Vivian Howard given 'South's Best Chef' honor by Southern Living Magazine

Vivian Howard was named ‘The South’s Best Chef 2019’ by Southern Living Magazine. Photo from Vivian Howard’s Facebook page

Vivian Howard continues to rack up the accolades, as she was recently honored by Southern Living Magazine as the 2019 “South’s Best Chef.”

Howard, the owner of Chef and the Farmer, host of the hit show “A Chef’s Life” from 2013 through 2018, author of Deep Run Roots and winner of a Peabody Award, was honored by the national magazine not just for her amazing recipes, but her work in the community.

“Chef and the Farmer is about providing a great dining experience and delicious food, but it’s also about supporting our community,” Howard said in an interview with Southern Living. “Our goal is to help keep Eastern North Carolina an agricultural region, so we do a lot to help support local farmers growing produce, proteins (and) cheeses, and we want to make sure they have a market for those items.”

Howard created efforts to raise money for areas stricken by Hurricane Florence in September.

“Growing up in Eastern North Carolina, hurricanes were always on our radar, so with Florence I wanted to help my neighbors in Jones County,” Howard said. “We did this T-shirt fundraiser and we sold (approximately) 5,000 T-shirts. (The) overwhelming support was really overpowering.”

Howard will continue to keep the Southern tradition strong.

“I think what makes someone a great Southern chef is reverence for history, our ingredients and how we got to where we are,” Howard said. “I think we’re in a period of time where it’s really important to identify and exalt the people who built and created Southern food, (making) it the cuisine it really is.”

Southern Living is based out of Birmingham, Ala. and has been in operation since 1966. The monthly periodical has a circulation of more than 2.8 million.