We’re highlighting local businesses our readers voted the best in our Golden Anchor Awards last year. This month we’re featuring Humble Hearts! Humble Hearts is a catering company that offers fresh-made soul food with a twist. We got to talk to owner Alicia Boyd to learn about how she developed a love for cooking, starting a business and more!
Alicia traces her passion for cooking and hospitality back to her family. Her mom, grandmother and aunty had the “hospitality spirit” for as long as Alicia can remember, welcoming people from all different walks of life and backgrounds into their homes with good food. “Nowadays people call it farm to table, I’ve always called it ‘good eating’- using fresh ingredients. My grandmother took food straight from her garden, made preserves, made fresh biscuits… I learned the foundations of cooking from my grandmother,” Alicia proudly explained to me.
Alicia’s mother and aunty also played their own unique roles in the development of her passion for cooking and skills as a chef. Alicia learned how to bake from her aunty who loved to make desserts. “My mom opened up my palette,” Alicia told me, “She introduced me to eating things I might not have tried.” Her family’s passion for cooking rubbed off on Alicia at a young age: “When you’re in middle school kids say ‘I wanna an be astronaut,’ I wanna be president,’ all these things. I always wanted to be a chef.”
Following her dreams, Alicia quit her job to start a catering company… one month before the pandemic began in 2020. “It was scary,” Alicia told me. “I felt like this is what I was supposed to, and everything was lining up, but how can the catering company survive when everything is shut down?” To help Humble Hearts survive and get unique, fresh-made food to the community, Alicia did meal delivery straight to clients’ doors, delivering food all the way from Cambridge to Annapolis. Alicia believes her business survived because of hard work and support from the community.
If you’re looking for food made with love for your event or wedding, give Humble Hearts a try. Alicia says some of their most popular items are the unique Cranberry Jerk Chicken Wonton Tartlets and their Guava BBQ Meatballs. You can learn more or submit a request for catering online at https://www.humbleheartsevents.com/ or give them a call at 443-837-7015. Stay tuned because voting for your favorite local businesses in the Shore Update’s annual Golden Anchor Awards starts soon!