Vibrant Nation

Leading the specialty food revolution

I began my professional career in the food industry as The Other Woman Catering Company, catering for single men. Many of these men had small businesses and they entertained enough through their businesses that they needed somebody to handle the food. I never even met my clients. Their secretaries would call and order what they needed, and I would send it over in my dishes. Then I would get the dishes back all clean, with a check from the secretaries.

One day I got a call from this woman who said, "My name is Julee Russo. I've been eating your food for two years and I love it." She was the director of the domestics division of Burlington Industries and she needed a market week catered. After I did that for her, she was so happy she said, "I have an idea." In those days, many women had gone back to work--they were young lawyers, or in med school; very few were barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen. Women needed a place to pick up dinner on their way home from work because no one was cooking anymore. That's why Julee and I started The Silver Palate. It was in July of 1977. We were on the cutting edge of the specialty food revolution.

A groundbreaking cookbook

After The Silver Palate had been open for a while, everyone kept asking us for our recipes. Julee and I had never written a cookbook before. We just did it, you know, with the back of our hands. I think that's why The Silver Palate Cookbook turned out to be so much fun and so lively. We had no format to follow. We just wrote it the way we thought we would like to see a cookbook done. I illustrated it as well as writing it with Julee. I think we invented sidebars; plenty of other books contain sidebars now.

The Silver Palate Cookbook was a tough sell at first. Peter Workman wasn't all that interested in publishing it; we had to gather up all the PR we could and really push hard to sell this book. But we fought and pushed, and eventually convinced Peter. He's not sorry now!

Ready for anything

I had a very serious injury, a brain hemorrhage, in 1991. Afterwards, I had to learn how to walk again. I had to learn how to do everything again. It wasn't easy, but I decided I wasn't going to let the injury get the best of me, and it didn't. I fought it--and I came back. I'm a tough cookie. I think when you have to learn how to do most everything again, you get pretty tough. I can pretty much deal with anything now.

My life today is different from the way it was ten or 20 years ago, but it's very fulfilling. I have a great time. I don't have a husband anymore, but I have wonderful children and great-grandchildren. I write for Parade and I'm writing new cookbooks like Ten. I love my work and I love my family and I'm very happy.

Ten years from now, I see myself publishing another great cookbook. I love to cook and create new recipes--that's loud and clear. I may not know exactly what's next, but I know I'll always want to share that passion.

See two of Sheila's favorite recipes from her new cookbook, Ten:

• Asian orange chicken
• Roasted brined chicken

What dish captures the flavors of summer for you? Follow this link to share your favorite summer recipe--you may win a copy of Sheila's new cookbook!