Tamu McPherson:

So dear, you are such a delicious person. Tell me about your background and how you got so delicious.

Woldy Reyes:

So part of my deliciousness basically comes from my two parents. My mom and dad. They're both from the Philippines and they immigrated to United States in the 70s and had me and my twin brother.

Tamu McPherson:

You're a twin?

Woldy Reyes:

I have a twin.

Tamu McPherson:

Your names are?

Woldy Reyes:

His name is Wally.

Tamu McPherson:

And you're Woldy? Let's get the pronunciation right.

Woldy Reyes:

So, typically when people can't pronounce my name, I would then say, it sounds like 'moldy', but flip it. The M is W.

Tamu McPherson:

Oh, the visual. You give them a visual.

Woldy Reyes:

Yeah. So I'm not moldy, but I'm Woldy. And I have my twin brother, Wally. Unfortunately he's straight, and-

Tamu McPherson:

Shade.

Woldy Reyes:

Yeah. And I'm here, a queer delicious chef living in New York City. Celebrating all parts of me: I'm queer. I'm first generation Filipino American. I'm deaf–I'm all of these things. And what I enjoy, what I'm doing now as a chef, is to sort of share all my identity onto a plate. 

Tamu McPherson:

I love. Okay. We've prepared this gorgeous dessert and I got to witness and feel firsthand how all of your beauty just flows into your creations.

Woldy Reyes:

Yes. Thank you. 

Tamu McPherson:

It’s tantalizing.

Woldy Reyes:

Thank you. Well, I'm also kind of just like the bibingka, so I feel like that dessert that we made is a culmination of everything that I am. There's seasonal aspects of it, which is the stone fruit, the coconut flavor that's there in the coconut mousse, and then the cake, which is the base. It's just the foundation of who I am. So I think that's why I am, as you said, delicious.

Tamu McPherson:

You know what, I'm going to tell you something. My name actually means delicious.

Woldy Reyes:

Wait, you Tamu? 

Tamu McPherson:

Tamu. It means ‘delicious’ in Swahili.

Woldy Reyes:

Wow, I didn't know that.

Tamu McPherson:

It means sweet or delicious food.

Woldy Reyes:

Well now that stone fruit mousse cake is ‘Tamu’.

Tamu McPherson:

Do you know what I loved about what happened when we decorated the cake with all of the ingredients? There was one error that I made, when I spilled the cream on the platter, and you let me clean it up. But I feel like that's very important in our journey of life, taking care of an error. I love that you let me graciously do it, and that you weren't in any way upset that I did it, and it bothered me and it was like my OCD coming out. What do you think about errors in life when you're moving to find who you are, and maybe even your parents, how they nurtured you as you grew into the person that you are today?

Woldy Reyes:

I feel like errors, the way I kind of understand errors is it's part of life and you understand and you learn from them and then it makes you who you are as a person. Growing up, I think error in my mind was also something relates to my identity. I felt like the errors were perhaps me being, having this hearing disability and also trying to assimilate into the American culture. I felt like my being Filipino was an error. And now where I am now 37 years old–

Tamu McPherson:

Oh my gosh, you don’t look a day over 18.

Woldy Reyes:

Oh, thank you. I look like jail bait. And I'm grateful that I look 18, but I think it's because of my coconut glowy brown skin. But yeah, growing up I felt like those, to me, were errors. And what I was seeing out on television is telling me different. And I think as I grew up and then on this journey of just evolving as a person and understanding who I am and surrounding myself with other people who are also confident made those errors… I started to just release them and be more positive and really lean into loving myself as being first generation and also being deaf and also being queer. And I feel like also how my parents showed up and raising my brothers and I, they were unapologetically being Filipino and themselves and celebrating who they are. And back then I thought that was embarrassing to me. But now they were just being sort of strong and celebrating just who they are and by the food that they fed us traditional Filipino food. So to me, Filipino food was something that my parents really fed us, nourished us, and also just being themselves and then instilling us to luxuriate in all of that.

Tamu McPherson:

I think the one thing that I really sense about you is a fearlessness and a courage. And does that come from them?

Woldy Reyes:

Fearlessness? I think it's probably stems from trauma. Oh yeah. My dad passed away when I was 14–

Tamu McPherson:

Oh, I'm sorry.

Woldy Reyes:

It's fine. It happened quite long ago. And also my mom was dealing with her own grief and her own personal mental struggles. So I just had to sort of navigate and be kind of on my own. But I also had family around and I always felt like the need to just try to fix something or just to try to overcome something. So I feel like maybe that sort of stems my fearlessness is to constantly be prepared. Or just like today, I brought a cake, but I feel like it stems from growing up and trying to disappear and not be upfront so much because I was embarrassed by all of these things. And then dealing with the loss of my father and also dealing with my mom, it was just being in a survival mode. So I feel like maybe that fearlessness is just like I can probably tackle on a lot of things and just go in with, well just keep going and moving forward and then not thinking of what's going to happen, but in my gut I'm going to be okay.

Tamu McPherson:

Okay. So have you taken the time to exercise or discover ways that you can counterbalance this survival mode? Do you do take care of yourself?

Woldy Reyes:

I do take care of myself, to be honest. I like to also take care of other people. I feel like cooking is a way to absolutely nourish people and also share my culture. For me, that's where I get joy and gratification and taking care of myself is taking care of people. I don't know. That's how I feel. I get the enjoyment of just knowing that the act of cooking and making and feeding people is something that really nourishes my heart and my mind and my body. But aside from that, there are other things that I do nourish myself. 

Tamu McPherson:

That's why you're so sexy.

Woldy Reyes:

I mean, I try. I mean, I enjoy being where I am, and I also try to make sure I nourish myself with healthy foods. I think this also stems from being a practicing bottom. So that also informs me what types of food that I'm putting in my body. Eating high fiber foods.

Tamu McPherson:

Can you explain to our audience who might not know what a practicing bottom is?

Woldy Reyes:

Well, so for those of you who don't know what a practicing bottom is, it is a sexual position in queer relationship–or, it doesn't have to be a relationship–that you receive it. You're receiving the dick in your bussy. Bussy means: butt pussy.

Tamu McPherson:

So, let's get more into food because I think you have walked us through the essence of your. For those of us who are from a diaspora–we were talking about my very fun, eclectic diaspora before–food is everything. Just like food for you is everything. I'm seeing it, I'm breathing it, I'm feeling it. And this is how we connect with our ancestors. And you talked about your parents and how they were so proud of their food and you're very, very fortunate that they were and that they influenced you like that. But growing up, you've said this before, growing up, you were really influenced by all of the communities that you were surrounded by. How does all of this yumminess blend together?

Woldy Reyes:

So, I grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles. It is called Walnut, California. And there was a predominantly Asian community, as well as the Hispanic community, Mexican community there. And my family just enjoyed eating. And so, we would go to these different grocery stores, either would be a 99 Ranch market, which is predominantly Asian ingredients. And then we would go to a Mexican supermarket, which has all these amazing Mexican produce and ingredients. So, by just going and shopping with my parents or my grandmother, they would just accumulate all this different stuff and bring it home. And then they would just utilize it and make something. And I felt that was very exciting and interesting. And so as I grew up and starting to cook for myself and cooking for other people, I kind of wanted to think about how they source their ingredients from all these different markets and how I could do that for myself and share all the different cultures and make something that is new and exciting.

So I'm just fortunate that my parents exposed us, not only our Filipino culture, but also they were open to other types of food and we were just big eaters. And that's why I'm a chef, because I always like to eat and want to share with people the food that I create. And I think that's just a combination of a lot of my own experiences. And then being where I am today, living in New York City, it's like a melting pot of different cultures, and why not use other ingredients? Then blending it in with traditional things that I grew up eating and making that really exciting. So, I think that takes me where I am today as this individual that is open-minded. And I feel like people sometimes are not quite so, but I feel like you have to come in trying new things with an open heart, with an open belly and an open mind. If you're kind of closed up and you're afraid… what is there to be afraid of? I feel like you should come in with a bit of openness. 

I feel like that perhaps where I am is because of all the things that I am and trying to be as open and open to different possibilities. And you might be surprised because when people first see me, they say, oh, you can talk. And I'm like, yes. And then they see my hearing aid, like, oh, what's that? And then I'm like, oh, it’s my hearing aid. And they’ll be like, oh, you're a chef, how can you hear when you're in the kitchen? I'm like, well, I just need my own space. And make sure that I communicate to people like, oh, you can yell at me. It doesn't sound violent because my hearing loss is lower. So it comes as a surprise to people. So I feel like you have to be a little bit more open and not have this sort of preconceived idea of somebody. I dunno, that's kind of where my head is at.

Tamu McPherson:

Yeah. Well, it feels like nourishment is 360. So, it's not only the act of eating something, but it's the act of being, because nourishing yourself with interaction, you're nourishing yourself if you're open.

Woldy Reyes:

Yes. Being open is just having that curiosity and you absorbing that nourishment through either listening, seeing, tasting, it's literally nourishing your brain, you're nourishing your heart and you're nourishing your belly. So it's a holistic experience.

Tamu McPherson:

It's holistic. Maybe holistic is a better word than 360. It's holistic.

Woldy Reyes:

Yeah. Touching, tasting, seeing listening, hopefully. 

Tamu McPherson:

How long have you been operating your wildly successful catering business, Woldy Kusina?

Woldy Reyes:

Thank you. I feel like I'm still going and pivoting since the pandemic. I started out in 2016. I just wanted to work for myself and I enjoy cooking. And so for me, this is the dream was to have eventually a restaurant and catering was a stepping stone to get to that point. So I wanted to create a client base so that there is a reason to have a brick and mortar restaurant, so that I can sort of cater to my clients. And then there's a place for people to come. And I've done that 2016 and into 2020. And then 2020 stopped, obviously because of the pandemic I wasn't catering as much. And so I pivoted into initially making meals for healthcare workers and people who are suffering from food insecurity during that time. So that kept me going and gave a purpose, and then doing pop-ups. And when we started to open up again, I started to do catering. And especially in New York City, everybody likes to do events. So, I'm your go-to person if you want something very chic, beautiful cultural dining experience, you're coming to me.  When you email me, you know what you're getting. You're not going to get a cookie cutter catering experience. You're going to get something that is elevated. You're going to get something colorful. You're going to get something stylish. I come with a package. 

Tamu McPherson:

You are the full package.

Woldy Reyes:

So I feel like I've just been just genuinely authentically myself. And I guess people kind of like me sometimes. And I also present beautiful food, and I think you eat with your eyes first. And I drew that really well, just making sure that I am romanticizing the food and people eat with their eyes, and when they start to taste it, they're kind of blown away. I'm like, yeah, honey, it's not just pretty. It's good too. Again, it has to be a holistic experience. That's probably why people may say I am successful. I feel like I'm still working hard like everybody else. But I think maybe perhaps I'm being noticed more and recognized more. I think that probably equates to success, which I'm grateful for, is that I'm being visible so that I can also share myself and hopefully I can inspire people who may be feeling less confident in themselves. And so if I'm going to be that person who is all of these things and is successful and I can give inspiration to someone, I'm doing something right.

Tamu McPherson:

Okay. So now that you are booked and busy and you are in more and more spaces, how have you, as a queer man who is living with deafness and who's a man of color, noticed any positive changes in the restaurant and food industry since 2016?

Woldy Reyes:

So this is just based on my own experience. I never worked at a restaurant. I've worked as a server. But to me, it's like I understood how hard it was working in a commercial restaurant kitchen. There's a lot of abuse, and I just never really wanted to go that route. So, one of the reasons I started my own catering business was so that I can feel comfortable with the type of people that I wanted to surround myself with, which was primarily queer people, women, people of color. That's the environment that I really felt comfortable in. Especially feminine energy is something I felt really comfortable in. I just never really… the male masculine energy was something that I didn't vibe with well. So, I knew that I had to create a safe space for myself so that I can be confident in the work that I'm doing.

So, I'm just sort of making sure that I feel comfortable and the people around me feel comfortable. And that's how I’m perhaps making this shift in the ways that the work culture is different, based on how you want to be in a space and feel safe? A lot of the people that I work with are chefs that are friends of mine. We have these conversations where we just want to be in a space that is safe and there isn't a toxic type work environment. We just want to create. We want to be happy, we want to nourish people. And I feel like there is a new wave of chefs that are more about being community-oriented and taking care of people as opposed to, I don't know, being the one person show. It takes a whole village to create something really delicious and celebrate all of us together and sort of lift all of us up together. I'm going to go into a space that is new, that wasn't possible for me, and I'm going in there, I'm going to take everybody else with me. And to see the possibilities of being just you, being loving, being nourishing to me, it is going to be more successful. So I come in with love. 

Tamu McPherson:

I love you.

Woldy Reyes:

I love you too. And you're Tamu, you're delicious and sweet. Thank you.