rose up when she added it to a flour mixture. She smiled and reassured us and her future viewers on the other side of the camera that it was all just part of the process. “If you’re not sneezing, you’re not seasoning,” she said.
Creating and sharing a legacy
Chef Fe has lived in Tallahassee her whole life. Her family can trace their roots back to before the Civil War. Here great-great grandfather was a slave in Leon County. The land he received at the end of the war has been passed down from generation to generation. “Every year we did the 20th of May celebrations there, which is our emancipation,” she says. “We have this huge celebration there where we invite people from all over the city and surrounding counties.” Food and fellowship is just some of the things they celebrate. “We have poetry readings and speeches and live bands.”
Chef Fe also has Creole roots as well with family in Louisiana and California. “I grew up not knowing a lot about that side of my family,” she explains. “So I really spent the past few years just really trying to delve into cooking those dishes and really feeling closer to home with them.”
Creating the feeling of home is exactly what she hopes people get out of her “Cooking with Chef Fe” segments. “I hope they feel the comfort there,” she says. She also hopes that people will find the recipes simple enough that they can pass it down to their own children and grandchildren. “I just really hope that it is something that people will just want to try and just experiment with and make it their own.”
Freddie Hall is a camera technician and photographer for WFSU Public Media. He's helped produce a digital series called Spotlight, which shines a light on local artistic and musical talent. Freddie earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Florida State University and an Associate of Arts degree from Tallahassee Community College. As a kid, Freddie always loved movies and TV shows, as well as discovering how they are made. While attending Florida State University, Freddie interned with the Red Hills Motion Picture Releasing Company as part of FSU's Torchlight Program. This is where his love for production and writing began. Freddie’s work at WFSU has helped make those dreams come to life.
Suzanne Smith is Executive Producer for Television at WFSU Public Media. She oversees the production of local programs at WFSU, is host of WFSU Local Routes, and a regular content contributor.
Suzanne’s love for PBS began early with programs like Sesame Street and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and continues to this day. She earned a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri with minors in political science and history. She also received a Master of Arts in Mass Communication from the University of Florida.
Suzanne spent many years working in commercial news as Producer and Executive Producer in cities throughout the country before coming to WFSU in 2003. She is a past chair of the National Educational Telecommunications Association’s Content Peer Learning Community and a member of Public Media Women in Leadership organization.
In her free time, Suzanne enjoys spending time with family, reading, watching television, and exploring our community.
