Higher Ground and Audible Announce “Your Mama’s Kitchen”

Audible and Higher Ground, President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s media company, today announced Your Mama’s Kitchen: Conversations from the Heart of the Home, an Audible Original podcast hosted and executive produced by Emmy and Peabody award-winning journalist Michele Norris. Each episode begins with a simple prompt: “Tell me about your mama's kitchen.” New episodes will be released weekly; each of the episodes will be exclusively on Audible for two weeks, then available widely wherever podcasts are found. Guests include Kerry Washington, Gayle King, D-Nice, Matthew Broderick, Andy Garcia, W. Kamau Bell, Michael Pollan, José Andrés, Glennon Doyle and Abby Wambach, and more.

On Your Mama’s Kitchen, Michele Norris and her guests will explore the complexities of family life and how their earliest culinary experiences helped shape their personal and professional lives. Each guest brings a recipe of a favorite dish from their youth, so listeners can taste a bit of their story. With a delicious buffet of actors, authors, chefs, musicians, and more, the rich conversations that flow from that initial, simple prompt reveal the histories, memories, and cultures that emerge from the kitchen. Your Mama’s Kitchen is a podcast about cuisine and culture, ingredients and identities, and the meals and memories that make us who we are.

“I have always wanted to do a podcast centered around the question: ‘Tell me about your mama’s kitchen,’” said Michele Norris. “That query cues up all kinds of interesting threads and because of that, this show is not just about food or standing at the stove. These conversations tap into emotion, identity, nostalgia, family dynamics and cultural tumult. The kitchen is where we have our loudest laughter and also our loudest arguments. It’s where the people we love best gather and lean on each other. It’s a space that shapes us in so many important ways and that is why that simple question — ‘Tell me about your mama’s kitchen’ — is such a delicious way to kick start a deep and revealing conversation.”

“Michele Norris brings both her sharp insight and her disarming candor to each conversation, creating an uplifting listening experience that connects us all through the universal memory of childhood kitchens,” said Rachel Ghiazza, Chief Content Officer at Audible. “Your Mama’s Kitchen is a natural follow to our first project with Higher Ground, Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast, as it continues our shared goal of bringing listeners powerful and inspiring audio entertainment that elevates diverse voices and experiences. We hope Your Mama’s Kitchen will be the kind of show listeners want to recommend to the loved ones at their own kitchen table.”

"Your Mama’s Kitchen brilliantly utilizes the childhood kitchen as a window into the hearts, minds, and souls of beloved celebrities and thought leaders. As both an acclaimed journalist and seasoned podcast host, Michele understands how to genuinely connect with her fascinating guests and unearth profound insights from their culinary memories,” said Dan Fierman, Head of Audio at Higher Ground. “We're thrilled to collaborate with the incredible Audible team once again on another series that we believe will uplift, educate, and inspire."

Episode Descriptions:

• Episode 1 – August 16: Michelle Obama: On the very first episode of Your Mama’s Kitchen, we’re joined by former First Lady Michelle Obama. Mother, lawyer, and bestselling author of The Light We Carry and Becoming, Michelle talks about her beginnings growing up in a working-class family on the South Side of Chicago and the delicious red rice her mother made that reminds her of home.
• Episode 2 – August 23 – Gayle King: Television titan Gayle King reflects on her and her mama’s tight-knit relationship including her upbringing in Turkey and then Maryland. Gayle famously doesn’t cook, but she shares not one… but TWO recipes with us: her mama’s traditional Mac & Cheese and her famous Thanksgiving Jell-O Dessert.
• Episode 3 – August 30 – D-Nice: DJ and hip-hop legend D-Nice thinks back on his humble upbringing in the Bronx to his meteoric rise to fame with Boogie Down Productions. He opens up about how his kitchen became the birthplace of his award-winning virtual party, Club Quarantine, during the early pandemic. Michele helps him track down a cabbage recipe similar to the one his mother made for him.
• Episode 4 – September 6 – Glennon Doyle & Abby Wambach: Author Glennon Doyle and retired US soccer player Abby Wambach had drastically different upbringings around the kitchen and food. They share how they’ve nonetheless found middle ground in their marriage. Abby shares her mama’s hearty Pasta for Thousands recipe, a beautiful mélange of pizza, pasta and lasagna.
• Episode 5 – September 13 – José Andrés: Renowned chef, humanitarian and restauranteur José Andrés invites Michele into his Washington D.C. kitchen to cook his mother's delicious Tomato Toast recipe. He reminisces on his picturesque childhood in the north of Spain and shares how his father's paella taught him a valuable lesson about food and fire.

More episodes to follow weekly.

The recipient of Emmy, Peabody, DuPont and Goldsmith awards, Michele Norris’s voice is familiar to millions as co-host of NPR’s flagship afternoon program, All Things Considered. One of the most trusted voices in American journalism, she is a national opinion columnist for The Washington Post and author of an upcoming book about race and identity in America called Our Hidden Conversations, published by Simon & Schuster in January of 2024.

This collaboration joins Audible’s production and development deals with top industry creatives such as: George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Pictures, Viola Davis’ Ashé Audio Ventures, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, Lena Waithe and Rishi Rajani’s Hillman Grad Productions, Daniel Dae Kim’s 3AD Productions, Queen Latifah and Shakim Compere’s Flavor Unit, Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video Enterprises, SBH, a joint venture between Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat and Charlamagne Tha God’s CThaGod World Inc, LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s The SpringHill Company, and James Patterson Entertainment.

Audible and Higher Ground’s ongoing collaboration reinforces Higher Ground’s commitment to audio. Since its inception, Higher Ground, an Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning media company, has brought powerful stories to life. Higher Ground’s hit podcasts include: Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast, an Audible Original which features Michelle Obama’s inspiring conversations with esteemed friends like Ellen DeGeneres, Tyler Perry, Conan O’Brien, and Oprah Winfrey; The Big Hit Show, a series of audio documentaries hosted by Alex Pappademas focused on pieces of popular culture that have defined and changed our culture; Tell Them, I Am, a podcast collection of universal stories from Muslim voices; Renegades: Born in the USA, a series of conversations between President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen; The Michelle Obama Podcast, and The Sum of Us podcast series, based on Heather McGhee’s bestselling book.