(WBIR-Knoxville) When you think of a good meal at church usually it involves a potluck, but one congregation gets to enjoy meals made entirely from scratch thanks to one man.
Mike Weatherly is passionate about cooking good food and he has had this passion for as long as he can remember.
"I started always watching grandpa cook. I remember being fascinated that grandpa was the one cooking because my mom always cooked," says Weatherly. "He always did everything from scratch, homemade. I didn't really know what was going on, I just remember his gravy tasted really good and I liked the mashed potatoes."
Mike grew up in California. He was the son of a pastor and at an early age he started working at a local restaurant.
"Started working there as just a dishwasher and the night cook quit one night and they said, 'Hey, Mike we need you to cook tonight and so I started cooking.'"
He became the head cook.
"At 17, I was making menus and trying to come up with specials," says Weatherly.
A few years later, he joined the Navy and that is where he went to culinary school and started cooking for his fellow service members.
"I got the nickname Fat Mike in the Navy because on one of our deployments to Korea everyone gained about 15 pounds," says Weatherly.
He was able to get creative with his meals and he found it warmed the soul.
"Started realizing that food touches people more than just feeding them and a good meal, it helps them feel comfortable," says Weatherly. "It gives us a sense of where we came from, home, just comfort."
Mike wanted a change and ended up here in East Tennessee which led to where he is now, Church Street United Methodist Church.
Here he gets to share faith and food.
"Today I'm doing meat loaf and mashed potatoes and gravy, but it's organic beef, we try to get local bacon, make all the mashed potatoes here," says Weatherly.
And this opportunity also allowed him to start his own catering business, Terroir Knox Catering.
And he gets to share his home cooking with East Tennessee and beyond. "I like feeding people something that helps tell a story, helps tell them a story, reminds them of something they had when they were a kid," says Weatherly.
Speaking of kids, he has 7!
Good dad, great cook.... Mike Weatherly is quite a guy!
"Benton's Bacon, pretty dang good, that's one of those things about East Tennessee," says Weatherly.
One of Your Stories. There's no place like this one.
