Join Chef Vivian Howard’s personal and culinary journey from the top restaurants in New York to her return to Eastern North Carolina as she explores the rich bounty of farm fresh cooking, family and community. Each episode follows Vivian out of the kitchen and into cornfields, strawberry patches and hog farms as she hunts down the ingredients that inspire her seasonal menus.
Disc One
Sweet Corn & Expensive Tea
Strawberry Stay at Home
Pimp My Grits
Cracklin’ Kitchen
Tomatoes…You Say Heirloom, I Say Old Timey
The World is Your Oyster
Muscadine Time
Disc Two
A Road Trip For Rice
Peanut Pastime
Love Me Some Candied Yams!
Collard Green Queen
The Buttermilk Belt
Have Yourself Some Moonshine
Season Two of the Peabody Award Winning A Chef’s Life hits the road with a new roster of Southern ingredients: blueberries, shrimp, turnips and butterbeans, to name just a few. Vivian and Ben open a second restaurant, plant heirloom apple trees, go pier fishing, hunt ramps and pick up pecans. We’ll tag along as Vivian prepares something special for 400 food writers and chefs down in the Delta, fixes holiday meals to meet her family’s high standards, and returns to New York City to cook the meal of her career at the James Beard House.
Disc One
Blueberries and Boiling Over
Shrimp Sells
R-E-S-P-E-C-T the Butterbean
Don’t Tom Thumb Your Nose at Me! Part 1
Don’t Tom Thumb Your Nose at Me! Part 2
Apples
The Fish Episode, Y’all
Disc Two
Obviously, It’s Pecans
Turnips – The Roots
Turnips – The Greens
Chicken Lickin’
Ramp-ing up to Spring
Eggs: A Dozen Ways
Eggs: Two Dozen Ways
“A Chef’s Life” enters into Season 1 with a rather joyous celebration of Vivian Howard’s style. This season was more about exploring the food culture of Eastern North Carolina, as Howard tries to find what works best. The stuff with the hog farms is fun, but that kind of material is handled better in Season 2. I appreciated the Moonshine episode, but so much of it feels like what people are expecting.
I’d recommend a purchase for the Southern Living crowd. That being said, I do have to admit that the material gets better. That and the Avett Brothers theme song is starting to grow on me. I wish more food shows had such clever tunes.
“A Chef’s Life” enters Season 2 with Vivian and Ben opening a second restaurant. This season also seemed to have more traveling and working outdoors. I don’t know quite what was up with that, but it’s neat seeing a chef outside of the kitchen. The entire world is an open feast and I dig the new approach.
That being said, the build up to what happens in New York City was needed. My wife loved the focus on butterbeans, as that is quickly becoming a staple around our household. Foodies will dig it, everyone else will be bored. Purchase it as you will.
Release Date: OUT NOW!