Family Is at the Heart of Brunch with Babs
Barbara Costello is passing down grandmotherly wisdom to her online community.
Photo Courtesy of MAGRINO
Most of her videos open with a chipper greeting: “Hi, everybody, it’s Babs!” Fans of Barbara Costello’s lifestyle TikTok and Instagram accounts, Brunch with Babs, feel drawn to her warm, welcoming demeanor. They rave about Babs’ helpful cooking, cleaning, gardening and hosting tips, but the connection is more than that. Viewers often comment that Babs reminds them of their mothers or grandmothers; Babs has taken to calling them her online family.
Since 2020, Babs has been sharing what seems to be an endless treasure trove of tricks, hacks and sage life advice. Where does it all come from? Fittingly, she learned a lot of it from her own family — both the generations that came before and after her.
Babs grew up with a savvy grandmother who immigrated to the United States from Italy. Her grandparents raised nine children, and later 22 grandchildren. They were frugal by necessity, and Babs’ grandmother used affordable, versatile items for all sorts of household tasks.
“My grandmother knew how to stretch a penny,” Babs tells Food Network. “I never even remember [my grandparents] buying toothpaste. Baking soda was what they used to brush their teeth. My grandmother used that in her garden. She used that for cleaning, laundry — so she kind of taught me by example that you didn’t have to go out and buy a lot of products, that you probably have what you need right in your pantry or in your kitchen.”
While Babs inherited her resourcefulness from her grandmother, she got her culinary skills from her mother. Babs’ mom was an intuitive cook and meticulous baker. She could have dinner on the table for guests with an hour of warning. When Babs was in high school, her mom opened a small company to cater dinner parties.
“She could take anything out of the freezer, out of the fridge, and transform it,” Babs says.
It was Babs’ daughter, Liz, who encouraged Babs to try TikTok in 2020. Babs was initially reluctant, but eventually she agreed. Liz filmed a video of Babs demonstrating a Greek chicken and potatoes recipe. Babs thought that video would be her only one, but she and Liz realized that it resonated deeply with viewers, especially because of the pandemic.
“The feedback after that first recipe was just mind-blowing. People were going, ‘You’re the closest thing I have to normalcy.’ ‘You remind me of my grandmother.’ ‘You remind me of my mom.’ ‘You’re the mom I wish [I had]’ — I mean, so many of the comments were very heartfelt,” Babs says.
Four years later, Babs and Liz are still running Brunch with Babs, which now has about four million followers on TikTok and Instagram each. The two of them are closer than ever. Babs says they see each other more often now than they did while Liz was growing up. And, as collaborators, Babs gets to see Liz in her element as a businessperson and photographer.
Babs’ experience has taught her that social media is a powerful tool for connection. She and Liz work hard to make their videos as polished and effective as they can be.
“When you go on a social media platform, you’re affecting people, whether you know it or not, for good or for not,” Babs says. “And I think we always focus on what is joyful, good and positive.”
Babs has gotten very good at doing that. While she’s already an upbeat person, her background as a preschool teacher has also helped her to be enthusiastic and curious about trying new things.
“With three- and four-year-olds, life is a celebration,” she says. “You’re seeing the world through the eyes of a child, which makes it just bigger than life.”
Image Courtesy of MAGRINO
Babs’ first cookbook, Celebrate with Babs: Holiday Recipes & Family Traditions, took the idea of celebrations and ran with it, focusing on recipes for different occasions. Her upcoming cookbook, Every Day with Babs, is designed to help readers approach routine cooking with more fun and less stress. Each chapter will focus on a different technique and day of the week — sheet-pan meals for Monday, batch cooking for Tuesday and so on. The book comes out on April 14, 2025 and is now available for preorder on Amazon.
So, whether you’ve been following Babs’ journey to stardom since the beginning or you’ve recently come across her page, she’s here to be your guide — and maybe your surrogate mom or grandma, too.
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