This October, 17 chefs dedicated to advocacy, sustainability, and food system change will gather at Carnation Farms in Carnation, Washington for the 27th James Beard Foundation Chef Bootcamp for Policy and Change ™. For 12 years, this program has trained and inspired culinary leaders from across the country to mobilize in support of policy decisions that impact our food system. Read on to get to know our fall 2024 Chef Bootcamp cohort!
George Azar
Flowers of Vietnam, Detroit, MI
Detroit native George Azar is the chef/owner of Flowers of Vietnam, a celebrated restaurant in Southwest Detroit. After working in renowned kitchens like Alinea in Chicago and Noma in Copenhagen, Azar returned home in 2016 to create a Vietnamese pop-up in his childhood neighborhood. Flowers of Vietnam quickly gained national attention, earning spots on Zagat’s 30 Under 30 list and GQ’s Best New Restaurants. The restaurant’s success reflects Azar’s deep connection to his community. Trained in hospitality and culinary arts, Azar combined his global experience with local roots to create a unique and beloved dining destination.
Carrie Baird
Culinary Creative Group and Fox and the Hen, Denver, CO
Carrie Baird is the culinary director of Denver-based restaurant group, Culinary Creative. She oversees four Tap & Burger concepts and runs breakfast concept Fox and the Hen. Baird competed on Season 15 of Bravo’s Top Chef and reached the final four. In the spring of 2019, Baird was a contestant on Food Network’s Beat Bobby Flay and beat him handily with her pork–green chili huevos rancheros. In 2020, she became a James Beard Award nominee® for Best Chef: Mountain.
Juan Barajas
Savory Café, Woodland, CA
Juan Barajas is the owner of Savory Café in Woodland, California. Through his unwavering commitment to sustainable food practices and community involvement, he has become a pillar of the Greater Sacramento region. With a deep-rooted passion for local agriculture and a dedication to fostering community connections, Barajas’s contributions have significantly impacted the local food landscape. Barajas aims to honor his family's roots as farmworkers in the fields of his beloved Yolo County, California.
Denella Belin
Nella’s Innovative Kreations, Phoenix, AZ
Denella Belin represents ancestral foodways with modern culinary flavors. Belin is an Indigenous fusion chef highlighting the cultural foods of Arizona with a culinary journey spanning 16 years of experience ranging from entry-level positions to culinary leadership. Belin is the owner of Nella's Innovative Kreations, which offer's custom catering, engaging cooking classes, and unique private chef dinners. Belin embodies a unique blend of culinary expertise and advocacy for indigenous foods and is breaking barriers through her community work.
Andrea Borgen-Abdallah
Independent Restaurant Coalition, Los Angeles, CA
Andrea Borgen-Abdallah has spent her career in the hospitality industry, opening her own restaurant, barcito, in 2015. She attempted to create a hospitality-included, no-tipping model, which led her to become immersed in public policy debates around wages, tipping, and the structural challenges of the industry. In 2021, she closed barcito with a desire to pursue this advocacy work full-time. Borgen-Abdallah recently became the director of community engagement at the Independent Restaurant Coalition, where she is eager to strive towards a brighter future for the industry and all who work in it.
Jezabel Careaga
Jezabel’s, Philadelphia, PA
Jezabel Careaga is an Argentine-born entrepreneur, chef/owner, and designer based in Philadelphia.
Although she initially became famous for her signature dishes at her bakery, restaurant, and market, Jezabel’s, she has built a reputation for Fuego Cocina Itinerante: her daring outdoor live-fire cooking. Careaga participated in the James Beard Foundation’s Taste America® TasteTwenty cohort and has brought her grill set up to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Bok Bar, among others.
She connects with local producers and small businesses to source the best ingredients and create awareness around sustainability and delicious, conscious, and healthy eating.
Kiah Gibian
Our Time Kitchen, Baltimore, MD
Kiah Gibian (they/she) is a local community builder and artist in Baltimore, Maryland. She is a chef, doula, and hungry learner constantly falling in love with new and interesting ingredients. She is a big feeler and is always pondering the ways in which we connect with one another and navigate through our surrounding systems and city. Her work is driven by curiosity and her desire to learn through participation in farming, foraging, owning a food truck, co-owning a share kitchen, sci-fi dinners, her doula practice, and her own self-care work.
Jazmin Johnson
NO STAL GIA KITCHEN and The Dalton School, New York, NY
Jazmin Johnson is a native New Yorker, culinary educator, and activist who dedicates her time to empowering residents through food access and education. She is on a quest to radically change the way that students across the U.S. interact with food while creating memorable culinary experiences that celebrate her Honduran heritage and Central American flavors. Johnson runs the teaching kitchen at The Dalton School and is growing it into the first culinary department in a K-12 independent school in the country. Her culinary ethos is that food should not only provide fuel but also heal our bodies.
Aaron Lopez
Ursa, El Centro, CA
Aaron Lopez was born and raised in Calexico, California, a small desert town on the border of Arizona and Mexico. He moved to Los Angeles in 2005, received his culinary degree from Le Cordon Bleu, and worked under some fantastic chefs. Lopez’s new restaurant, Ursa, is a modern restaurant that showcases indigenous ingredients from the southwest desert. His goal is to use monsoon crops and native ingredients from the desert in a progressive way and work closely with foragers and seed savers to tell the restaurant’s story.
George Madosky III
a.kitchen+bar DC, Washington, D.C.
George Madosky III is the chef de cuisine of a.kitchen+bar DC, an offshoot of the acclaimed Philadelphia restaurant from James Beard Award winner® Ellen Yin’s High Street Hospitality Group. Starting at the Old City, Philadelphia location under chef John Patterson, Madosky rose from garde manger cook in 2017 to executive chef by 2021. Madosky’s culinary approach focuses on seasonality and sustainability. He played a key role in Fork’s evolution, introducing fresh ideas and ingredients. During the pandemic, he led efforts to prepare over 10,000 meals for frontline workers. In 2024, he was named a StarChefs Rising Star Chef in Philadelphia.
Dean Neff
Seabird, Wilmington, NC
James Beard Award nominee® Dean Neff is the chef/owner of Seabird, a seafood restaurant and oyster bar devoted to the food of North Carolina’s coast that celebrates sustainable fishing, aquaculture, and farming practices in downtown Wilmington. Originally from Savannah, Georgia, Neff’s obsession with the sea began with family weekends spent fishing, crabbing, and shrimping. Neff works with Northside Food Co-op, Cape Fear River Watch, Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC, and a regional council member. Neff is a partner of the Stop, Check, Enjoy! Campaign, an organization that aims to bring awareness to the Wilmington community about the toxicity levels of harmful chemicals in fish.
Diego Oka
La Mar, Miami, FL
Born and raised in Peru, Diego Oka is a celebrated culinary ambassador for Peruvian cuisine, recognized by the Michelin Guide and 50 Best Discovery. He has lived and worked in Mexico City, Colombia, San Francisco, and Miami, where he now leads La Mar. His culinary philosophy blends art and tradition, with a focus on creating lasting impressions through food. Known for his advocacy, Oka is passionate about mental health and immigrant experiences. Oka is a dedicated father and continuously pushes the boundaries of culinary innovation while honoring his heritage.
Joy Parham
The Community Grocer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Joy Parham is a chef, culinary educator, and food justice advocate dedicated to expanding food access and opportunities in underserved communities. As the workforce development director at The Community Grocer, Parham focuses on expanding SNAP benefits and healthy food options. A seasoned culinary competitor, she also serves as an instructor at a local college and collaborates with organizations like the Free Brunch Program and People’s Kitchen. Parham’s work emphasizes the transformative power of food, education, and advocacy, empowering residents through workshops, job training programs, and free meal distributions.
Halo Perez-Gallardo
Lil’ Deb’s Oasis, Hudson, New York
Halo Perez-Gallardo is head chef and creative director of Lil Deb’s Oasis in Hudson, New York. After studying studio arts at Bard College, Gallardo began exploring the relationship between cooking, installation, and performance through kitchen work. In 2016, they co-founded Lil Deb’s and have since cultivated the project into a thriving restaurant, site-specific installation, and performance venue for queer collectivity and maximalist sensation. Office Magazine, The New York Times, Vogue, and Dazed Magazine have profiled their work. Their 2022 cookbook, Please Wait to be Tasted: The Lil' Deb's Oasis Cookbook, and restaurant are both James Beard Award–recognized projects. Gallardo’s work and life is driven by pleasure and generosity.
Rob Rubba
Oyster Oyster, Washington, D.C
Rob Rubba is the chef of the Michelin-starred Oyster Oyster in Washington, D.C. Rubba is the 2023 James Beard Award winner® of the Outstanding Chef Award, as well as the 2022 Food & Wine Best New Chefs Award. His career spans 20 years of cooking in the best restaurants across the country under chefs like Gordon Ramsay, Guy Savoy, and Laurent Gras. Rubba has branched out on his own, focusing on sustainability. A vegetarian himself, Rubba prepares a seasonal, local, plant-forward menu that expresses the Mid-Atlantic bounty; stays true to zero waste and a low carbon footprint; and supports regenerative farming.
Sarah Simmons
CITY GRIT Hospitality, Columbia, SC
Sarah Simmons is the chief executive officer of CITY GRIT Hospitality Group, which operates smallSUGAR, il Focolare Pizzeria, CITY GRIT, and Feed the City, a 501(c)(3) dedicated to breaking young adults from the poverty cycle. All of the CGHG concepts celebrate diversity and inclusion and pay staff livable wages without accepting gratuity.
In 2022, Simmons was selected as a Liberty Fellow, a fellowship within the Aspen Global Leadership Network. In 2023, she became a James Beard Award nominee® for Outstanding Restaurateur and was inducted into Richland County’s Order of the Flame in recognition of her leadership in enhancing the welfare of others.
Ben Vaughn
Center of Culinary Cultivation, Olive Branch, MS
Ben Vaughn is a chef, best-selling author, restaurateur, husband, and father of four. Vaughn’s love for accessible, delicious food is what inspired him to write Southern Routes: Secret Recipes from the Best Down-Home Joints in the South, a Wall Street Journal and Amazon best seller. For Vaughn, life is about sharing stories and amazing, approachable food with the hungry masses. Vaughn has appeared on Food Network, Travel Channel, and A+E, and is the host of the digital series The Breakfast Show. He is the founder of the Center of Culinary Cultivation and his restaurant group Be Nice.
Learn more about the Chef Bootcamp for Policy and Change ™ and sign up for our Industry Support Newsletter for updates on how to get involved with JBF’s advocacy efforts year-round.
