The REAL Queen Bea

I might be the self-proclaimed Queen Bea of Home Shopping, but make no mistake, Bea Toms is the real Queen Bea. I humbly bow in her presence.

Bea is a 95-year-old great-great-grandmother who brings home the bacon, fries it up in the pan, then turns around and sells it on QVC. She is one hot mama!

According to the Baltimore Sun, she single-handedly cooked for the 300 people that came to her 95th birthday party before heading to the QVC studios to promote her book, Recipes From a Country Cook, which she first published at the tender age of 90.

When asked if she ever takes a day off, she pauses and asks, "A whole day?"

Energy, she figures, is a state of mind. If you want to do things, you do them. Simple as that. "Work does not stop me," she says. "I've shocked wheat, I've driven horses, I've husked corn, I've driven tractors. It's who I am."


Her take on cooking and life is real and is the antithesis of the fancy-shmancy celebrity chefs we have crammed down our throats. She grew up on a farm making big, hearty meals that tasted good, weren't complicated, and didn't cost a fortune. Her catering business grew organically out of her kitchen through word-of-mouth--a wedding here, a baby shower there--and she still makes all the food herself. She's written five cookbooks, two volumes of poetry, and a collection of short stories in her spare time.

Just stop and think about that right now ... she's 95 and runs a catering business where she does all the cooking herself and has written 8 books in her spare time. What have you been doing with your time lately? Sure makes you stop and think about what you could accomplish if you put your mind to it.

Bea might be slight of stature, but she is strong as steel.


(This is by far the cutest home shopping picture ever! Love David!)


"They call me the little old roll lady."

Venable bit deeply into one roll stuffed with country ham. "Mmmmmm. Mmmmmmm," he said. "I do like."

Later, on the phone with a reporter, Venable says that all the oohing and ahhing wasn't just for the camera.

"Her rolls are without parallel," he says. "I've never had a nicer, fluffier, more wonderful roll than Bea's."

Bea's advice on cooking: "I don't buy cheap food. You can't make something excellent out of something mediocre." Words to live by.

Check out the entire article here including pictures, recipes, and videos.