How Social Media Star Sophia Roe Is Fusing Food With Fashion
Sophia Roe is basking in love. The Brooklyn-based chef is in a new relationship, more confident in her skin than ever before, and the happiest she’s ever been. “I feel like a completely different me,” she said recently, “and I love that for me.”
When we spoke last month, Roe was also loving the new location of her Insta-famous culinary studio, Apartment Miso, in Bushwick. The space is “much larger and more convenient” for filming her signature cooking videos, and the perfect setting for some exciting new projects she’s cooking up.
Over the last four years, Roe has won a James Beard Award, received two Emmy nominations for her former Vice series Counter Space (making her the first Black woman in history to be nominated in the Outstanding Culinary Host category), and garnered millions of likes across Instagram and TikTok for her gorgeous food videos. Suffice it to say, the studio upgrade was long overdue, and Roe feels “fucking ready” for whatever this next era of her career brings. “I’m ready for another TV show, I’m ready for a large opportunity, I’m ready for someone to put me in their movie,” she says. “So people had better watch out.”
Below, read a candid conversation with the content creator about diversity in the kitchen, the future of sustainable living, and why cooking food “saves” her life.
Congratulations on the new culinary studio. Is this the start of a new chapter in your career?
It’s definitely a new era for my feet. My last studio was a fourth-floor walk-up situation, and now I have an elevator. I actually try not to think too much about my career or I’ll get sad.
Why is that?
I don’t want to be one of those people who’s only ever thinking about my career. I’ll be 36 years old in a month. I have a partner. I want to have kids one day. It’s easy to make your career your whole life. It’s a slippery slope. I’m lucky that I have a trade that will always be needed. I don’t think AI can make chicken better than a human can. But I don’t think that that means it’s the only thing I should think about. A few years ago, I [publicly] shared a lot about my personal relationship, and I don’t love that I did that. I learned my lesson, and I wouldn’t do it again. I love to share food, and we can have a whole conversation about style, fashion, and where I want to eat and travel. I’m feeling called to enjoy my real life and be more present. I want to go on walks and leave my phone at home, or go somewhere where there’s no service.
Since you brought up fashion, what’s your approach to personal style?
I’m not the quiet luxury girl. That doesn’t make sense for me. I like to say that I’m a functional maximalist. I love mixing prints. More than 75 percent of my wardrobe is vintage or mindfully made. And in terms of the functional part, I am a chef, so everything has to be comfortable. I know that it’s such a shtick right now to be like, “Today, I’m making food for my kids and I’m wearing a ball gown.” Like, love that for you, bro, but I’m wearing insole inserts in my ballerina flats and vintage from head to toe. That’s my aesthetic. I’m based in Bushwick, so most of the time I’m schlepping around to other parts of New York City. Incorporating color and having fun with fashion is important. I very much look like the kind of person who makes the kind of food I make. Most people are like, “Oh yeah, you’re the bitch that makes purple food. That tracks.”
Where do you like to shop?
I’m going to gatekeep. I love the era of gatekeeping. Not everybody needs to know. Some people will be really mad at me about that, but I have a really beautiful following and they’re gorgeous and they’re amazing, but 90 percent of the things I share I can’t get anymore. But I will say that my biggest gems are from Etsy. I’m not hunting for luxury vintage. I’m not going to lose my mind over ’90s Prada the way that someone else might. A lot of it is environmental for me. I ask myself, “Am I going to wear this?” And if not, then I’d just rather not. I think a lot about sustainability when I get dressed. I’m not just some girl on Instagram making food who sometimes cares and sometimes doesn’t. I think about this shit constantly. I’m famous for doing huge closet sales, because I love the idea of giving my things a new home.
Do you see an intersection between food and fashion?
Oh my gosh, of course. I just think about how many designers are inspired by food. We love a Loewe tomato. Marc Jacobs used to talk about how so many of his collections were inspired by dinners with his friends. To think that fashion and food aren’t connected is so silly. We’re seeing people cook on social media in beautiful clothing. We’re even starting to see it a little bit in fine dining kitchens. There’s still very much a uniform that’s involved—which is outdated and gross—but I’m slowly but surely seeing the industry be more open to expression when it comes to the food space, particularly in restaurants, which is wonderful.
When you were first starting out, what was the landscape like for female chefs of color?
It wasn’t good, but I have a little disdain for the idea that we weren’t there at all. There have been women of color in the culinary world since forever. You go to Mexico and a woman who’s been making tamales for 60 years is a better chef than I’ll ever be in my life. So this idea that women are just now in the culinary world is silly. We’ve been here the whole time. We’re just finally getting the visibility that we deserve, and that means everything to me. I still think we need more. We have a long way to go, but representation in every capacity is something that is only improving.
How did you know that you were a good cook?
It certainly wasn’t when anyone told me. I think it was when I realized that it might be the only thing I truly knew how to do. When food is in front of me, I feel ready to rock. It’s not to say I don’t get nervous, but as long as I have the tools, I know that I can figure it out. I’m reminded that I’m a good cook whenever I see a clean plate. If someone asked me, “What’s your legacy?” I would really want my legacy to be that not only is my food gorgeous, and not only does it taste good, but my guests are also satisfied when they eat. Clean plate clubs all around. That’s what I want. My literal job is to create this incredibly memorable edible experience. When someone says to me, “I still think about that thing that you made me,” oh my God, I’m wet for that. I love that shit.
You’ve said that you can feel like an underdog in the industry. Do you still feel that way?
I guess what I meant by saying that is like, I do feel underestimated. I don’t know why. Sometimes I feel easily forgotten, and then I come out with something and people are like, “Oh, I forgot about her.” I think that’s a little bit of my trauma speaking. I had a hard childhood, and it was not beautiful. So I think a lot of that is just some impostor syndrome that I’m always going to battle with. I’m always asking myself, How am I going to do better next time?
When I won the James Beard Award, I felt like, “Fuck, now I need to top this.” I’m a perfectionist and want to do well so badly, and that can get in the way of me releasing things. I’ve been working on a cookbook for five years, and I don’t even know when it’ll come out. People ask me all the time. But when I’m done with it, it’ll be the most incredible body of work, because I’m so much better than I was a few years ago. My perspective on food is so much better. Food saves my life. I just have to do it or I’ll die. I have clinical depression and I have figured out a very healthy protocol to get through it, and food is one of the ways that I do that. I feel so lucky that people ask me to cook for them, because it helps me and my brain and it also feeds them. It’s this wonderful symbiotic relationship.
Does having ambitious goals conflict with your desire to avoid making your career your entire life?
Oh, yeah. That’s the number one conundrum. How do I have a baby and also get another TV show? I think about it all the time.
What type of show do you want to have?
Something similar to Counter Space would be wonderful. But I would also love to do something that feels a bit more farmer-driven. Less than 2 percent of the population in the United States are farmers and 100 percent of us eat, so I would love to be able to do something where I sit down with these people and actually explore what a day in the life looks like. I don’t think people understand the labor that’s involved. It’d be really cool to see the distribution. What does it look like to send millions of pounds of potatoes that are grown in Idaho throughout the United States? That is an insane undertaking, and I don’t think people really get it. It would be cool to do something that’s focused on transparency in regard to the food we eat. That would be my dream.
Walk me through a day in the life of Sophia Roe.
I wake up at 7 A.M. and get myself ready, which is just making sure that my hair is semi-okay and my bangs are good. I put on a little eyeliner. I go to the Union Square farmer’s market, since it’s about five [subway] stops from my house. Wednesday is the best day, because it’s a chef’s market. If you think about it, the busiest days at a restaurant are Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday—so you want to get all the food that you need on a Wednesday. Then I come back to my studio and prep everything. It could be for a video shoot, event, or tasting. After we wrap, I go get acupuncture. Then I’m home around 4 P.M. and have dinner with my partner at 7 P.M. Sometimes I read or have to write before being in bed by 10 P.M.
How are you feeling as the year winds down?
I’m at the tail end of a very big transitional year. I began a new relationship, and I got a new studio. I feel like a completely different me, and I love that for me. I’m happy. I’m happier in my body than I’ve ever been before. I’ve been in the construction phase, head down. People aren’t really sure what I’m doing, and I’m not out at a ton of events. It’s because I’m really trying to blow people’s minds, and maybe my own, too. I really like where my food is at, and it’s never been better. I’m excited to feed people. I’m looking forward to winter, because that means I’ll be baking bread again. I just feel really good and ready.
I tell young people all the time, “Don’t be so worried about the jobs that you don’t have, just be ready for when you get them.” So I’m ready for another TV show. I’m ready for a large opportunity. I’m ready for someone to put me in their movie. I’m fucking ready. So people better watch out.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
This story is part of our Chef’s Kiss series. Click the link below for all the stories.
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