DeVonn Francis, a popular chef, will appear as a guest on Selena Gomez’s culinary show Selena + Chef, which is expected to return for its fourth season on HBO Max. The popular cooking show will premiere in three episodes on Thursday, August 18, 2022. It includes skilled chefs videoconferencing the host through a variety of entertaining summer-themed dishes.
DeVonn Francis is a first-generation gay Jamaican-American artist who founded Yardy in 2017 to explore parts of its history and culture. The artist combined his two loves, painting and cooking, to establish his studio and spread the word about the value of food and culture. Yardy employees honored their roots by hosting Caribbean themed dinners.
Three more episodes of Selena + Chef will premiere on August 25, followed by the remaining four episodes on September 1, for a total of ten episodes in Season 4. The upcoming season, according to Deadline, “will be set in a beach house where Selena will continue to learn the joys of cooking with all-star chefs’, with each episode presenting a different charity.
DeVonn Francis had an interest in cooking from an early age.
DeVonn was an introverted kid growing up. He did not like sports as much as his brother and preferred to stay at home with his mother. They spent their days cooking together. After retiring from the Navy, his father opened his own family restaurant in Norfolk, Virginia, inspired by his childhood in Jamaica. He grew up in Virginia as the son of Jamaican immigrants and despised being the kid who showed up in his high school cafeteria with oxtails in his lunchbox. It wasn’t until he was a teenager watching Food Network with his mother and working in his father’s company that he became interested in Jamaican traditional ingredients and dishes.
DeVonn went to New York City in 2011 to attend Copper Union art school while still working in eateries. His first restaurant job was with Estela, but he soon found that he couldn’t work within his school schedule. He then started serving tables in the restaurant and developed a strong bond with the chef, owners and management.
Every morning, the chef went to the market with the crew to discuss ingredients, and he realized that creativity and food go hand in hand. Shortly after leaving Estela, he embarked on a gastronomic journey across the UK with a friend.
They traveled to Scotland, England and Wales, cooking on farms and over open fires to better understand the impact of food production, starting with small businesses. Yardy was conceived in New York City in the summer of 2017, following DeVonn’s return from the UK, and formally launched in 2018. He embraced his family values, culture and legacy by holding salons in various locations including Williamsburg, Saipua and Lee Sit. in china town.
He spoke to MYKITA about his studio and said:
“It was crucial for me to make Yardy salons feel more like home, and that world coincided with my mom and dad making their way into a lounge area. The term ‘home’ was crucial to me, as was the experience keep it open and not institutionalized.’
After the epidemic, DaVonn began selling takeout food outside the SoHo cafe Smile to Go and made her YouTube debut as a presenter on Bon Appétit’s renowned Test Kitchen channel. Adrienne Cheatham, Rachael Ray, Gordon Ramsay, Kristen Kish, Ludo Lefebvre, Matty Matheson, Nick DiGiovanni, Paola Velez and Priya Krishna will all be competing in Selena + Chef. Don’t forget to watch a brand new season of Selena + Chef on HBO Max on Thursday.
