The fourth season of Selena Gomez’s cooking programme Selena + Chef, which is scheduled to premiere on HBO Max, will have a guest appearance by well-known chef DeVonn Francis. On Thursday, August 18, 2022, three episodes of the popular cooking programme will debut. Through a video call, seasoned chefs will arrive on location and walk the host through a variety of entertaining meals with a summer theme.
Queer first-generation Jamaican-American artist DeVonn Francis established Yardy in 2017 to explore different facets of his ethnicity and culture. In order to launch his studio and spread the value of food and culture, the artist combined his two interests for painting and cuisine. Yardy’s staff held dinner parties with Caribbean themes to honour their background.
There will be a total of 10 episodes in Season 4 of Selena + Chef, with three more episodes premiering on August 25 and the final four episodes airing on September 1.
With each episode focusing on a different charity, the second season, according to Deadline, “will be set in a beach home where Selena will continue to discover the joys of cooking with all-star chefs.”
DeVonn Francis fell in love with food when he was very young
DeVonn was a shy child growing up. He didn’t have the same passion for sports as his brother and preferred to hang out at home with his mum. They would both spend their days cooking. He opened a restaurant in Norfolk, Virginia, after his father retired from the Navy, drawing inspiration from his upbringing in Jamaica.
He despised being the child who showed up to his middle school cafeteria with oxtails in his lunchbox since he was the son of Jamaican immigrants growing up in Virginia. He didn’t get interested in indigenous Jamaican ingredients and dishes until he was a teenager, after working at his father’s business and watching Food Network with his mother.
DeVonn relocated to New York City in 2011 to enrol in Copper Union’s art programme and simultaneously begin working in restaurants. At Estela, he got his first restaurant job, but he soon realised that he couldn’t juggle it with his course schedule. He then started serving customers at the restaurant and developed a close bond with the executive chef, the owners, and the managers.
The chef discovered that creativity and dining went hand in hand when he would accompany the staff to the market every morning to talk about ingredients. Soon after leaving Estela, he went on a cuisine trip of the UK with a friend.
To comprehend the effects of food production, beginning at the local business level, they travelled to Scotland, England, and Wales and cooked on farms and over open fires.
After returning from the UK in the summer of 2017, DeVonn came up with the idea for Yardy, which he launched in 2018. By doing this, he embraced the traditions, values, and heritage of his family and held salons in various locations, including Williamsburg, Saipua, and Lee’s in Chinatown.
He opened up to MYKITA about his studio and said:
“Making Yardy salons feel more like a home was vital to me, and that world has coincided with my Mom and my Dad working his way up to a lounge room. The concept of “home” and the idea of making the experience permeable rather than institutionalised were significant to me.”
After the epidemic, DaVonn started selling takeout outside of the Smile to Go café in SoHo and made his YouTube hosting debut on Bon Appétit’s well-liked Test Kitchen channel.
Adrienne Cheatham, Rachael Ray, Gordon Ramsay, Kristen Kish, Ludo Lefebvre, Matty Matheson, Nick DiGiovanni, Paola Velez, and Priya Krishna are just a few of the well-known chefs that will appear on Selena + Chef.
Don’t forget to watch Selena + Chef, a brand-new season premiering this Thursday on HBO Max.