THE FUTURE OF FOOD IS FEMALE
Kentucky to the World in collaboration with The LEE Initiative presented the Republic Bank Foundation Speaker Series:
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙁𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙞𝙨 𝙁𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙚
For International Women's Month, Kentucky to the World teamed up with The LEE Initiative on Monday, March 2 for a dynamic program featuring female stars from our booming culinary arts ecosystem.
In addition to the lively conversation about the past, present and future of female chefs at the forefront of Kentucky’s national culinary contributions, The LEE Initiative announced the new mentees selected for Season 3 of The Women Chefs Initiative live on stage.
Beloved Louisvillian and Food Network personality, Chef Damaris Phillips, who uses her wit and her updated take on Southern cuisine to pack a one-two punch in the kitchen, hosted the evening's conversation with:
Chef Samantha Fore, Food & Wine Magazine’s August 2019 featured cover chef and proprietor of Tuk Tuk Sri Lankan Bites in Lexington, Ky. One of the few representations of Sri Lankan cuisine in the United States, it reflects Sam’s Sri Lankan upbringing in the American South. She is a 2019 Smith Fellow with the Southern Foodways Alliance and was selected as one of Plate Magazine’s 2018 Chefs to Watch.
Chef Kristen Smith, Chef/Owner/Farmer of The Wrigley Taproom & Eatery in Corbin, Ky —a farm-to-table Appalachian restaurant. Chef Smith is a celebrated foodways evangelist for Southeastern Kentucky that works with area farmers to create a sustainable, supportive economy. She discovered her passion for communicating with honest, thoughtful, engaging food while living and working in rural China. She returned home in 2009 to take over her family’s sixth-generation cattle farm.
Chef Nikkia Rhodes, grew up in Louisville’s Smoketown neighborhood, went to Western High School’s early college program, then to JCTC studying Culinary Arts. From there, she went on to being chosen for the LEE Initiative’s Women Chefs Mentoring program and is now a full-time culinary instructor at Iroquois High School.
FEATURING:
