50 Years of cooking with Charlene Patton

TV icon hits milestone advocating for agriculture in the kitchen.

“Oh! Charlene Patton, right?”

This is what every Kansas Soybean staff member hears when they say they’re with the Commission. In late 2025, Charlene celebrated 50 years of cooking on WIBW-TV, 29 of which have been with the Kansas Soybean Commission.

Each month, Charlene travels to four different news stations to film 14 segments, sharing recipes she’s developed to include “the goodness of soy.” She started filming in 1975, promoting wheat products with the Kansas Agriculture Board. Since then, she’s become a staple in Kansas homes.

“Charlene is a true ally for soybean farmers and the Commission,” says Kaleb Little, KSC administrator. “The notoriety and trust that she has, being in people’s living rooms and kitchens every week and talking to them, it’s invaluable.”

Now, 50 years after the start of her career, she says she never would have guessed where it’s taken her.

“I was in 4-H growing up, and I did not enjoy demonstrations,” Charlene says. “I was timid and scared to stand up in front of judges, and I never would have thought I’d end up here.”

She made the switch to soy advocacy in 1996 when KSC reached out to her about becoming a consultant for the commission.

“I did not know much about soy foods,” Charlene says. “It was a learning experience and a challenge to begin developing recipes with soy ingredients.”

She started by looking in grocery stores. Going up and down the aisles, she learned what products were available to Kansas consumers. Exploring soy foods, their properties and benefits was a journey Charlene took with her viewers as she encouraged them to try soy in their kitchens.

“I saw they could use soy in recipes they already had,” Charlene says. “They could substitute soy without changing their whole way of cooking, but still adding all these health benefits.”

Those benefits include things like lower blood cholesterol levels when used to replace saturated fats, and increased protein intake, which is increasingly recognized as an important factor in weight loss and weight management.

Soy ingredients include pantry staples like vegetable oil and margarine, in addition to tofu and soy milk. Most surprising to many is that animal protein – beef, pork, and chicken –creates more soy usage in the U.S., as 97% of soybean meal produced in Kansas becomes livestock feed.

When she started with KSC, Charlene was working out of her home, which was perfect for her family with four young girls. Her daughters and husband, she says, were her greatest testers, often providing reassurance during her learning curve with soy ingredients.

“I needed to become familiar with tofu, so I developed a recipe for a strawberry smoothie that they loved,” says Charlene. “They thought it had great powers, and they would ask for it before school.”

This fond memory made that smoothie recipe one of her favorites, although she admits it’s hard to choose – “it’s like choosing between children.” Still, she says, this recipe is also a fan favorite.

“I’ve had no one that’s ever tried it that didn’t love it,” Charlene says. “Even people who are unfamiliar with tofu or scared to try it, they try this recipe and change their minds.”

There were challenges along the way, especially when COVID hit in 2020. The stations shut down, and Charlene could no longer go in to film. Regardless, WIBW news anchor Chris Fischer assured her the program wasn’t going anywhere.

“He just said, ‘We’re not going to miss a beat,’” Charlene remembers. “And we did it by zoom, here in my kitchen. It was all new technology. My husband Dan operated the camera, and I had cereal boxes stood up around my kitchen with scripts taped to them.”

Now, for an uninterrupted 50 years, Charlene has remained a familiar and welcoming face on news stations across Kansas. Today, you can find her demonstrating at the Kansas State Fair or watch her on tv cooking with her grandchildren. Her schedule and recipes are available on the KSC website.

“I just love representing agriculture because I know how important it is to Kansas,” Charlene says. “I am so very appreciative of the opportunity to do this with WIBW and the Kansas Soybean Commission.”

Charlene’s kindness and dedication have made her as much a staple in the kitchen as any ingredient she promotes. Thank you, Charlene, from the Kansas Soybean staff.