Chef Kent Graham

Years of Participation

2020

Deeply rooted in Southern tradition with a contemporary approach to locally sourced ingredients, Chef Kent Graham brings an honest approach to food that is otherwise lost in technique. Classically trained, he started at his mother’s apron strings in Memphis, Tennessee. With both Father and Mother having a heavy appreciation for the arts, Kent’s youth was spent enriched with culture and education. Creating beauty and bringing it to life was a pastime in the Graham home.

Following his love of food, Kent studied at the hands of very talented mentors across the country. He has cooked in New York City, Napa Valley, Jackson Hole, Atlanta, and throughout the South. He now makes his home in both Atlanta, Georgia & Knoxville, Tennessee.

A Chef, a farmer, a huntsman; Kent introduces diversity to classic southern offerings. With a heavy concentration on locally sourced and crafted foods, he uses naturally raised or grown ingredients to highlight the cornerstone of his culinary philosophy – “Keep it local; Keep it fresh; Keep it simple.”

Moving forward, Kent hopes to break the mundane, over cooked, tired thoughts of Southern food over saturated with butter and all too commercial ideals with his new projects. As a Southern Foodways Alliance member and grass roots Southern boy, he looks to bring the heritage… history… stories…memories… back to Southern dining.