Who is Selena + Chef Season 4’s DeVonn Francis? Introducing the gay Jamaican-American artist

The fourth season of Selena Gomez’s cooking show Selena + Chef, which premieres on HBO Max, will feature a guest appearance by renowned chef DeVonn Francis. On Thursday, August 18, 2022, three episodes of the popular cooking show will debut. Seasoned chefs arrive on site via video call and guide the host through a variety of entertaining summer-themed meals.

First-generation queer Jamaican-American artist DeVonn Francis founded Yardy in 2017 to explore different facets of his ethnicity and culture. To launch his studio and spread the value of food and culture, the artist combined his two interests in painting and cooking. Yardy’s staff held Caribbean themed dinners to honor their backgrounds.

There will be a total of 10 episodes in Season 4 of Selena + Chef, with three more episodes set to premiere on August 25, and the final four episodes on September 1.

With each episode focused on a different charity, the second season, according to Deadline, will “set in a beach house where Selena will continue to discover the joys of cooking with all-star chefs.”

DeVonn Francis fell in love with food when he was very young

DeVonn was a shy kid growing up. He did not have the same passion for sports as his brother and preferred hanging out with his mother at home. They would both spend their days cooking. He opened a restaurant in Norfolk, Virginia, after his father retired from the Navy, inspired by his upbringing in Jamaica.

He despised being the kid who came to his high school cafeteria with oxtails in his lunchbox, as he was the son of Jamaican immigrants growing up in Virginia. He only became interested in native Jamaican ingredients and dishes when he was a teenager, after working in his father’s company and watching Food Network with his mother.

DeVonn moved to New York City in 2011 to enroll in the Copper Union arts program while also working in restaurants. He got his first restaurant job at Estela, but he soon realized he couldn’t combine it with his course schedule. He then started serving customers in the restaurant and developed a close relationship with the chef, owners and managers.

The chef discovered that creativity and dining go hand in hand when he went to the market with the staff every morning to chat about ingredients. Shortly after leaving Estela, he went on a cooking trip across the UK with a friend.

To understand the effects of food production, they started at the local farm level, traveling to Scotland, England and Wales and cooking on farms and over open fires.

After returning from the UK in the summer of 2017, DeVonn came up with the idea for Yardy, which he launched in 2018. In doing so, he embraced his family’s traditions, values, and heritage and held salons in several locations, including Williamsburg, Saipua, and Lee’s in Chinatown.

He opened up MYKITA about his studio saying:

“It was vital to make Yardy salons feel more like a home, and that world coincided with my mom and dad making their way into a lounge area. The concept of ‘home’ and the idea of ​​making the experience permeable rather than institutionalized were important to me.”
After the epidemic, DaVonn started selling takeaway food outside the Smile to Go cafe in SoHo and made his YouTube hosting debut on Bon Appétit’s popular Test Kitchen channel.

Adrienne Cheatham, Rachael Ray, Gordon Ramsay, Kristen Kish, Ludo Lefebvre, Matty Matheson, Nick DiGiovanni, Paola Velez and Priya Krishna are just a few of the well-known chefs who will be appearing on Selena + Chef.

Don’t forget to watch Selena + Chef, a brand new season premiering this Thursday on HBO Max.