
Chef Ashleigh Shanti, along with 12 other “Top Chef” alumni, received coveted recognition from the James Beard Foundation last week. Shanti was nominated for Best Chef: Southeast — which includes Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia — for her Asheville fish fry restaurant, Good Hot Fish.
Shanti’s new cookbook, “Our South: Black Food Through My Lens,” explores Black and Appalachian foodways, highlighting the resilience of the people, the significance of the culture and the ingredients and dishes that connect generations.