Suvir Saran: This New-Delhi-born chef, teacher and cookbook author has already become a respected food authority at age 34.  Saran established standards for Indian food in the United States when he opened restaurant Devi in Manhattan, NY to create the authentic flavors of Indian home cooking.  He is also the author of the widely acclaimed Indian Home Cooking: A Fresh Introduction to Indian Food and American Masala where he combines the best that both Indian and American cooking have to offer.

Mai Pham: Great chefs know food has the power to bring the world together. Mai Pham, chef and owner of the nationally acclaimed Lemon Grass Restaurant in Sacramento, California, and the author of The best of Vietnamese and Thai cooking  and Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table, emphasizes traditional methods and authentic ingredients such as peanuts in her cooking, writing, and teaching. With high-quality USA-grown peanuts, Chef Pham blends the familiar with the exotic in creating irresistible southeast Asian flavors.

Zarela Martinez: Born and raised in Mexico, Zarela began cooking professionally in El Paso, Texas, during the late 1970’s. With encouragement from celebrity chefs Paul Prudhomme and Craig Claiborne, who had been impressed by her vivid Mexican food, she made some nationally noted guest-chef appearances and in 1983 moved her business to New York.  In 1987, she opened her own restaurant, Zarela, which has been a favorite of New York diners for more than 20 years.

Roberto Santibanez : Award-winning chef and author Roberto Santibanez earned his stripes at Paris’ top culinary institutions before returning to his native Mexico, where he opened a series of groundbreaking restaurants that won overwhelming critical acclaim and raised the bar for contemporary Mexican cuisine.  In May 2002, Sanitibanez joined Rosa Mexicano in New York City, serving as culinary director until August 2007.  Santibanez’s first cookbook, Rosa’s New Mexican Table, was published in 2007.

Linton Hopkins:  A graduate of The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, Atlanta Native Linton Hopkins opened Restaurant Eugene, named for his grandfather, with wife and sommelier Gina Hopkins in 2004.  His menu is a manifestation of his early influences – Southern ingredients and sensibility combined with formal French training – as well as his recent culinary experiments.  It’s this dedication to both the old and the new that makes Eugene one of the city’s centers for exciting new Southern cuisine.