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Food has always been in my life. Being born in Ethiopia, where there was a lack of food, and then really cooking with my grandmother Helga in Sweden. And my grandmother Helga was a cook's cook.

Most of us have fond memories of food from our childhood. Whether it was our mom's homemade lasagna or a memorable chocolate birthday cake, food has a way of transporting us back to the past.

I think that food ties us to our community and our traditions, and it's the thing that makes us feel good and connected.

I realized that food was actually a metaphor for bringing us all together. It's about us communicating and being like family.

There is a tradition in Southern cooking of recipes handed down for generations. And when I make my grandmother's strawberry pie - she is gone on now - I feel her right with me.

Food brings back memories. I had a mom that wasn't a good cook, so I would eat my grandma's food. It was amazing because it brings back a time almost in Technicolor. I see her house, I see her stove; I think about what it felt like when I was sick, and it felt like love.

I'm from South Georgia, so my mom, she always cooked some dang good food when I was growing up.

Most of my food memories are of my Nan cooking Sunday dinners - roasts of meat with lots of vegetables. I suppose I cook what's comforting and dishes that make me feel good.

In the South, the food is outstanding. Down south, we eat to get full, and the people up north, they don't do that.

My parents traveled a lot, so my grandparents practically raised me. My grandmother and I really bonded in the kitchen. She's this amazing southern cook, and I would always help her - whether it was cracking eggs or stirring the green beans. It takes me back there.