Chef Vivian Howard explores farm-fresh cooking in North Carolina.
After a year recovering from a restaurant fire and re-opening Chef and the Farmer, Vivian and Ben go all-in to open a burger/oyster bar called The Boiler Room. Vivian boils over with the stress.
Vivian and Ben head to the beach for their annual summer vacation with the Howard family. Back in Kinston, the devil is in the details as Vivian and Ben prepare to open their second restaurant, the...
Burgers. Oysters. Beer. Hallelujah! Vivian and Ben are on the cusp of opening their new restaurant, the Boiler Room, and they are facing a new challenge: how to make a veggie burger stand out.
Vivian, Ben and the entire Chef and the Farmer staff hustle to complete the mammoth preparations necessary for her big luncheon at the Southern Foodways Alliance symposium in Oxford, Mississippi.
The excitement from the night before turns into heightened emotion and real nerves for Vivian as she faces one challenge after another in the prep kitchen before her big SFA luncheon. Rice almost b...
As Vivian returns from her Mississippi road trip to the fall harvest, she confronts her long absence from the dinner service at Chef and the Farmer. She travels to an heirloom apple tree collector,...
Vivian presents a few of the many ways fish makes its appearance in Southern cooking, from dried mullet roe to a friendly fish stew competition with Warren Brothers' buddies.
It's November y'all and that means it's busy at Chef and the Farmer. Vivian is feeling the stress of both work and home as she juggles running the restaurant after suspending her sous chef and prep...
The heady heyday of hot summer vegetables are over and rainy winters can bring some dull varieties. Few are more unglamorous than the turnip. Nevertheless, Vivian is determined to showcase the sexi...
Late winter brings "run-up" turnip greens, which Vivian sees as central to her approach to southern food, capturing both the spirit and the letter of what Chef and the Farmer is all about. Miss Sca...
Spring brings the twins' birthday and Vivian can't help but go over the top with celebrations. The restaurant's new best-seller is a whole chicken, pounded and stuffed with broccoli salad.
Vivian hunts for ramps-an Appalachian wild leek-with renowned bacon purveyor Alan Benton near his home in the Tennessee countryside.
Vivian finally makes good on a promise to cook for a friend's supper club, and she seizes the moment to experiment with an egg dish that she hopes to wow New York City's James Beard House crowd in ...
Ben and the kitchen team pack up the van and hit the road for New York. A month of planning and preparation peak as Vivian's invitation to cook at the prestigious James Beard House becomes a reality.