Chris Scott is an American chef and restaurateur who specializes in Amish soul food, a style of

soul food Soul food is the ethnic cuisine of African Americans. Originating in the Southern United States, American South from the cuisines of Slavery in the United States, enslaved Africans transported from Africa through the Atlantic slave trade, sou ...

that incorporates elements of

Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine is the typical and traditional fare of the Pennsylvania Dutch. Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine reflects influences of the Pennsylvania Dutch's German heritage, agrarian society, and rejection of rapid change.David Rosengart ...

Early life and education

Scott was raised in

Coatesville, Pennsylvania Coatesville is the only city in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 13,350 at the 2020 census. Coatesville is approximately 39 miles west of Philadelphia. It developed along the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike ...

. His grandmother helped raise him and taught him to cook. His great-grandparents moved to Coatesville from the

tidewater region of Virginia Tidewater is a region in the Atlantic Plains of the United States located east of the Atlantic Seaboard fall line (the natural border where the tidewater meets with the Piedmont region) and north of the Deep South. The term "tidewater" can be ...

during the Great Migration to work in the

steel mill A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...

. His great-great-great-grandmother was enslaved in Virginia and freed by the

Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Proclamation had the eff ...

Career

In 2010 Scott and his wife, Eugenie Woo, opened a breakfast and brunch restaurant, Brooklyn Commune, in Brooklyn's Windsor Terrace neighborhood and lived upstairs. In 2017 the couple opened Butterfunk Kitchen in the space next door. They later rebranded Brooklyn Commune as Sumner's Luncheonette. Both closed in 2018. In 2019 they opened Birdman Juke Joint, paying homage to the chicken shacks of Southern cuisine such as Hattie B's and Prince's Hot Chicken, in

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...

. Scott operated a

ghost kitchen A virtual restaurant, also known as a ghost kitchen, cloud kitchen or dark kitchen, is a food service business that serves customers exclusively by delivery and pick-up based on phone and online food ordering, online ordering. Virtual restaurant ...

in Soho, Butterfunk Biscuit, and later opened a bricks-and-mortar version in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

. In 2018 he participated in the

James Beard Foundation The James Beard Foundation is an American non-profit culinary arts organization based in New York City. It was named after James Beard, a food writer, teacher, and cookbook author. Its programs include guest-chef dinners to scholarships for asp ...

's first-ever

Juneteenth Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States, federal holiday in the United States. It is celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the End of slavery in the United States, ending of slavery in the United States. The holiday's n ...

celebration dinner, along with fellow

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo in March 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional chefs ...

contestants Adrienne Cheatham, Tanya Holland, and

Brother Luck Brother Marcellus Haywood Luck IV, known professionally as Brother Luck, is an American chef who has appeared on several reality cooking shows. Early life and education Luck was born in San Francisco and spent time abroad with his parents. He i ...

. In 2019 he became an instructor at the

Institute of Culinary Education The Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) is a private for-profit culinary school with locations in New York City and Los Angeles, accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC). It offers career training, dip ...

. Scott describes his cooking style as Amish soul food, a reference to his family's roots in

Southern cuisine The cuisine of the Southern United States encompasses diverse food traditions of several subregions, including cuisine of Southeastern Native American tribes, Tidewater, Appalachian, Ozarks, Lowcountry, Cajun, Creole, African American cuisi ...

and his upbringing in an area that specializes in

. He describes Amish soul food as dishes created by Black families who moved to Pennsylvania's Amish country and incorporated ingredients from Amish cuisine into their family recipes, especially sweet and sour flavors. According to Scott, a dish of

scrapple Scrapple, also known by the Pennsylvania Dutch name ( in English; compare Panhas), is a traditional mush of fried pork scraps and trimmings combined with cornmeal and wheat flour, often buckwheat flour, and spices. Scrapple and are commo ...

served with okra chow-chow could be the "

poster child A poster child (sometimes poster boy or poster girl) is, according to the original meaning of the term, a child afflicted by some disease or deformity whose picture is used on posters or other media as part of a campaign to raise money or enlis ...

" of Amish soul food, as

okra Okra (, ), ''Abelmoschus esculentus'', known in some English-speaking countries as lady's fingers, is a flowering plant in the Malvaceae, mallow family native to East Africa. Cultivated in tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions aro ...

is integral to Southern cuisine and agriculture, scrapple is a typical Pennsylvania Dutch dish, and chow-chow, which has West African roots, is found in both cuisines. Scott has said that early in his career, while studying the techniques of French cuisine, he had been "embarrassed" to cook

and Southern food because it was ridiculed in fine dining restaurants and only prepared for staff meals, but as he matured and became more confident in his culinary approach, he embraced both as legitimate cuisines.

Television

In 2018 Scott competed on season 15 of American cooking competition show

, where he was eliminated in the finals.

Books

Personal life

Scott is married to Eugenie Woo. The couple has four daughters. He is a recovering alcoholic and has been sober since 2014. He is a fan of the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Chris Living people People from Coatesville, Pennsylvania American chefs