Local chef brings “California Soul” to the Coachella Valley

Chef Betty Berrysmith, the owner of the meal pickup service, Chef B’s Table CaliSoul, says that cooking is her love language. 

“Once it's on the plate and when people eat it and say, 'Oh my god, this is so good.' You can feel that feeling that they have that you were trying to put into the food,” says Berrysmith. 

Berrysmith offers a variety of traditional Southern staples with a West Coast-inspired twist. Some of her most popular dishes include her seafood, chicken and sausage gumbo, black-eyed pea hummus and sweet potato cookies. 

The chef embraces “California Soul” style cooking - a fusion of classic Southern cuisine and fresh, local produce. 

“It's my heritage, it's my roots, traditional Southern roots, and being able to reinvent those here in California with this bounty of local, fresh produce and ingredients. It's just the best of both worlds,” Berrysmith says. 

Berrysmith describes that she feels like the embodiment of both worlds. The chef was born to two Southern parents who raised their family in Seattle, Washington. 

She remembers that mealtimes, particularly on Sundays, were an opportunity to connect with others; a principle she holds dear to this day. 

 “We’d all sit down to eat on Sundays. That was a great meal. We would set a nice table and my mom would cook wonderful things. As soon as I was old enough to cook, I helped too. We all sat down and enjoyed a meal together. And inevitably there would be someone from the community who would be at the table on Sunday with us sharing our meal.”

Berrysmith says that one of her biggest culinary influences was her godmother, Mama Lee. She still has the cookbook Mama Lee referred to as a baseline for her one-of-a-kind recipes. 

“I really treasure it [the cookbook] because looking through it reminds me of her cooking. She made the best red beans and rice. She made wonderful cornbread and her cornbread was the only one I would eat as a kid. She made tea cakes, and I have been chasing her tea cake recipe. I can't quite get it in the way that she does it,” says Berrysmith. 

Berrysmith remembers her first solo attempt at cooking that hooked her on the craft. 

“I made these little hard, crunchy looking biscuits. My father said, 'Oh, these are so good. These are so wonderful.' I was so proud of my little biscuits.” 

Despite being recognized for her culinary talents, Berrysmith did not pursue cooking professionally until she entered her 40's. She worked in the fashion industry and took on administrative roles until requests for her home cooking started to pour in. 

“People were asking me to cook things. One friend said, 'Okay, we have a potluck at work, and I need a pasta salad. Can you cook it for me? And I'll pay you for it?'... I thought, well, maybe I should look into a culinary career.”

Berrysmith took a leap of faith and enrolled in the Los Angeles Trade Technical College where she graduated with a Culinary Arts degree. With her degree and refined cooking skills in tow, Berrysmith redefined her path, working multiple jobs as a chef and caterer. 

In 2008, Berrysmith moved to North Carolina where she met her wife of 11 years, Terry, and got a job working as a corporate chef. Berrysmith says that the reality of working in the culinary industry in the South was a culture shock. 

“All the Black people were working in the back. Cooks who had degrees, four-year degrees and two-year degrees working in the back… I thought, this is not what I'm used to,” Berrysmith says. 

The experience reinstilled the principles that her parents taught her early on. 

“You have to know people and look in their eyes. You have to sit down and share a meal with people to really understand that we're all the same,” Berrysmith says. 

Years later, life brought Betty and her wife Terry to the Coachella Valley, where the idea for Chef B’s Table CaliSoul was born. 

Berrysmith obtained a Microenterprise Home Kitchen permit from Riverside County and started operating her meal pickup service right as the Covid-19 pandemic began. 

“This worked perfect for me and perfect for a lot of the people who got home cooking, contactless... it was just continuing to provide comfort for people,” Berrysmith says. 

Now, Berrysmith receives weekly orders from loyal customers and requests for special events. 

Her most recent catering endeavor was for the Black History Month showcase at the Palm Springs Art Museum. 

Berrysmith says she hopes to continue to share her love of food, community and cultural legacy for years to come. 

“I always loved cooking. I love being in the kitchen. The smells. Hearing people talk about food. It just is in my DNA,” says Berrysmith.