THERE’S A quiet kind of magic IN THE WAY MODEL & FOOD CREATOR Nara Smith COOKS.

IT'S ROOTED IN nostalgia, BUT SHE MAKES IT her own.

Long before her from-scratch recipes started going viral, it was her grandmother’s oatmeal, warm with cinnamon and sugar, that shaped her earliest memories in the kitchen. What began as a quest to create foods that quelled her eczema flare-ups evolved into a full-fledged brand built squarely on Smith's natural creativity and exquisite taste.

She isn’t just showing you how to whip up cough drops and breakfast cereal from scratch — she’s doing it in a ballgown. It’s this kind of marriage between food and style that keeps our interest. As a mother of four, Smith is building something far bigger than homemade dishes. She’s crafting a world where food, fashion, and storytelling intersect (even if it takes seven hours to bring a single idea to life).

With her debut cookbook Homemade on the way, she’s inviting her audience even deeper into her world.

Read about Nara Smith’s journey in her C&C 100 interview below.

What are some of your earliest memories of food that still bring you joy? Did it center around the holidays, or were you regularly helping your family out with everyday meals?

I think it was predominantly my grandma. There's so many memories that I have of my grandma in the kitchen. One of the things she would make a lot is just simple oatmeal with cinnamon and sugar. The smell of it is seared into my mind. Seeing her stand at the stove in her kitchen, stirring the pot with her hands and how her fingers held the spoon was always such an amazing memory. And then she would always make us peppermint tea to go with it. Everything she did in the kitchen was always so beautiful to me without realizing it at that age. Everything she cooked was very simple, but she always made very simple, humble ingredients feel so special and delicious.

When did you realize food could become your work—not just a side quest?

I got diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and then also suffered from really bad eczema growing up in Germany. When I moved to the U.S., I wasn't quite aware of all the preservatives and chemicals and things that happen in our food. So I went to the grocery store not thinking twice about what I was buying. Then, the more I learned about my autoimmune disease and how to deal with a flare up, that's kind of what led me to looking at ingredients more and then predominantly making things from scratch at home.

Many people might think a food content creator’s job is just to experiment with delicious recipes all day, but what’s a surprisingly challenging aspect of your work?

I would say it's just a matter of time. I always say to my husband, if I could work 24 hours every single day and be in the kitchen, whether that's work and filming it or just experimenting in the kitchen, I would because things always take double as long as I think they do… maybe also because I'm a perfectionist and want to get it right. But I think one of the things is that filming a video does actually take the whole day if it's something elaborate. That's what people don't realize. It's a minute and a half on your screen, but it's seven hours in my kitchen filming.

“It's a minute and a half on your screen, but it's seven hours in my kitchen filming.”

Can you walk me through your creative process of developing a recipe? Are they always at the request of your kids and husband, or do you plan some of them in advance?

I think it really depends on what the recipe is. Sometimes, I have an idea in my mind that I want to execute. A lot of the time, if my video starts with “my husband was craving” or “my kids were asking,” they actually were. And then I'm like, just give me like three business days and I'll get it done for you. It depends on what it is. Sometimes when Lucky's like, “I want a milkshake,” I'll say let's do it right now, and then I just film it. So I think it really just depends on what the video is, what my ideas are, and how I feel with my inspiration.

Beyond food, you’ve generously shared so much of your life online including the recent birth of your fourth child (congratulations!). How do you discern what to share and what not as your popularity grows?

When it comes to my kids, they're obviously so precious to me. But they didn't choose this life that I'm living, so I never want to put them in a position that could compromise their safety or their childhood. I just want them to be children, and they have nothing to do with what I do on the Internet. But then obviously, they are also a massive part of my everyday life. So I think finding the balance of protecting their privacy, but also letting people know that I am a mom, that's really important to me. I just draw the line and have boundaries around my kids and then with other things in my life, I think it really is just a gut feeling. I usually operate out of a place of, if this could help someone or make someone feel some type of way, then I would love sharing that with people while obviously protecting certain boundaries. But I just want people to also see me as human. I used to be very vulnerable. Then that kind of shifted because of everyone's opinions and thoughts on me, and going through postpartum, I just needed to protect my mental health. Now, I feel like I can kind of branch out and do that again. I think it's always a learning curve, and I’m navigating it as the moments arise.

How would you describe your approach to cooking right now?

My kitchen has been under construction for the last three months, so there's no real approach. It's “let's try to make it work.” But usually I think I love going to the grocery store. I love going to farmers markets and seeing what's seasonal. I get inspired by the colors or by things people talk about. Sometimes, I literally chat to a lady shopping next to me in Whole Foods and I'm like, “so what are you making? Your cart looks really fun.” I’m kind of just getting inspiration from everything around me. Then usually, whatever I have in the fridge is kind of what I build around. So if I have a chicken, I'll be like, “what direction are we going for?” In the summer, it's probably a roast chicken. In the winter, it's probably chicken noodle soup.

You just announced your debut cookbook Homemade. What’s been your favorite part of putting this book together?

Genuinely, every single stage of putting this book together—from the writing to the recipe testing, to finalizing the recipes, to shooting the recipes, coming up with chapter openers, the cover, thinking about the fashion and the food— every single part was so integral to make all of this come together that I can't really pick my favorite moment. I feel like one wouldn't exist without the other. I don't have a favorite moment, but obviously shooting the cover and shooting the chapter openers, which were more creative in terms of fashion and food and kind of pushing the boundaries a little bit, that's where I thrive. I love being creative. So doing that was really fun. I had an amazing team around me that saw the vision, could make it come to life, and were just so open to all of my crazy ideas.

What types of recipes can we expect to see? Are these highly requested recipes that have gone viral, or is it a brand new batch of dishes?

It's a hybrid of a few different things. There's classic recipes that people just have been begging me for, like the Cheez-Its, the Oreos, and my Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. But then there's also recipes that I grew up eating that my grandma or my dad used to cook, or things that I would naturally cook for the kids. There’s also things that Lucky absolutely adores. It's a collection of things that I love cooking on a day-to-day basis that I want to share with people.

What is the one go-to ingredient in your pantry or fridge that you must have on hand at all times?

It would have to be Calabrian chilies. They go in everything: soups, salad dressings, pasta, meat dishes, in a chimichurri. They're amazing,

What’s a date-night dish that looks like you tried hard, but is secretly very simple?

Steak and fries. You just have to get that sear and the temperature right, but it's pretty hands off. It always looks impressive, and you can also prep the stuff that you're putting on the side beforehand.

Rapid fire POP QUIZ:

The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is:

Do my skincare

My best ideas come from…

My husband. It's really fun having a creative partner in everything. He's really good at coming up with ideas or just talking me through stuff and being like, “have you thought about this?”