lyle downes toney

about me

Many of my fondest childhood memories take place in my grandmother’s kitchen, helping her prepare brisket for the High Holidays, kneading challah until my wrists gave out, or ever-so-carefully folding hamantaschen. We’d cook for hours, busying ourselves until a gaggle of cousins and aunts would pour through the front door - and even then, there was always more work to do. I was always the happiest, then - covered in flour, my apron pinned up so I wouldn’t trip. It was in that stuffy, overcrowded kitchen that I discovered a love for food. Sitting around my grandmother’s stained dining room table, laughter and love embracing me from all sides, I realized how deeply, genuinely beautiful it was to provide to people I love with such a primal form of comfort.