Talking to Teresa Johnson

Four quick things:

• coolstuff.nyc
  teamed up with The Good Batch Bakery on a Summer’s End cake: peach jam, ginger base, goat cheese frosting, mint soak, an delectably unusual amalgam of southern ingredients that this new yorker is eager to try.

• On the actual last day of summer (sept 22) Vietnamese restaurant Mắm is hosting a one night collab with the none other than Pok Pok. Andy Ricker’s Thai restaurant was legendary, and I miss it a lot.

• Jacob Elordi hopping around in a jockstrap (!!!!) is the unfathomable climax of Paul Schrader’s OH, CANADA — my first movie of TIFF.

• The chocolate tart at Florette in Toronto was painstakingly good. (Update: thank you to my reader Shannon for the tip!!)

Teresa Johnson is a model, cook, a certified integrative holistic health coach. She’s catered and developed recipes to a clients like Madre Linen, Mara Hoffman, Avaline, and Pop-Up Grocer to name a few. Currently, she prepares postpartum meals for mothers—work that combines her background in hormonal health and food prep .

She’s also clocked time in front of the house at Eleven Madison Park, and Wylie Dufresne’s Stretch where we fortuitously met when she saw my name on the res list. An early subscriber of the newsletter, she has wide tastes and curious interests—including a thing for nun movies, which should make for a whole other post.

Find out what she’s she’s eating and watching below. Follow Teresa on instagram here and check out her website.

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Where did you grow up?  I spent 10 years in a suburban neighborhood near DC. Then I spent 14 years in Southeast Georgia. While I appreciate living the slow life in the South, as well as the opportunities and friendships I’ve formed while living there, I don’t feel as attached to it as I did while living in Virginia.

My life in Virginia was like a perfect little bubble that you see in movies; your best friends live next door who both call you by your family nickname, and you've eaten more dinners at their place than you can count. Your cousins live an hour or so away, who you spend countless days with. The high school you're destined to attend is just a few minutes away, as is your elementary school, named after the state bird: the Cardinal Forest. I moved to New York in 2018, and now here we are. 

How did you get into cooking? Around the age of 21 when I transitioned from an already plant loving omnivore into a whole food plant-based vegan after a scary experience with my gynecologist, birth control complications, and endometriosis symptoms.

How are food and movies connected for you? I find inspo through movies, music, colors, a feeling. I am heavily inspired by soundtracks in movies. I’m a sensual person, so I am sensitive to a director's choice of color and song to tell their characters' story. It’s like a starting point to build creativity on, and to get in the mood when thinking of something to prepare. A non-invasive way to flow naturally.

What’s the last thing you watched that moved you (to tears, to laughter, something else)? Alan Balls’ Six Feet Under on HBO (HBO forever) or Max, if you’re progressive. I’ve watched the entire series exactly twice. My first time was during the early weeks of quarantine, alone in my closet of a room at the infamous McKibbin Lofts, underneath a coffee stained weighted blanket with my cat, Baby snuggled near. The second watch/binge was with my partner around November or December of last year. It was his first time, and I was really glad to see his reactions and similar observations to each episode as I remembered my own. 

That show is probably my favorite and definitely ahead of its time. The ending gets me alway—death and all that surrounds it, how we never really know anyone as deeply as we think, and the questions and personal revelations that arise after a loved one leaves us, (but never really leaving).

What’s next on your watch list? The City of Lost Children (1995) 

What's stuck in your streaming queue that you still haven’t gotten around to? Boardwalk Empire…. It has been there for years, until recently. I can’t explain it. My mom has been recommending it for about the same amount of time that the show has been stuck in limbo. I just couldn’t do it, or rather, would find other things to watch.

What's the last movie you couldn't finish? La Cienaga (2001), Terrifier (2016)

An overrated movie or director? Poor Things (2023). The Godfather (1972), even though I love it.

What about underrated? Death Proof (2007). Please. So good. I watched it for the first time with my boyfriend the other night after seeing a still and thinking "oh yes." I spent the rest of the next day spiraling down a rabbit hole about Grindhouse films, Tarantino, and his double feature film pal, Robert Rodriguez. Pulp Fiction? Great. Popular. From Dusk Til' Dawn? Wonderful. Death Proof? I’d never heard of her, and so glad I experienced for the first time.

I was both turned on and mesmerized. I wanted to be friends with the first group of gals, was inspired by them, was glad to get a sneak peak into their lives, and bam, heartbroken shortly thereafter. Something a good movie truly does; a healthy obsession with the characters. A rollercoaster of suspense and disappointment. Just the good kind. 

What movie reminds you of childhood? Tremors (1990)

Tell me about an excellent meal you had recently. A truly Southwestern breakfast of smothered biscuits with sausage gravy, soft scrambled eggs on top, and a side of crisp bacon at The Middle Fork in Lander, Wyoming. Their slogan is “No phones or technology before coffee.” 

What do you like to make for a loved one? Roasted chicken.

Where are you a regular? The corner store near wherever I’m living. Colina Cuervo or Little Zelda for coffee. 

Your parents are in town; where do you take them? We have food at home! 

An underrated restaurant, bar, dish, or ingredient? I'm gatekeeping my favorite restaurant, which I think should remain underrated. But underrated ingredients… eggplant and the egg. Sometimes even together.

What’s your preferred treat/pick-me-up?  A good bev. It doesn't matter what it is, as long it fits your mood.

What’s the best dessert? I don't eat many desserts, but I do love a good blackberry pie or a chocolate tart. Anything that's subtle and sweet and catches my eye, like a plain scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Your favorite pasta shape?  Ziti, cute bow ties, and classic spaghetti. 

What’s always in your freezer? Trader Joe's bags of spinach, a loaf of bread. 

What do you consider a cheap luxury?  A coke with lemon, on ice.

Theresa recommends…

A seemingly perfect little girl's sinister nature is unveiled when her dark secrets and chilling deeds unravel her family's lives.

Why the Bad Seed? The Bad Seed (1956). My mom introduced it to me when I was 10 years old. She’s the movie queen and her taste is impeccable really. It was the talk amongst my closest friends at the time because there was this blonde horse-girl at our church named Raven, who was basically Rhoda. We were obsessed with the comparison and drama. One of my favorite scenes is in when Rhoda goes "It was mine, the medal was mine!" repeatedly in the living room.

It’s also where my obsession with serial killers and any short-lived “I’m gonna be a forensics psychologist when I grow up” bit came from. There’s a psychological backstory is a slow reveal that bled through a little bit at a time, and it didn’t feel forced. I loved that connection and seeing the analysis on screen in an older movie.

Have you seen any of the remakes? And no remakes, I made it my mission to avoid them.

Ed note: Related movies on this subject: We Need to Talk About Kevin, Pearl, The Good Son 

Watching the movie so young, did you want to wear your hair in perfectly plaited pigtails with bows like Rhoda? No, but it did start my obsession with food in movies! Rhoda’s pbnj always stuck out to me. I had always wanted to have it with apricot juice like she does, to wash down her “vitamins.” I was like mom, I need this stocked and ready for me. I could never drink a glass of milk. 

If you were to make a pb&j now—what kind of jam, what kind of nut butter? As For jam I like dark berries, not grape. Something like this. Creamy Jif always. Crunchy peanut butter has a time and place, maybe in a cookie, but I don't want to do any extra work. I want my sandwich soft, on white and tender bread. I want to feel like I'm in the 50s when I have one. 

Controversial question in my household: Would you ever toast the bread? I had an ex who used to do that. Sure, it was tasty, but again, too much effort. I don't need a gourmet sticky sandwich. 

Teresa’s restaurant pick below.