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30 Famous Black Chefs Who Are Changing the Food Industry

Talented chefs are abundant in the culinary world and add variety, innovation, and originality to our plates. Numerous Black chefs who have made important contributions to the culinary business are among these trailblazers.

These innovators, who came from various backgrounds, have forged their own paths, and produce meals that combine classic tastes with cutting-edge cooking methods.

From Mashama Bailey’s reinvention of Southern cuisine to Marcus Samuelsson’s blend of African, Scandinavian, and American elements, these chefs are not only altering how we taste food but also the food business as a whole.

We encourage culinary diversity and acknowledge the significant contributions of these Black chefs to the gourmet scene by recognizing their successes. So here are the 30 famous black chefs who are changing the food industry.

1. Edna Lewis

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According to the National Women’s History Museum, Edna Lewis, known as the “grand dame of southern cooking,” was one of the first African American women from the South to publish a cookbook in which the author’s real identity, gender, or race were not concealed.

Lewis spent more than 75 years working in the food industry, where she was celebrated as a top chef at several well-known eateries, released three critically praised cookbooks and garnered numerous James Beard awards.

Lewis passed away in 2006 at the age of 89, yet her legacy endures. In fact, the National Museum of African-American History and Culture at the Smithsonian Institute has a first copy of “In Pursuit of Flavor,” one of her most well-known cookbooks.

2. Darryl Evans

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According to the African American Chefs Hall of Fame, into which he was inducted, Darryl Evans was the first African American to compete in the International Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt, Germany, where he earned three gold medals and one silver medal between 1988 and 1992.

He completed his culinary training at the Cherokee Town and Country Club as a chef’s apprentice under the American Culinary Federation. Later, he was given the title of executive chef, which he held at a number of restaurants, country clubs, and four-star hotels. Evans passed away in 2014 at the age of 52.

3. Mariya Russell

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For her efforts as chef de cuisine at the well-known Chicago bar Kumiko and its sibling restaurant, Kikko, Mariya Russell became the first black woman to get a Michelin Star in 2020.

Her meals are renowned as elegant little nibbles that highlight Japanese ingredients, techniques, and tastes. “It truly, still very much blows my mind to think about [being] the only Black woman doing this. In all types of areas, representation is crucial, but in our business, I think it’s really great,” she told Michelin.

4. Marcus Samuelsson

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Marcus Samuelsson, the chef of the upscale Scandinavian restaurant Aquavit, gained a three-star rating from The New York Times in the 1990s at the age of 25, making him the youngest person to do so at the time.

He presently owns and runs a variety of restaurants, including Red Rooster Harlem in New York City. Samuelsson was included to the 2016 edition of the James Beard Foundation’s “Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America.”

He is a co-founder and co-producer of the yearly Harlem EatUp food and cultural festival. He also has his own PBS program, “No Passport Required,” which has contributed to his rise to stardom as one of the largest celebrity chefs of the 2010s.

5. Joe Randall

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As the Dean of Southern Cuisine and a living legend, Joe Randall has been preparing southern cuisine in Savannah, Georgia, since 1999. From the Air Force flight line .to executive chef at many restaurants, including the acclaimed Cloister Restaurant, Randall rose through the ranks.

He founded his own culinary school in 2000 because he has such a profound interest in both people and food. At the National Museum of African-American History and Culture of the Smithsonian Institute, Randall’s cookbook “A Taste of Heritage: the New African-American Cuisine” is always on display. Randall serves as the head of the organization that supports the African American Chefs Hall of Fame, A Taste of Heritage Foundation.

6. Leah Chase

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Leah Chase, commonly referred to as the “Queen of Creole Cuisine,” served as executive chef and co-owner of one of America’s most illustrious dining establishments, Dooky Chase’s Restaurant in New Orleans. 

Julia Child and other well-known chefs frequently appeared on culinary shows alongside Chase, a renowned cookbook author. She received recognition for both her job as a chef and her volunteerism.

In the 1950s and 1960s, when African Americans were barred from dining in New Orleans establishments, she prepared meals for them as well as for frontline civil rights workers.

Chase passed away in June 2019, but Dooky’s is still a popular hangout for regulars, visitors, and residents alike. Additionally, it has benefited Presidents Barack Obama and George W. 

7 . Patrick Clark

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Patrick Clark, who won the mid-Atlantic region’s James Beard best chef award in 1994, was the first black chef to do so. After achieving such a remarkable feat, Clark received an invitation to become the executive chef at Tavern on the Green, one of the best restaurants in the nation at the time. 

Then Clark took over the famed Hay-Adams Hotel’s restaurant in Washington, D.C., which led to him eventually preparing meals at the White House. He is listed as one of America’s most adored chefs in his obituary from 1998.

8. Carla Hall

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Carla Hall has been referred to be “the most visible black person in food.” She is well-known for her tenure as a co-host on the Emmy Award-winning ABC program “The Chew,” her run on Bravo’s “Top Chef,” and her appearances on “Good Morning America.”

A judge on several shows and specials, she is most known for her three best-selling cookbooks. The NAACP Image Awards nominated her book “Carla Hall’s Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration” in 2018.

9. Edouardo Jordahbn

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Edouardo Jordan became the first black chef to win the Best New Restaurant award after opening JuneBaby in Seattle in 2017. He also won the Best Chef Northwest and Best New Restaurant honors from the James Beard Foundation in 2018.

Jordan’s cuisines may be characterized as upmarket, contemporary variations on traditional soul food and are influenced by cuisine from France, Italy, the American South, and the Caribbean.

10. Mashama Bailey

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Mashama Bailey, executive chef and business partner of The Grey in Savannah, Georgia, has a wealth of experience in the city’s restaurant industry. At The Grey, Bailey has won several accolades, including the Best Chef Southeast title from the James Beard Foundation in 2019. 

Additionally, she holds the position of vice-chairman on the board of the Edna Lewis Foundation, which upholds and honors the late chef’s legacy and had an impact on Bailey’s cuisine at The Grey.

11. Bryant Terry

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James Beard Award-winning chef and author Bryant Terry is known for supporting a more wholesome and sustainable food system. Since 2015, he has served as the chef-in-residence at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, where he produces content about food, farming, health, activism, and culture.

His fourth book, “Afro-Vegan,” was named one of the best cookbooks of the year in 2014 by Amazon. In 2016, business media brand Fast Company listed Bryant among its 30 under.

12. Kwame Onwuachi

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When “Top Chef” season 13 ended, Kwame Onwuachi was prepared to take on the culinary world. He released a memoir in 2019 called “Notes from a Young Black Chef.”

He was given the James Beard Award for Rising Star Chef of the Year in the same year. At his Washington, D.C. restaurant, Kith/Kin, where his food pays homage to Afro-Caribbean and Creole cuisine as well as the African diaspora, his training at some of the best restaurants in the nation is evident.

13. Nina Compton

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Despite finishing in second place in Bravo’s “Top Chef”‘s 11th season in New Orleans, Nina Compton received the most votes from the audience. Since then, she has launched two eateries in the Big Easy called Compère Lapin and Bywater American Bistro, both of which include Caribbean-inspired dishes on the menus.

The Times-Picayune and New Orleans Magazine both awarded Compère Lapin the Best New Restaurant, while Compton was named one of Food & Wine magazine’s Best New Chefs for 2017. Additionally, in 2018, she took home the coveted James Beard Foundation Award for the finest chef in the South.

14. Robert W. Lee

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According to the African American Chefs Hall of Fame, Robert W. Lee was one of the African American chefs who rich restaurant owners recruited north in the 1930s and 1940s when executive chefs were mainly European.

In Pennsylvania’s Harrisburger Hotel, where he served as executive chef up to World War II, Lee created the menus, oversaw all hiring decisions, and developed hundreds of African American cooks.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt awarded Lee a medal for the several soldiers he trained in cooking during the conflict. Lee passed away in November 1999, but his legacy includes the recipe for his world-famous crab cakes.

15. Leon West

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In 1962, Leon West worked as a busboy and dishwasher in a restaurant in his hometown of Boston. In 2011, he was awarded the American Culinary Federation’s President’s Medallion for culinary achievement.

Between those events in 1962 and 2011, West was named Executive Chef of the “Taste of the NFL” in 2002 and was awarded Chef of the Year by the American Culinary Federation New Orleans Chapter in 1996. He is regarded as one of the city’s top chefs.

16. JJ Johnson

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James Beard Award-nominated chef JJ Johnson is renowned for his simple, flavorful dishes that draw inspiration from the Caribbean cuisine he prepared with his Puerto Rican grandmother as a child.

The Harlem location of Johnson’s fast-casual restaurant brand FieldTrip features heirloom rice from all around the world. He also presents “Just Eats with Chef JJ” on TV One’s new network Cleo TV and is one of the chefs for Buzzfeed’s Tasty platform, which has millions of followers.

17. Tregaye Fraser

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Tregaye Fraser was the first black woman to win “Food Network Star” in the program’s 12th season, which is one of the facts about the Food Network you might not be aware of. 

Additionally, she has participated in competitions on the programs “Cutthroat Kitchen” and “Guy’s Grocery Games.” Fraser went to Le Cordon Bleu for culinary school but quickly recognized her passion for fusion cuisine and love of cooking originated from her grandmother’s dinners, which made her stand out from other professionally educated chefs.

18. Alexander Smalls

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Alexander Smalls, a celebrated opera singer, has also received Tony and Grammy honors. This food inventor makes beautiful music as well as culinary creations with equal parts passion and innovation.

His Afro-Asian American delicacies are so authentic; they seem to have always been there.  Smalls pays homage to the music and heritage that helped create his identity in South Carolina while he elevates Low Country food.

19. Barbara Smith

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Barbara Smith, the first Black woman elected to the board of the Culinary Institute of America, spent her whole life breaking down racial boundaries, first as a model and then as a well-known restaurant.

Barbara was well-known for her Manhattan restaurant, B. Smith’s, which opened in 1986 and quickly gained a sizable following among powerful black New Yorkers who hailed it as a delectable, chic meeting place.

Essence magazine stated in 1995 that “the who’s who of black Manhattan eat there on a regular basis.” Smith, who was sometimes referred to as “Black Martha Stewart,” was a lifestyle icon owing to her cookbooks, eateries, home collection line, and weekly TV program. “Whatever you do, do it with style,” was Barbara Smith’s favorite maxim.

20. Sunny Anderson

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Veteran Sunny Anderson began her new profession as a DJ at a renowned radio station after leaving the US Air Force. Nevertheless, Sunny’s passion for cooking for her colleagues in the entertainment industry inspired her to start a catering business, which was made possible by the clientele of loyal followers she had amassed along the way.

She frequently hosts programs on The Food Network, such as How’d That Get On My Plate?, Cooking for Real, and Gotta Get It, where she tests out kitchenware. Her approach combines familiar comfort foods with a unique twist inspired by her extensive travels.

21. Lorraine Pascale

 Lorraine, a native of the UK, began her career as a model by walking the catwalk for brands like Chanel and Versace. But she gave up the glitzy jet-setting way of life to pursue her love. She spent a year at the famed Leith’s School of Food and Wine studying to obtain the professional foundation and abilities she required.

Following this, Lorraine completed a two-year foundation program in international culinary arts in pastries. Before starting her own celebration cake company, Ella’s Bakehouse in London, she earned expertise in some of London’s most renowned kitchens, including Petrus, The Mandarin Oriental, and Gilgamesh. Baking Made Easy on BBC Two served as Lorraine’s debut TV program.

22. Rodney Scott

Legend has it; Rodney Scott roasted his first whole hog at the age of just 11! The variety store run by his family in Hemingway, South Carolina, soon became Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ.

Since those early days, he has established himself as one of the top pit masters in the USA. He offers entire pigs, mac & cheese, fried chicken with a soul cuisine twist, and pit-cooked chicken at his Charleston eatery. He frequently appears on television and at culinary events.

23. Michael Twitty

Michael Twitty, a chef, author, and culinary historian, is well-known as one of the most significant food bloggers in the world. In his book The Cooking Gene, he examines how his family’s history is inextricably linked to the cooking customs of African Americans who were held as slaves throughout the Southern United States.

He gained notoriety in 2013 as a result of his “open letter” to Paula Deen, a restaurant owner who had been accused of using racist slurs. Since then, he has written other novels, the most recent of which being KosherSoul, which was released in 2022. Twitty is a well-known public speaker who may charge up to $100,000 for a keynote address.

24. Pierre Thiam

Senegalese chef, essayist, and cultural ambassador Pierre Thiam has made it his life’s work to champion and elevate West African food. Thiam has introduced the globe to the many tastes and culinary customs of his own country with unflinching love and skill.

By showcasing the diversity of West African ingredients and cooking methods in his highly regarded cookbooks and other culinary endeavors, Thiam elevates these cuisines to the fore of the world’s cuisine.

His commitment to maintaining and enhancing the authentic flavors of West African cuisine has broadened culinary horizons and enhanced respect for the region’s cultural history and culinary legacy.

25. Tanya Holland

With her creative approach, Brown Sugar Kitchen owner and renowned chef Tanya Holland is changing how people view soul cuisine in Oakland, California. Modern cooking methods are combined with traditional flavors in Holland’s culinary inventions to give classic soul food dishes a new, fascinating spin.

She places a strong emphasis on sustainability and community involvement through her dedication to sourcing her materials locally and lending a hand to regional farmers.

Holland has not only revived the soul food genre with her extraordinary ability and passion, but she has also established herself as a role model for budding cooks by showing how tradition can be reimagined while still respecting the origins and spirit of a dish.

26. Jerome Grant

Culinary genius Jerome Grant is the head chef of the Sweet Home Cafe at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. His dishes include contemporary methods and flavors while paying tribute to African American culinary heritage.

The rich tapestry of African American food is brought to life by Grant’s creative approach, which highlights the various tastes and influences that have molded it throughout time.

Grant’s culinary masterpieces teach and promote the historical and cultural value of African American cuisine while also tantalizing taste senses. He has received justly deserved praise in the culinary community for his commitment to conserving and advancing culinary traditions.

27. Nina Simone Bell

Chef maverick Nina Simone Bell, proprietor of The Stoop in Washington, D.C., is reimagining the food of the African diaspora. Bell creates recipes that honor the many tastes and culinary traditions of the African diaspora with unrelenting ingenuity and a fierce enthusiasm for her ancestry.

Her creative blending of traditional methods with modern touches results in culinary marvels that take customers on a gastronomic trip. Bell has received attention for her dedication to displaying the richness and complexity of African diaspora cuisines. She creates cultural bridges via her culinary talent and offers a novel viewpoint on the many culinary traditions of the African diaspora.

28. Ashleigh Shanti

Ashleigh Shanti, a native of North Carolina who was named one of the “16 Black Chefs Changing Food in America” by the New York Times, creates “Afro-Lachlan” cuisine, an exciting fusion of Black Appalachian food and contemporary interpretations of early Black American cuisine with influences from West Africa, Japan, and Europe.

Ashleigh Shanti, a native of North Carolina who was named one of the “16 Black Chefs Changing Food in America” by the New York Times, creates “Afro-Lachlan” cuisine, an exciting fusion of Black Appalachian food and contemporary interpretations of early Black American cuisine with influences from West Africa, Japan, and Europe.

29. Erick Williams

Chef Erick Williams, owner and executive chef of Virtue Restaurant & Bar in Chicago, encapsulates his love of the culinary arts in the clearest possible terms, as taught to him by his father: “Sharing a meal is a universal expression of respect and dignity.”

He launched Virtue, his first solo business, in 2018. There, he combines genuine southern cooking with ultra-sophisticated fine dining and an unshakable commitment to quality.

Williams, who has received several honors and distinctions, has provided catering for a number of high-profile and celebrity events. Additionally, he has served as a host at elegant James Beard Foundation dinners. He is a well-known figure in the restaurant industry. 

30. Eddie Jackson

Eddie Jackson, a former NFL player, is currently one of the Food Network’s biggest celebrities. He serves as a judge on The Big Bake (Food Network Canada) and Fire Masters, a grilling competition show. Jackson also serves as the host of programs like Yum & Yummer and Christmas Cookie Challenge on the Cooking Channel.

Game Day Eats, Jackson’s debut cookbook, has 100 dishes that make it simple to enjoy eating delicious cuisine while spending time with friends and watching the game. The wildly well-liked food truck park Rosehill Beer Garden in Cypress, Texas, was founded and is owned by Eddie as well.

A small portion of the outstanding individuals who are redefining the culinary business are represented by these 30 well-known Black chefs. They paved the path for subsequent generations of Black chefs via their culinary expertise, entrepreneurship, and dedication to their profession and motivated people from all walks of life to enjoy different cuisines and culinary traditions. We can continue to promote a more diverse and thriving food business by recognizing their accomplishments and efforts.