By Katie O'Connor
The Kelly twins spent years in the food industry—including Maggie's stint as executive chef/owner of Hot Locust Café and Bridget's as food stylist for Breaking Bread with Father Dominic—before taking to the airwaves in an effort to demystify cooking and shine a spotlight on the local culinary scene. Local foodies can catch them twice a week, chatting up area chefs, answering listeners' calls and doling out how-to tips as hosts of TV's Twice Baked and radio's Food Talk, now in their fifth and sixth years, respectively.
What made you choose to do a cooking show?
B: Because we didn't want to cater. You're still dealing with the same constraints as with a restaurant: You're working when everybody else is socializing, and you're working on someone else's schedule. And we want to be moms; by doing radio and television, we're able to schedule ourselves. M: We control our own hours; we control our own content. B: No one can tell us to put on grass skirts and belly-dance on the set—which I've seen, by culinarians, and it's not pretty.
What's your goal for the shows?
B: To make money, put our kids through college. M: And to not die in a kitchen with bad legs and a bad back. You can't be a line cook forever. B: The mission evolved. A lot of cooking shows don't really teach people how to cook. And we realized that if we could get out there, perhaps we could be a good voice ... M: ... for the stressed-out mom, for the dad who is trying to feed his kids by himself, for people who are discouraged, people who are a couple generations into "nobody in my family cooked." Bridget married a microwave guy—who now cooks. We understand how hard it is; we're in the trenches, too. We know what it's like to go to the grocery store with kids. We just want people to make the effort, to give some thought to their lifestyle; they're not putting good food into their bodies. You can buy some things that are partially prepared. I'm even OK with frozen vegetables, but eat vegetables!
Do you have a dream guest?
B: Julia Child. M: I've already had mine: Judy [Rogers, owner of San Francisco's renowned Zuni Café].
What's the strangest question you've gotten?
B: Off-air: "If I hit you, will she feel it?" On-air: "What is Scottish crack?" We had to look that one up. It's a hard candy. M: We don't get stumped on air very often—though at first I was terrified I would be. B: And I've got chefs' numbers programmed on my cell just in case we do.
Twice Baked airs daily at 9:30 a.m. on Charter Communications' CCIN; Food Talk with the Kelly Twins airs 5-6 p.m. Saturdays on KTRS (550 AM).
