Chef Anthony Thomas, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, shows up in random spots to cook. He wants to instill a sense of adventure in kids who read his book.
(WTOP/John Domen)
WTOP/John Domen
(WTOP/John Domen)
WTOP/John Domen
Chef Anthony Thomas is never where you’d most suspect him to be. The social media star from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, could be Downtown or on Capitol Hill, cooking food to hand out to anyone passing by.
He’ll also do it in parts of the D.C. region that don’t have much in the way of finer dining.
A lot of the time, that’s the reason Thomas will show up somewhere and start cooking octopus, short rib, or all kinds of other things that translate well on video. Now, he’s out with a kids’ book “Passport to Flavor” that aims to create the same adventure inside the mind of a child.
“As a personal chef, I like to explore different options, create new recipes and introduce people to different foods that they probably have never had before,” Thomas said, as he thumbed through the book.
“A lot of parents tell me, ‘Yeah, my child only eats chicken tenders, French fries and a lot of different fast food,’” Thomas noted. “My kids don’t eat like that, and your kids don’t have to eat like that if you introduce them to something more fun and something that they see you eat and are willing to try.”
In the story, a child named Leo goes to places like Jamaica, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Mexico, and learns to cook different dishes native to those cultures. Thomas, who will speak and engage with students at different schools around the region, said some of those experiences helped convince him to write this story.
“When I go into these different schools, I see that a lot of kids don’t really have the palette that I was introduced to and that I study,” he said. “So why can’t I just share the knowledge and the things that I’ve learned over the years with other children and they can share with their household?”
The book is for sale online at places like Amazon, Walmart and Nobel.
“If they start … seven years old, which these books are geared toward, they take this on for the rest of their life,” Thomas said. “When you start young, that’s when they soak up the most knowledge.”
Later this spring, another book with all the recipes for the dishes found in Thomas’ story will be published.
“Those different recipes, they’re just so fun, they’re very tasty and they’re native to different places that they may or may not have traveled,” Thomas said.
“When children are a part of the creating process of any dish, it makes them want to try the actual dish, no matter if it’s something that they’ve never had before,” he added. “It could be brussels sprouts. They’ve never had it, but if they’re a part of creating it, they’re going to eat those things.”
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.