Suzanne Somers Talks About Grandchildren

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Molly O'Neill is our Food Editor. She is the former food columnist for The New York Times Magazine. O'Neill is the author of three cookbooks, including the best-selling New York Cookbook (Workman Publishing, 1992), A Well Seasoned Appetite (Penguin, 1997), and The Pleasure of Your Company (Viking, 1997). She was the host of the PBS series Great Food, and edited the critically acclaimed anthology American Food Writing (Library of America, 2007). Her latest work, Mostly True: A Memoir of Family, Food, and Baseball (Scribner, 2006), recounts her childhood of growing up in a Major-League baseball family.

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by Molly O'Neill

The queen of healthy living teaches her grandchildren secrets of the kitchen

Television star Suzanne Somers evolved on our screens from bubbly blonde to fitness and food guru. At 61, her most important role is as grandmother of six, ages 4 to 13, whom she gathers together as often as she can in the kitchen of her Southern California home, to learn about organic foods, gourmet cooking techniques and the importance of breaking bread as a family.

GP: Have you always been a cook? From whom did you learn?
SS: Being an unemployed actress for many years, I took serious cooking classes at Jean Pragerson and Badia Colti Buono in preparation to teach cooking. Preparing a meal for my family or close friends is the best gift I can give them. I love the entire process and devoting time to it, and it pays off in their reactions.

GP: What does cooking mean to you as it relates to your grandkids?
SS: One of my grandkids is an astounding baker and she has plans to open her own bakery someday. The other five just love to hang around the kitchen while I cook, and they help me. It’s great to have five sous-chefs at the ready. Their favorite dish is “Zannie Balls,” a soup.

GP: What life lessons do you believe your grandkids have learned in your kitchen?
SS: That food is not just fuel, but should be an enjoyable — even hedonistic — experience. Because I grow most of my vegetables in my organic garden, they see how the garden works and how much fun it is. Then when we sit down to eat our harvest, I ask them to think of what it took to get this food to the table.

GP: Can you describe a “cooking” day with your grandkids?
SS: We decide collectively what we want for the meal and then we assign individual jobs to those who want to participate. I explain the importance of eating only organic meats and produce and of appreciating the cornucopia of food we always have on our table. One of our favorite activities is around the huge fire pit at our home around which we all gather at night, and the kids toast marshmallows and beat on Indian drums.

GP: What’s the best thing about being a grandparent?
SS: Now that I have perspective and can look back on my actions as a parent, I have corrected the mistakes in my relationships with my grandkids. I do feel that as a young single mother, I did the best job I could possibly do under very tough circumstances, so guilt is nonexistent.

Continue to Recipes: "Zannie" Ball Soup With Homemade Broth and Chocolate Soufflé With Whipped Cream & Hot Chocolate Sauce