JENKINS, Ky. (LEX 18 — Who doesn't love some good, simple, old-fashioned home cooking?
It's pretty hard to beat.
Not just because of the taste but because of the nostalgia it brings.
A bite can be a fond memory of being in the kitchen with friends, parents, grandparents, etc.
The latter leads us to Gail Morris, who is well into her 'Mamaw era' with 5 kids and 25 grandkids to feed.
“Been cooking all my life just about with my mom," Morris said.
"When I started having children I had to learn to cook for myself. I’ve been cooking for a lot of years.”
Ethan Miller is one of those grandchildren benefiting from his grandma's meals.
He's got fond memories of family get together past and present where this now 71 year old held down the fort when it came to anything food related.
“Every Sunday, the whole family gathers at Mamaw’s. There’s like 25 or 30 of us here in this trailer. It’s packed, it’s loud but it’s what we know and it’s what we love and we’ll keep doing it until we can’t anymore," Miller said.
Miller works in the social media world and has been dying to get his Mamaw to make videos sharing her recipes.
After denying it for ages, Morris finally relented and hopped in front of the camera.
He just kept on me about doing videos for me. I finally said ‘okay Ethan. I will,'" Morris said.
"Well this is what happened. I told him ‘don’t you put that on Facebook.’ Well he didn’t, he put it on TikTok.”
Well, he did technically listen to his Mamaw.
Regardless of how it started, neither of them could've imagined where things are at now.
In just one month's time, 'Mamaw Gail' has amassed more than 800,000 likes, 180,000 followers and 10 million views on her TikTok page.
7 million views come from her easy bake biscuits recipe alone.
“The population of Dorton, Kentucky where she’s from only has about 3,000-4,000 people. She has almost 180,000 followers now," Miller said.
"She told me ‘I’m scared to go grocery shopping.’ I told her don’t be scared because if there’s one thing Mamaw knows how to do it’s talk to people.”
Now Mamaw Gail doesn't know the first thing about TikTok or what all these views mean.
However, what she does understand perfectly is the connection it's forming with people well beyond the Pike County line.
So many people have commented or shared her videos, sending positivity and gratitude for the joy Mamaw Gail is bringing to their lives.
“I think that’s important because there’s a lot of people out there that need somebody to talk to that don’t have Mamaws like that anymore. I’m willing to be their Mamaw if they want me to be," Morris said.
If you want to check out what Mamaw Gail is cooking, click here.
