Winner will appear in Taste of Home magazine, cook with Carla Hall, and take home $25,000
My motto: Make good food. Invite people. Do it often. Sharing my Gullah Geechee culinary roots with guests from all around the globe.
You decide who will appear in Taste of Home magazine, and win $25,000!
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Sea Island Red Peas & Carolina Gold Rice — a Gullah Geechee heirloom recipe with roots in West Africa. The cowpeas cook to a sweet, creamy richness; the Carolina Gold Rice, named for its golden unhulled grains, is the best rice you'll ever taste. Paired with brown butter skillet cornbread, every bite tells the story of the ancestors who carried these ingredients to the New World. Served at my Cincinnati table to guests from 40 countries around the globe. History never tasted so good.
Who is your culinary inspiration?The Gullah Geechee matriarchs — the "beenyas" — who preserved West African culinary traditions across generations of hardship inspire me most. After watching High on the Hog and taking a culinary road trip to South Carolina's Hilton Head and St. Helena Islands, I discovered the profound story of how enslaved West Africans shaped the cuisine we now call American. Their resilience, creativity and love are in every dish I cook. Their legacy is the foundation of my kitchen.
What would you do with the $25,000?Food is the great equalizer — it breaks down walls and turns strangers into family. Guests sit at my table, share a bowl of Sea Island Red Peas and find common ground. Great food does that — it connects us across culture, language and distance. I'd use $25,000 to create more magical moments where diverse people connect over great food and walk away changed. And I'd put the rest toward a cookbook — because this story deserves to be on every kitchen shelf in America.
Vote for Dominique Ellison to be the next Favorite Chef while supporting a great cause! Cast your free daily vote below, or make an even bigger impact when you vote by donation, supporting the James Beard Foundation and their mission to lead chefs and the broader culinary industry toward a new standard of excellence.
