CHANGING THE WORLD ONE BITE AT A TIME
Acclaimed chef, cookbook author and host Gerry Garvin (a.k.a. G. Garvin) is most widely known for his television series, Turn Up the Heat with G. Garvin, now in its fifth season on TV One. The show’s increasing popularity earned the talented artist a second series on the same network entitled G. Garvin: The Road Tour, which premiered in 2007 and is currently in its second season.
Garvin is also a notable author. His first cookbook, Turn Up the Heat with G. Garvin (Meredith Books) debuted in October 2006. Its widespread success quickly prompted a second printing and won an American Literacy Award. It was also chosen as a participant in the 2006 Library of Congress National Book Festival. Garvin’s highly anticipated sophomore effort, Make it Super Simple with G. Garvin, a collection of recipes for super simple, healthful and delectable dishes, was released in February 2008. Garvin’s third cookbook, aptly titled, Dining In, releases on October 7, 2008 and features all new, fine dining recipes that will provide even the most inexperienced cooks with recipes to create the most impressive gourmet meals in their own homes.
Garvin has mastered offering a “one-size-fits-all” approach to cooking- sophisticated simplicity- proving that even the most basic cooking palate can create the most flavorful of dishes. Ever the entrepreneur, Garvin has developed his own line of spices, called G. Garvin Spices, and is currently working on national distribution.
To further make an indelible mark on culinary history, Garvin is working passionately on opening a culinary camp in Chicago in 2009. The camp will cater to young adults and will offer an experiential education in hospitality and restaurant operations management, as well as culinary arts. Through this effort, he hopes to aid in breaking down the diversity barriers within not only the cooking industry, but the silos to which chefs of color are often kept – categorized more often by race than profession. Also in 2009, we can expect the release of his memoir, “The Making of A Chef.”
Beyond possessing business and cooking savvy, Garvin also holds a deep commitment to giving back. Raised by a single mother, and victim of domestic violence, he has been a continued supporter of the Jenesse Center, the oldest domestic violence intervention program in South Los Angeles. He has also become involved with Second Harvest, the nation’s largest charitable hunger relief organization, through ongoing partnerships with iconic brands such as Kraft and Tyson.
Garvin’s popular success as chef, author, entrepreneur, and television host, did not happen overnight. The Atlanta native began building his culinary repertoire during childhood. His earliest experience came with cutting and peeling vegetables alongside his mother in the kitchen of Atlanta’s Jewish Home for the Aging.
Being raised by a single mother and surrounded by four sisters, the determined 13 year-old Garvin traded after-school football practice for a job at The Old Vinings Inn in Atlanta, soaping dishes while soaking up the inner workings of a high-end kitchen operation. Two years later, he became the youngest cook at the downtown Ritz-Carlton, where he held summer and academic year positions.
Garvin moved to the West Coast for the first time in 1988 to open the Ritz-Carlton’s Rancho Mirage resort in Palm Springs. Soon after, at the age of 20, he moved to Europe to further his informal culinary training and serve as an apprentice to Jean Pierre Maharebacha. There, he gained a wide range of on-the-job experience, taking kitchen positions in Paris, Hamburg, and Warsaw, documenting everything he learned. After nearly two years, he returned to Atlanta to become sous chef of the award-winning Italian restaurant, Veni, Vidi, Vici. However, the lure of the West Coast drew him back- this time to Los Angeles.
During the 1990s, he served as executive chef at Morton’s, where he orchestrated dinner for the 2nd Annual Vanity Fair Oscar fete, as well as a lavish banquet for the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The opportunity to do “really good food” led him to the former Hollywood watering hole Kass Bah, where he shaped a creative menu appealing to serious gourmets and show-biz partiers alike. A year later, he became executive chef at the restaurant Reign, which became an instant smash and earned Garvin his then-best reviews and highest salary.
Yearning for both business and creative success with food, he left Reign to independently cater high-profile events, including two exclusive dinners for President Clinton, a private brunch for Senator Hillary Clinton and other notable clients. After two years, he teamed with a catering client to open a restaurant. In fall of 2001, G. Garvin’s opened to critical acclaim, then expanding two years later to more than double its size.
Plans for a series of cooking DVDs brought him to the attention of TV One in early 2004, where his sophisticated simplicity and infectious enthusiasm seemed perfect for a new network looking to bring a broad range of lifestyle programming and entertainment to the tremendously underserved African-American audience. It was then the idea of Turn Up the Heat with G. Garvin, came to fruition.
5 comments:
It was a great time to be in DC!
I think MLK is in heaven smiling.
Ps- While you are here, will you be doing a book signing as well?
I would love to get my book signed.
Hi Chef Garvin,
I totally agree with you. I had such a great time that day. I look forward to change in America and around the world.
I am still waiting for you to come to Baltimore so I can get my book signed as well.
deserain@aol.com
Hi Gerry,
I just wanna let you know i'm mad at you but very proud of you at the same time... God bless you and your love ones.
Hi Chef Garvin,
One of my close friends strated culinary school about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Her instructor gave them an assignment to write about a famous chef. I suggested that she should write about you. I told her that all the information she needs is on your website. She decided to write about you. I will let you how it turns out.
Also, I just lost 12 pounds in four weeks. I have been trying very hard to eat healthy and get a better shape. I want to lose more weight to achieve my goal. I stopped eating out and started cooking more. It seems like I'm eating the same foods over and over. Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance!
deserain@aol.com
Hey...I am Izabela and I live in Brasil.I´ve been watching you and I love the way you do you thing..you really make cooking supersimple!!!! I have to confess I cannot cook...don´t tell anyone!Smiles.
Please when you come to Brasil, I would like to see you.
blackqueen198@hotmail.com
Izabela Pereira
Post a Comment