Deborah VanTrece has always been the underdog. The longtime flight attendant started culinary school in the wake of a workers’ strike that left her feeling vulnerable. She was one of the few Art Institute of Atlanta students with no professional experience (and had a baby at home) but still graduated at the top of her class. Her first restaurant, in sleepy, ‘90s East Atlanta Village, was the definition of D.I.Y.—with chairs collected from various curbs and wall murals painted by a neighbor—but she found success by expanding the boundaries of the cooking on which she was raised: soul food. “I felt it was a cuisine that was not getting the respect that it should get,” she says. “And I wanted to do something about it.”
After years spent raising her daughter and experimenting with a flourishing catering business, in 2014, she opened Twisted Soul, where her takes on Southern fried chicken and mac ‘n’ cheese are elevated with global influences. The 58-year-old sees Twisted Soul as a celebration of historically black cuisine. “I’m proud of its history. I’m proud of its flavors,” she says. “It’s people who were making something out of nothing.”
VanTrece’s unlikely success also motivates her to address the lack of diversity within Atlanta’s dining community. Last year, she teamed up with two colleagues to start the Cast Iron Chronicles, a local dinner series they hoped would foster conversations about diversity, mentorship, and opportunity for women and minorities in the food industry. She chose the event’s name because, like cast iron, she’s tenacious. “There’s no fear here,” she says of herself, smiling. “And if there is, it’s going to last about five minutes, and then I’m gonna have a shot of tequila and keep it moving.”
