Social Media Chef Samo Frais Shares How He Keeps His Creativity Flowing In and Out of The Kitchen.
With a huge following on Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube, social media chef Samo Frais captivates his audience with his sultry cooking videos. There are several cooking content creators but none seem to come close to doing it like Samo. Through impressive camera angles, skillful editing, and soulful R&B music, Frais captivates his audience leaving them more than just hungry. He creates such a relaxing ambiance for viewers that they may feel as if they were at home watching him cook the meal in person. While cooking may seem like a timely chore to some, it’s a passion and a way to de-stress for Frais. HBCU Buzz caught up with him in an interview to learn more about his love for cooking and how he stays inspired.
What inspired you to start making cooking content?
So I basically started a business and through organically promoting my product, which was a cereal candle, around this time last year. I started shooting, just organic content, like vlogs and my first cooking video. I shot that first one and it did a million views. So really the business that I started and the initial reason, it sort of took a life of its own.
Was cooking something you were always passionate about?
Definitely. Growing up in Detroit, my grandmother cooking food revolved around the holidays, you know, many big moments. So I was always cooking but just never on the concept outside of things for my family, my mother, or friends.
People often compliment the style and relaxing aesthetic of your videos, how does cooking help you to relax? Was cooking always a source of peace for you?
Cooking is definitely a source of peace. It helps me relax. No matter who’s in my kitchen or who I’m cooking for it’s usually good energy, music playing, we’re laughing, good conversation, and really seeing a meal be brought together by hand from scratch and offering that to you know, whoever I’m cooking for, even if it’s for myself. It’s definitely a source of peace, a big source of peace.
When you’re not in the kitchen what are some things you do to relax and unwind at home?
My biggest thing is I’m always playing music and relaxing. Sometimes, which I haven’t been into too much lately, but painting, stuff like that. But mostly just music, relaxing, and just being calm, just being chill.
Music is a huge part of your content aesthetic, what genres inspire/listen to after unwinding from a long day? Is there a process to deciding what song fits the vibe for a video?
I’m really with the old school. So, 80s, 90s, R&B, even early 2000s. So really just that R&B, slow music, real calm, real relaxing, and not a whole lot going on, that’s my sweet spot.
Sometimes when I’m jamming regularly to my playlists before I cook, I’ll hear a song that’s like, okay that’s the vibe, I’m really feeling that. So really when I hear a song, like right now Jacquees “Say Yea” is a song that’s been on repeat, so usually if it comes up a few times before the video, it’s typically how I pick the song.
What do you do when you feel uninspired or have a creative block?
For me when I’m having a creative block, honestly, I would either scroll Tik Tok to get inspired, I follow a lot of cooking pages, and as far as like the theme and the energy of the video, really playing music all the time kind of keeps me in the zone and in the mood so when I go into recording, everything just comes together. So, I would just say surfing Tik Tok is a source of inspiration, Pinterest is a big one as well, just looking a certain things keeps me inspired.
Any advice for beginner self-taught chefs?
Just have fun. Experiment, you’re gonna fail a lot, you know, a lot of my earlier dishes when I was young, they looked good but the flavor didn’t always connect and really translate. So don’t be afraid to fail and really just have fun with it.
We know Texas Southern University is your local HBCU– so we have to ask, are you team Fried Chicken Wednesdays or team Fried Fish Fridays?
I’m gonna have to go with the fried chicken Wednesdays strictly because it’s like, I know what to do with a piece of chicken. It’s so versatile, so yeah, I’m gonna go with chicken.
They say food brings people together, did you cook for friends throughout school/growing up? What’s your favorite/go-to meal that you made?
Definitely, mainly in college because that’s the time when the cafeteria food wasn’t always on point. It was southwest chicken chili, and I cooked it for my other teammates, I’d been on the football team. I remember cooking it one night and literally the next day it was all gone, I fed the whole hallway. So, southwest chicken chili and cornbread was a college favorite.
What is your favorite cooking video that you’ve made so far? As a creative, who’s had hands in cooking, art, and fashion, what would you say are the similarities between fashion and food?
I would say it’s a recent one, it’s my banana pudding video. The reason that one is my favorite is because, number one it’s my childhood favorite dessert, and then just like the techniques that I used in that video with the new lenses and direction that I was trying to go, you really see elevation in my work from previous work.
Just expressing yourself creatively, and then being able to explore, whether it’s food, fashion, or art you know, being able to press the button and really express yourself.
As a Houston native, what do you love about Houston’s BBQ scene?
So what I love most about the barbecue scene is definitely the passion and the techniques that we put into our barbecue, it’s definitely a culture down there. The places I frequent in Houston are some of my favorite spots in all of Texas. Their brisket is the best and so is their barbecue sauce.
Define your cooking content in three words.
Relaxing, Hungry, Sensational, that’s the vibe I’m going for.
Given your line of work and interests, what are the three things our readers may be surprised to learn that you cannot live without and why?
My camera, my music playlists powered by Xfinity’s Wifi service—can’t live without that, and of course God.
Are there any special projects in the works that we can look out for soon?
Definitely, I’ll be releasing a virtual subscription-based section on my website for all my recipes, and really like a member space, people can comment asking me different cooking techniques and things like that. So a recipe section on my website should be coming soon.
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