“Artist in the Kitchen” embodies Stephen Blancett’s lifework of creating luscious dishes that fit into people’s repertoire of taste treats. As a longtime National Editor of Natural Awakenings magazine, I was privileged to witness his artful cookery as the National Art Director as it dominated its niche. What floored me was the extraordinary extras he freely contributed. His sole reward? The culinary enjoyment of readers.
Each month, Stephen volunteered a weekend to prepare recipes for our Conscious Eating section, challenged by our national publisher’s penchant for organic, plant-based foods. Ingredients often had to be tweaked. Calling on his 30 years of experience in directing publishing and advertising industry food photography, he tapped his sizable props closet to produce inviting images that unfailingly engaged home cooks at their first glance.
“I believe that the best food tastes great and is visually tasty, too — colorful and fun — like my paintings,” he says. The many skills developed in creating his internationally exhibited, museum-level paintings inform all that he does.
Stephen’s love of cooking, launched at age 8 in a next-door neighbor’s Greek kitchen, bloomed at age 20. That’s when he bought his first cookbook and began seriously experimenting. Buffet leftovers carried home from a college job on a tourist paddleboat were his medium. He began working on transforming them into nourishment that his friends would relish.
Since then, he’s explored flavorful recipes packed-in while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, variations of traditional French and English faire, and Caribbean islands’ cuisine sampled during visits that later led to a vacation home on St. Thomas. James Caudill-Ritter, his husband and official taster, has encouraged expansion into German and Puerto Rican offerings based on earlier travels. Mouth-watering adventures in foodstuffs never stop.
Today his art studio hosts over 100 cookbooks. “I like the personal touch, authors you can relate to,” he says. Favorites include Jacques Pépin, Lidia Bastianich, David Venable, Martha Stewart, and of course Snoop Dogg.
“When I find a dish I love,” he says, “I dissect it to make it my own.” That inventive spirit now extends to an unusual set of rubs and sauces like blueberry BBQ and coconut curry.
Stephen’s generous spirit colors all he does. For over 20 years, fans have purchased his annual donation of an original, larger-than-life painting to Southwest Florida’s Fine Arts Auction to benefit Abuse and Counseling Treatment, Inc. He’s served as the non-profit’s chair, co-chair, and artistic director. This year he’s also gifting an artful dinner for 8 to the highest bidder. He’s taught art at kids’ camps and supports a local children’s hospital as well as a school and clinic in Tanzania, East Africa, for which his crew raised nearly a quarter-million dollars.
This passionate man loves to entertain, whether cooking a crowd-pleasing meal for 20 coworkers at a company holiday party or 200 friends just for fun. “It’s like painting for me,” he says. “I’m creating something good and watching friends enjoy something I made.” His first cookbook is filled with more than 100 of his favorite recipes, from appetizers to baked goodies, everyone specially selected through the years, each clearly and beautifully photographed. These tried-and-true dishes easily fit into daily life as favorite mainstays and tasty splurges.
by Alison Chabonais
National Editor, Natural Awakenings magazine (2004 – 2019)