Kardea Brown
Born
Charleston, South Carolina
OccupationChef
Known forDelicious Miss Brown

Kardea Brown is an American chef and caterer known for being the host of the television show Delicious Miss Brown on the Food Network.[1] The show has reached 3.5 million viewers since its 2019 premiere, averaging over 1 million viewers per episode, and began its sixth season in 2022.[2][3]

Early life

Brown was born in Charleston, South Carolina and is of Gullah descent; her grandmother is from Wadmalaw Island.[4] She is a contemporary Southern cook.[1]

Career

She had been working in social services and auditioned for a pilot on the Food Network but was told to work on her cooking skills.[4] She started the New Gullah Supper Club in 2015, a pop-up traveling supper club featuring traditional Gullah dishes "with a contemporary twist" at events often featuring Gullah singers or storytellers.[4] She was invited by Food Network to be on Beat Bobby Flay and to host Cupcake Championship before being offered her own show.[4] Brown signed an exclusive contract with Food Network in 2021 which included her being the host of The Great Soul Food Cook-Off.[2][5]

Delicious Miss Brown is set at a home on Edisto Island and focuses on "fresh, seasonal, and very seafood heavy" cooking.[6][3][7] Brown's great-great-great grandmother was the last person to own Hutchinson House on Edisto Island. She hosted an episode with a fish-fry fundraiser to raise money for the house's restoration in 2021.[8] During that show she discussed the history of slavery and the formerly enslaved people who built Hutchinson House, despite the network's past concerns about discussing similar topics on the network, according to food historian Dan Kohler.[8]

Her first cookbook The Way Home was published in October 2022.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b "Delicious Miss Brown". Food Network. 2019-07-12. Retrieved 2022-02-09.
  2. ^ a b Milner, Parker (August 24, 2020). "Food Network signs SC native Kardea Brown to two-year contract extension". Post and Courier. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  3. ^ a b Krishna, Priya (2020-06-17). "Kardea Brown Honors Gullah Cuisine and Her Family's Traditions". Southern Living. Retrieved 2022-02-09.
  4. ^ a b c d "Meet the Next Food Network Star: Kardea Brown". Garden & Gun. 2019-11-18. Retrieved 2022-02-09.
  5. ^ Massouleh McCay, Tara (2021-12-08). "Who's the Country's Best Soul Food Chef? A New Cooking Competition Show Aims to Find Out". Southern Living. Retrieved 2022-02-09.
  6. ^ Johnson, Lauren B. (2020-08-25). "15 Minutes with Kardea Brown". CHARLESTON SC. Retrieved 2022-02-09.
  7. ^ Oyer, Kalyn (August 24, 2020). "Charleston Gullah chef hosts third season of Food Network show 'Delicious Miss Brown'". Post and Courier. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  8. ^ a b Kohler, Dan (2021-05-28). "Perspective - Food Network says it's dedicated to teaching. But it never let me say 'slavery' on air". Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-02-09.
  9. ^ Milner, Parker (October 13, 2022). "SC's Food Network star Kardea Brown set to release 1st cookbook". Post and Courier. Retrieved 2023-02-01.

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