It’s a big weekend at Southern Season for fans of chefs and cookbooks.
Friday, Vivian Howard appears at the Chapel Hill store. The North Carolina-born Howard is best known for the Peabody-winning show A Chef’s Life, which premiered in 2013. Howard’s appearance is part of the launch of a partnership between Howard and Southern Season that has given rise to an assortment of specialty gift collections. The collections come packaged in handcrafted wooden crates and feature items selected by Howard. Examples include include “Kinston Inspiration” (items from her hometown), “Ben’s Birthday Gift” (her husband’s favorite breakfast items) and “Childhood Memories” (a few of her favorite snacks when growi ng up). The “Pimp My Grits” gift assortment is a salute to one of the most popular dishes on the menu of her now famous Kinston-based restaurant, Chef & the Farmer, which she opened in 2005 with Ben Knight after working under some of New York’s best chefs.
Next year, the relationship between Howard and Southern Season will expand to include a line of “Vivian Howard for Southern Season” products based on her recipes.
Howard’s in-store appearance runs from noon until 3 p.m. on Dec. 12. She will demonstrate cooking techniques, meet fans, sign autographs and talk about the products springing from her team-up with Southern Season.
Appearing in the store on Sunday is grill master Jim Webster, co-author of America: Farm to Table with chef Mario Batali. (Webster is also a copy editor with The Washington Post. Let’s hope there aren’t any grammar gremlins in this post!) In the book, Webster and Batali present more than 100 recipes and share the stories of farmers from across the country.
Webster will sign copies of the book Dec. 14 from noon until 2 p.m.
Southern Season is at University Mall, 201 S. Estes Dr., Chapel Hill. 919-929-7133.
