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From the Magazine

In the Fridge with Vivian Howard

By: makenna.Kaminski

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Take a look at 5 things TV host Vivian Howard keeps in her fridge

Vivian Howard is an expert on all things kitchen, whether as a mother, two-time cookbook author, TV host, or restaurant owner. She seamlessly blends family, food, and storytelling to create the wholehearted atmosphere her fans adore. Between juggling her career and her home, Howard says, “I have two lives”—but both those lives involve cooking. The weeks she’s with her children, Howard says, “I make dinner about four nights a week and lunch every day.” She’s also recently opened the Kitchen Bar at Chef & the Farmer one weekend a month, when she’ll cook a tasting menu for two 14-person seatings and says she has been “really looking forward to cooking on that line again.”

Five Things in Vivian Howard’s Fridge:

1. Cabbage

“You can apply really high heat to it. You can poach it. You can pickle it. You can use it as a wrapper. It is the most versatile thing in the fridge,” Howard says.

2. Dave’s Killer English Muffins

The “little craggy holes” in these English muffins make them the perfect base for crunchy peanut butter and toppings as a snack.

3. Ground Meat

Howard tends to buy ground turkey, lamb, and pork to use “as a component in a dish rather than the center of it.”

4. Lemons and Limes

“Needs more acid” is Howard’s constant refrain when sampling food. She always keeps bags of lemons and limes on hand, making sure to squeeze out every drop of juice.

5. Chobani Coffee Creamers

“This is my current obsession and the only reason I get excited to go to the grocery store. I have a couple friends that when we see new ones in the wild, we text photos to each other.”

“People are like, ‘Oh my God, you cook so much.’ I’m like, ‘Well, what are we going to eat?”