Du Jour with Whitney Talbot Cushing, the kitchen fairy godmother

On a trip back from Las Vegas, Baton Rougean Whitney Talbot Cushing was wondering what to do next in her career when a girlfriend commented on the scary condition of her kitchen cabinets. The conversation expanded to the many ways busy families falter in the domestic sphere — exactly the inspiration Cushing needed. Back home a few days later, she began scribbling ideas about a multi-purpose service she named Culinary Therapy, a venture designed to help people like her friend, or her own mother, who was often fond of saying “the only thing I make for dinner is reservations,” says Cushing.

Between 2006-08, Cushing, 36, co-owned the Supper Studio, the successful, but short-lived operation that provided the venue, instructions and ingredients for busy families to assemble several homemade meals at once (without having to clean up). Through the Supper Studio, Cushing observed the drastic time crunch busy families faced when it came to cooking, but on the return trip from Sin City, it occurred to her that meals aren’t the only kitchen challenge —there’s also what’s in your cabinets, in your fridge and on your grocery lists. Now as a kitchen fairy godmother, Cushing offers de-clutter tips, meal planning and prepared meals.

What qualifies Cushing for being this sort of therapist is a life of “OCD” behavior when it comes to order, she says, and a chronic tendency to examine a space and, in her mind, reconfigure it. Her former business partner in the Supper Studio, Pat Fellows, used to deliberately mess up Cushing’s meticulous, alphabetized spice rack just to see if she would notice. “It would take me about two seconds,” she says. For more information, [email protected].

To read previous Du Jour features on local chefs and other culinary experts, click here.