Most Augustans know her name.
Whether they know Vera Stewart from her café, her cookbook, her appearance on Food Network (in which she defeated chef Bobby Flay in a battle of the carrot cakes) or from her own TV show, Stewart is a household name.
A weekly column highlighting her TV show is coming to The Augusta Press beginning Nov. 4.
“The Very Vera Show” is celebrating its 10th season on the air this year.
Her show came about after defeating Flay on his “Throwdown With Bobby Flay.”
Producers wanted to try a couple of episodes and see what happened, but Stewart said she knew she’d get an entire season.
Now the syndicated show is in 36 metropolitan markets in 16 states, and this season, she’s filming it in the kitchen at her Wheeler Road office.
Stewart graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in home economics in 1974 and taught high school for four years before becoming a mom.
“Motherhood brought Vera out of the classroom and into the home, where her catering business was born,” according to her biography.
Her business began to soar in the mid-1990s.
She’d shipped her first cake in 1993, and in 1995, someone from “Southern Living Magazine” sampled one of her cakes and featured her in the magazine. Within 10 days of the article’s release, Stewart had sold one cake in every state.
In April 2018, she released “’The VeryVera Cookbook: Recipes From My Table,’ which contains recipes for every product she ever sold via mail order and in her café. ‘The VeryVera Cookbook’ has gained media attention from ‘Taste of the South,’ ‘Relish’ and ‘Local Palate’ magazines, Reese Witherspoon’s Draper James blog, and many other online outlets,” a news release said.
During the pandemic, she added 10 additional television markets.
Stewart said her TV show is more than a cooking show; it’s a lifestyle show, airing locally on WJBF-TV at 12:30 p.m. Thursday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, except during college football season when it’s re-televised during a Sunday time slot. Check local listings because it can change.
The first column will feature recipes from “Soup, Salad & Sandwich,” episode 7 of season 10. The featured items include her roasted tomato basil soup, a tomato vinaigrette and a sophisticated ham sandwich.
Also this season, Stewart is set to release her next cookbook, “Occasions.”
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at [email protected]
Awesome!! The Augusta Press just keeps getting better and better!
Vera is Awesome! I agree with Nancy that the Augusta Press is getting better and better. Keep up the good work!
Looking forward to this new platform for Vera and know it will be first class like all of her other efforts