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Elena Jones shows off a tray of Baharat Chicken with Spiced Vegetables, a Middle Eastern dish she recently prepared in her home kitchen for Facebook Live. After a few days, the video was uploaded to YouTube for her one-woman cooking show, Elena’s Cucina.
Woman brings her joy of cooking to others through social media
By LOIS KINDLE
Elena Jones loves cooking. It’s a lifelong passion she’s now sharing on Facebook Live and YouTube in a one-woman cooking show called Elena’s Cucina.
The 63-year-old Ruskin woman began taping sessions in her kitchen for the public last April, after a trip to Argentina was cancelled due to COVID-19 in March.
“I prayed every day and asked God what I should do now, and through meditation, I realized I could use my beautiful kitchen to help people. I wanted to teach and promote healthy eating and to introduce them to different foods, cultures and flavors from countries all over the world.”
These are Elena Jones’ Italian mother’s homemade meatballs, which, along with Calabrese tomato sauce, she recently prepared, using her mom’s recipe, for visiting family members.
That’s how Elena’s Cucina was born.
Thus far, Jones has close to 200 videos uploaded to U-Tube on dishes from countries in Africa, South America, North America, Europe and more.
“I want to show we are one,” she said. “Food connects us.”
Jones was born in the tiny town of Maierato in the southern province of Calabria, Italy. When she was 2, she and her family emigrated to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where they lived for 13 years before moving to Pittsburg, Penn., and then to St. Peterburg three years later, where her daughter and two grandchildren still reside. She spent three years in the Air Force in the late 1980s.
Like many Italians, Jones grew up in a large family. She watched her grandmother and mother cook from the time she was a little girl and absorbed their passion for the art. Many of Jones’ one-pot dishes came from those experiences.
About six years ago, Jones and her husband Allen moved to Ruskin.
“What sold me on the house we bought was the kitchen,” she said.
She has certainly put it to good use.
Jones videotapes herself as she cooks three dishes per week and, as you might guess, her cucina figures prominently in the show. In each one, she provides, in a delightful, entertaining way, the recipe, nutritional information and instructions from start to finish for the dish she’s making.
The day before she cooks, she posts a message on her Elena C. Jones Facebook page to let folks know the ingredients they’ll need ahead of time. She occasionally has guests on her show, like model Cola Harris and Mrs. Florida American 2020, Katrina Spagnoletti.
“She’s such a hoot,” said Apollo Beach resident Phyllis Gannon, after watching one of Jones’ videos for the first time. “I like the way she has everything organized and how she engages the audience. She goes slowly through each step, and when she’s finished, she shows you the final product. I may have to try her Italian Autumn Cookie recipe.”
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Anyone can learn to make Baharat Chicken with Spiced Vegetables by visiting Elena C. Jones on Facebook or Elena’s Cucina on YouTube. Her engaging step-by-step videos are both informative and entertaining for cooks of all skill levels.
The videos are heartening for many.
Lora Taylor, a Facebook friend, recently told Jones, “Your cooking has inspired me to break out some of my Grandmom’s recipes lately. I feel so nourished and like she’s close when I cook. So, thank you! Every little bit helps this year!”
“I’m aiming at people who love to cook and those who want to learn,” Jones said. Her 30- to 60-minute video stays on Facebook a couple of days before it’s moved to YouTube by a woman Jones hired to do anything technology related.
So far, Jones has more than 1,900 followers on Facebook, close to 101 YouTube subscribers and more than 1,500 views. She has received posts from as far away as Korea and China.
“I love cooking,” she said. “I like how food comes together, its smell, its textures, its look, its color – all of it. And I find great joy in sharing that with others.”