Vivian Howard

Vivian Howard is an American chef, restaurateur, author, and television host from Deep Run, NC. She used to co-own Chef & the Farmer restaurant in Kinston, North Carolina, and also owned the Boiler Room Oyster. She has also established a restaurant in Charleston, SC, called Lenoir, in 2021.

Howard was raised in Deep Run, NC, by parents who were hog and tobacco farmers. This upbringing instilled in her an appreciation for eating with the seasons. After earning her BA in English Language from North Carolina State University, she moved to New York City, where she attended the Institute of Culinary Education. She initially pursued a career in advertising, but the city's vibrant food and restaurant scene caught her interest. She began her culinary journey as a server at Greenwich Village’s Voyage, where she had the opportunity to learn under Chef Scott Barton. She later honed her skills at WD-50 under Chefs Wylie Dufresne and Sam Mason and was a part of the opening team at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Spice Market.

In 2006, Howard returned to her hometown to open Chef & the Farmer, a restaurant dedicated to local, seasonal, and creative cuisine. The restaurant received a AAA Four Diamond Award seven times and was named an OpenTable Top 100 Restaurants in America, and it sources over 60% of its foodstuffs from within a 90-mile radius. She also opened Benny's Big Time Pizzeria in Wilmington, NC, in 2017. Furthermore, Howard hosted the acclaimed PBS television series "A Chef's Life" from 2013 to 2018, which won a Peabody Award for a cooking program in 2014 and a 2015 Daytime Emmy for Best Directing of a Lifestyle/Travel/Culinary program. She also hosted "Somewhere South" in 2020, a series that explores dishes across various cultures.

Howard is an accomplished author, writing the cookbook-memoir "Deep Run Roots" in 2017 and "This Will Make It Taste Good: A New Path to Simple Cooking" in 2020. "Deep Run Roots" won four IACP Cookbook Awards in 2017. She has also contributed to various publications, including the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Southern Living. In 2023, she penned an opinion piece for the New York Times discussing the struggles with the current restaurant business model and her plans for the future of Chef & the Farmer.

Aside from her pursuits in the culinary world, Howard also partakes in events like the Charleston Wine + Food Festival. Her contributions to the culinary field have earned her several James Beard Foundation Award nominations, including for Television Program, On Location, Visual and Technical Excellence, and Outstanding Personality Host. She was also a semifinalist for the Best Chef Southeast award five times in a row.