Interview by Terence Teh

Please introduce people to Dante Gonzales?

Dante Gonzales is a rather simple but complex dude, however Dante Fried Chicken is a chef, director, conceptual artist and curator whose passion is to bridge community, culture, art, and music through the medium of food.


You were born in the west coast, right? But let’s talk NYC, when did you move there – and what were your first NYC inspirations?

I was born in LA, grew up west “Hollyhood” – Englewood and Compton during the crack/heroin era. I took off at age 14 to seven different cities and studied film, music, anthropology and ended up in NYC for the last 10 years. My mother grew up in Harlem so me and my siblings use to look at all the old photos and listen her stories. We thought we were bonafide New Yorkers. My mothers stories of travelling with my grandfather Jimmy Forrest, the tenor saxophonist who played with Count Bassie and Miles Davis had always moved me and I knew I would end up in NYC. 

How did you fist hook up with Coco Rosie and form the original concept of DFC?

Me and my homie Bianca of Coco Rosie were kicking it one time and we were toying around with the idea of a cooking show, some of the main plots involved her cooking in underwear and me cooking in a mask. But that definitely started the tone for what was to become of the DFC show. In contrast to that i had already been 
pursuing film, music, curating and culinary arts for the last 17 years of my life, i started the viewnappy (an artist consortium) loft parties i held in Williamsburg back in 2001 where i would invite people over have DJ’s, have art installations, and held homemade music video competitions all while frying chicken/tofu live on the spot. So for me on a personal level the DFC show is an amalgamation of all my passions.

What’s the state of creativity like in NYC right now?

Critical emergency! Ha. But seriously speaking it is kind of bleak for the indie/DIY artist, promoters and producers. It’s all about quantity and not quality. Corporations with sponsorship, I guess they like to keep it safe and wack, cuz that’s where alot the funding seems to go to. That’s another the main reason I started DFC. I was so tired of going out to parties just because there is an open bar and super star spam promoter. That’s not why I came to The Apple, I came here to be inspired as an artist and create. NYC has been through another tough gentrification process, 911 and fuck up mayor policies, corporate interest blah blah, that has left the NYC underground art and party scene desolate. No one will put funding towards subterranean art, music, fashion, unless it’s on some sell-out, popped-out, safe-for-yuppies steez. I could remember arguing with promoters and sponsors about artists like Santogold and them telling me she doesn’t sell records, or that she will never go main stream (ahem, she is changing the game now). So me and the DFC family slow cooked it style! Pulled denaro out of our own pockets, didn’t buy any new kicks, took out loans, no vacations, worked mad hard for no money just ‘cause we could not sit by and let NYC forget about the underground. To this day we primarily work without sponsors and some how manage to throw one of the BOMB ASS parties in NYC with out that pretentious vibe.

Let’s talk about Jean?

Jean is my grandmother and the woman responsible for my passion and philosophy of my cuisine. I would also like to shout my great grandmother Minnie Hull. In the roaring 20s she was the first woman of African ancestry to own her own high society social club and was revered for her fried fruit pies and candied popcorn pumpkin pie.

What were your first memories of food?

Some of my first memories of food were of helping my grandmother Jean in the kitchen while drawing my homemade comic books. I was also her designated test taster. I can still remember the first time I tried to fry chicken on my own. I thought I would surprise my grandmother and fry some chicken at age nine. Instead I burnt her kitchen floor up! Yes, my ass was sore for that whole summer. I’m surprised I still had an interest in cooking after that… 



What is the DFC mission statement?

DFC’s mission is to be a catalyst of interdisciplinary art, dance, music, design, community culture and cuisine. To be a unique and non-pretentious marketing tool for underground and emerging artists. To help cultivate new ideas and experiences for communities who have been isolated from one another. For example, at one of the DFC parties, a Swedish rapper named MAPEI performed to a crowd of 600. In the crowd were your regular hipsters, foodies, high conscious art heads and musicians, but I also noticed peeps from Uptown, the BX, Queens and even Philly. Someone came to me and said ‘this is so cool, I love these styles of music and I never had pumpkin grits before. I have never experienced a vibe like this before.’ I then realized that this was much more than just a conceptual cooking show.

I like that DFC is debauched, yet conscious.

We are debauched. We are talking about fried foods (though not all my specialties are fried) but on the same note I go through great measures to use organic, natural and healthy alternative ingredients. I make all my sides vegan and I make a veggie alternative for all meat/seafood dishes. My philosophy is that I want all people to come to the table regardless of the cuisine lifestyles. In fact, half the guests who attend DFC after-parties are health conscious vegetarians. Not to mention all the meat heads who get turned by the tofu nugget. 


Let’s talk DFC Europe and the worldwide response to DFC, it’s something that a lot of the world will have never have experienced before?

It actually has been one of the most fulfilling joineries of DFC thus far. The EU response has been amazing and supportive, people here totally get the concept and you don’t have to beat it over there heads. There seems to be so much room for quality vs. quantity. I find  it strange that the DFC show is a simple concept but it’s so unique. It has also been dope to work and share cooking experiences with all the EU artists I love and respect. We will continue to slow cook the DFC brand here for now on. I love it here!


Can you talk about the show?

The show is a NYC, conceptual, variety, art cooking show that internationally travels the world. DFC the host selects emerging-established artists and musicians from all genres to share a cooking experience with him, they then have an after-party where guests, friends and family are invited to taste food from DFC and live music, art installations and fashion shows from the artist themselves.

I want you to explain how important the ingredients, the processes and the rituals are to your food?

I get this from my Grand Mama. She comes from old school cooking, with an intense eccentric nature to it. Everything is a process – spices are not to be spared and some dishes take three days preparation. It’s a ceremony, straight up! No quick made crust. People taste the process, concept and love in our cooking. Oddly enough, I apply this theology to the show in selecting the artists like ingredients. Me and Unruly G would be up all night conceptualizing ideas and guests for episodes. I would insist that I would make the menu first, then select the theme and artists, much like we would recipes and menus.   


Let’s introduce the DFC lifestyle? Creativity. Soul. Food. Art.

I think that the food I cook dubbed “soul food” is a lot more complex than just some food cooked by African Americans. I personally believe it’s more like Transatlantic African Cuisine, Because of the transatlantic human trafficking, Africans became intermixed with various European, African and indigenous American lineages and cultures. Thus you see it in the food represented today whether in the Caribbean islands, central America or Brazil, you can see the effects from the cultures infusing cuisines. So for me I see a similar collation between art, music and community and like the food I cook I plan on flippin’ it.