Bobby Parrish is a passionate home cook who went to the best culinary school around: his mom’s kitchen. His dream was to be on the Food Network but after they rejected his application for the next Food Network star, he decided to start a YouTube channel: FlavCity. Fast-forward seven years and Bobby has now racked up 1.21M subscribers, won multiple cooking competitions, and has even been featured on cooking shows such as the Rachel Ray Show!
This all started with Bobby and his wife, Dessi, filming online cooking videos for the sole purpose of proving that healthy food can taste good and that home cooks can be rock stars in the kitchen. Little did they know that only a few years later, Bobby would quit his job in finance, Dessi would quit her job in corporate America, and they would turn their two-bedroom Chicago condo into a production studio involving all things food.
You can follow Bobby and Dessi’s exciting journey and find daily recipes and content on their FlavCity YouTube channel as well as their blog FlavCity.com!
Your latest book, 5 Ingredient Semi-Homemade Meals, is all about quick, delicious meals you can make at home with very few ingredients, what inspired you to create this type of cookbook?
I realized that there are not many cookbooks that educate the home cook on what to buy at the grocery store and why. Since that is my expertise, I thought it would be fun to combine all of my shopping knowledge together with my cooking skills, and create a really unique book.
Along with the 50+ tasty and healthy recipes, your new cookbook also contains helpful grocery shopping tips and insight. What is your best advice for anyone who gets easily overwhelmed at the grocery store?
It’s all about baby steps, because the whole process is very overwhelming. Start by reading ingredients, don’t both looking at the front of the package. If you can avoid cane sugar, processed oil, and nasty preservatives, you are over half-way there. The rest I teach you in the book and on my FlavCity YouTube channel.
Your YouTube channel, FlavCity with Bobby Parrish, has an incredible following with an extensive and devoted fan based- have you had an interaction with a follower that really resonated with you or stood out to you in any way?
I get emails and messages every day with really impactful and heart felt stories about how my content has helped people turn around there health and even save their life. It’s really humbling, and kind of surreal. Keep in mind that I produce all of my content in a bubble with my good friend. I put it out in the universe and it has this ripple effect that I can’t even comprehend most times. It’s really wild!
This is now the second cookbook you and your wife, Dessi, have created together- what is your favorite part about working together?
The fact that we can do it all by ourselves. Creating a cookbook with three people, in three months, in a two-bedroom condo is not something most people do. I love getting in the creative space and just running with in and not having any one or any thing in my way.
Keto Meal Prep, your first book with Mango, had an incredible release and now 5 Ingredient Semi-Homemade Meals is flying off the shelves. How does it feel to know that your books and recipes are truly resonating with people?
It’s a very surreal and humbling process. Once again, I create everything in this bubble, and I move so fast and try to never look back. To see the book resonate with people and get such glowing reviews is a great feeling, but I try not to get an ego or celebrate success too much, I am always moving on to the next idea.
If you could only make one recipe from 5 Ingredient Semi-Homemade Meals for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
That’s kind of the beauty of the book, you need just a few items and you can make many recipes. If I had to choose one, I would go with the chicken fried wild rice, so darn satisfying.
What is one thing you want your readers to take away from 5 Ingredient Semi-Homemade Meals? Are you hoping they learn any particular lessons or feel a certain feeling while flipping through the pages?
I want folks to feel confident that when they walk into a grocery store, they have the knowledge to buy the best ingredients and products for their family. Once they get home, they can make easy and healthy meals and feel great about the whole process.
On a personal note, how are you nourishing your own soul and taking care of yourself during this chaotic time?
Honestly, not much has changed for me. Before all of this started I cooked, grocery shopped, and went to the gym, and that’s what I continue to do. It’s all about my bubble.
Rapid Fire Questions:
Favorite place in the world? Home
Go to coffee (or tea) order? Organic loose leaf jasmine tea
Summer or winter? Summer
Pancakes or waffles? Paleo pancakes
Last book you read? Real food Fake food
5 Ingredient Semi-Homemade Meals
50 Easy & Tasty Recipes Using the Best Ingredients from the Grocery Store
An introduction to easy cooking. Cooking doesn’t have to be complicated. Food Network champion Bobby Parrish shares the ins and outs of semi-homemade meals and assures us that his quick and easy recipes are doable for anyone and everyone. By keeping the recipes to five ingredients, Bobby demonstrates just how easy cooking can be. From savory snacks to simple dinner ideas packed with flavor, this easy (and healthy!) recipe book is just what your kitchen needs.
keto meal prep by flavcity
125+ Low Carb Recipes That Actually Taste Good (Keto Cookbook, Keto Diet Recipes, Keto Foods, Keto Dinner Ideas)
Keto and meal prep are both trending very strong now, and FlavCity is positioned as a food authority in this space. Good content always wins out, and the authors’ keto meal prep content is top class and presented in a personal way that ensures the casual consumer will choose the book over others. FlavCity is about Bobby and Dessi, two passionate home cooks who just want to hook you up with tasty, healthy recipes. Keto Meal Prep by FlavCity will have a total of 75 recipes, but one can argue that since many of the meal prep recipes contain 1-2 recipes each, it’s really so many more. Keto Meal Prep by FlavCity will be organized by breakfast, lunch, and dinner but also by the various proteins featured. Each recipe will have headnotes and 1-2 photos. The book will also have a dietary restriction chart that will easily identify each recipe as GF, DF, Paleo, etc.