Ruth Reichl, is an American chef, food writer and editor. In addition to two decades as a food critic, mainly spent at the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, Reichl has also written cookbooks, memoirs and a novel, and has been co-producer of PBS's Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie, culinary editor for the Modern Library, host of PBS's Gourmet's Adventures With Ruth, and editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine. She has won six James Beard Foundation Awards.
Lidia Giuliana Matticchio Bastianich is an Italian-American celebrity chef, television host, author, and restaurateur. Specializing in Italian and Italian-American cuisine, Bastianich has been a regular contributor to public television cooking shows since 1998.
Tiffani Faison is an American celebrity chef and restaurateur. She is based in Boston, has served as a judge on Food Network's television series Chopped, and is a four-time James Beard Award Finalist for Best Chef: Northeast. She was the winner of Season 3 of Tournament of Champions and was named Boston's Best Chef by Boston Magazine in 2022. She was one of two finalists on the first season of Bravo's reality show Top Chef, where she finished second to Harold Dieterle.
Michelle Bernstein is an American chef from Miami, Florida. She is an expert in the Latin-style flavors of cooking. She is a James Beard Foundation Award recipient.
Tanya Holland is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, podcast host, writer, and cookbook author. She is known as an expert of soul food. Holland is an alumna of Bravo TV's Top Chef, where she competed on the 15th season. She was the owner of Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland, California, which received national recognition and multiple Michelin Bib Gourmand awards.
Lydia Shire is an American Boston-based chef and restaurateur.
Michael Solomonov is an Israeli chef known for his restaurants in Center City, Philadelphia. His first restaurant Zahav, founded in 2008, has received national recognition including the James Beard Foundation "Outstanding Restaurant" in 2019. Solomonov was also awarded Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic in 2011, Cookbook of the Year in 2016, and Outstanding Chef in 2017 from the James Beard Foundation. In 2021, The New York Times named his restaurant Laser Wolf as one of "the 50 places in America we're most excited about right now."
Naomi Pomeroy is a professional chef and restaurateur. In an interview, Pomeroy explains that she began cooking at the age of three and created her first recipe at the age of four. She graduated from Lewis & Clark College in 1997 with a degree in history. Pomeroy has no formal culinary or business training; she developed her skills by watching other food-industry professionals. In 2007, she opened the restaurant Beast in Portland, Oregon. Previously, she started Gotham Tavern, Gotham Coffee shop, and ClarkLewis restaurant with Michael Hebb. In 2013, Working Mother magazine featured an article which details Pomeroy's experiences as a working single parent.
Patricia Jinich is a Mexican chef, TV personality, cookbook author, educator, and food writer. She is best known for her James Beard Award-winning and Emmy-nominated public television series Pati's Mexican Table. Her first cookbook, also titled Pati's Mexican Table, was published in March 2013, her second cookbook, Mexican Today, was published in April 2016, and her third cookbook, Treasures of the Mexican Table, was published in November 2021.
Celina Tio is an American chef. She has appeared on several Food Network television series and she owns The Belfry restaurant in Kansas City.
Samin Nosrat is an Iranian-American chef, TV host, food writer and podcaster.
Ashley Christensen is an American chef, restaurateur, author, and culinary celebrity. She is based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the chef + proprietor of AC Restaurants, a hospitality group that operates Poole's Diner, Fox Liquor Bar, Beasley's Chicken + Honey, Death & Taxes, Poole'side Pies, and AC Events. A two-time James Beard Award winner, she is widely credited for helping to put Raleigh's food scene on the map.
Katie Button is an American Chef and restaurateur. She holds the title of Executive Chef and CEO of the restaurant group Katie Button Restaurants which includes Cúrate Bar de Tapas and La Bodega by Cúrate located in Asheville, North Carolina.. She also operates an online Spanish food market, Cúrate at Home, and a culinary travel company, Cúrate Trips.
Mashama Bailey is an American chef trained in French technique who is currently cooking Southern cuisine. In 2019, Bailey was awarded a James Beard Award as best chef of the southeast. In 2022, Bailey was awarded a James Beard Award as Outstanding Chef.
Ann Kim is a James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurateur in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Sean Sherman is an Oglala Lakota Sioux chef, cookbook author, forager, and promoter of indigenous cuisine. Sherman founded the indigenous food education business and caterer The Sioux Chef and cofounded with then-partner Dana Thompson the nonprofit North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NĀTIFS). He received a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award and his 2017 cookbook, The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen, won the 2018 James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook. In 2022 the restaurant he co-owned with Thompson, Owamni, won the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant.
Brooke Williamson is an American chef and restaurateur. She won season 14 of the US television reality cooking competition series Top Chef and has owned several Los Angeles-area restaurants.
Owamni by the Sioux Chef, or simply Owamni, is a Native American restaurant in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, that overlooks the Mississippi River. Owamni's majority Native American staff serves a menu made from indigenous ingredients such as game meats, corn, and wild plants. The restaurant does not serve ingredients that were introduced to the region by Europeans, including butter, dairy, sugar, black pepper, wheat, chicken, beef, and pork.
Dana Thompson is an American restaurateur, songwriter, and promoter of indigenous cuisine and food sovereignty. In 2022 her Minneapolis, Minnesota, restaurant Owamni won the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant.
Sherry Pocknett is a Mashpee Wampanoag chef and caterer. She is the owner of the Sly Fox Den Too restaurant in Charlestown, Rhode Island. In 2023, Pocknett received the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Northeast. She is the first Indigenous woman to be honored by the James Beard Foundation.
