Matthew Kenney is an American

celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...

, entrepreneur, author, and educator specializing in plant-based cuisine. He is the author of 12 cookbooks, founder of dozens of vegan restaurants, and founder of the companies Matthew Kenney Cuisine and Matthew Kenney Culinary, a

plant-based diet A plant-based diet is a diet consisting mostly or entirely of plant-based foods. Plant-based diets encompass a wide range of dietary patterns that contain low amounts of animal products and high amounts of plant products such as vegetables, fr ...

education business.

Early life and education

Kenney was born in the 1960s in the U.S. state of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, and grew up in

Searsport, Maine Searsport is an incorporated town and deep water seaport located at the confluence of the Penobscot River estuary and the Penobscot Bay immediately NW of Sears Island and Cape Jellison in Waldo County, Maine, United States. The population was 2 ...

. After graduating from the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a public land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the flagship university of the University of Maine System. It is classifi ...

with a degree in political science, he became a chef."Plant-based Chef and Founder"
''Matthew Kenney Cuisine'' He attended the French Culinary Institute, now the

International Culinary Center The International Culinary Center was a private for-profit culinary school headquartered in New York City. In 2020, it merged into the Institute of Culinary Education, also in New York City. It was founded as The French Culinary Institute by ...

, learning classical culinary techniques. Upon graduating in 1990, he worked at various kitchens in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

Career

Kenney opened his namesake restaurant "Matthew's" in 1993 in New York City. He became ''

Food & Wine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and sea ...

'' magazine's "1994 Best New Chef".M Elizabeth Sheldon, Matthew Kenney Academy
"Best Cooking Classes Around The World"
''Food and Wine'', Readers Choice Issue, January 2014 He opened the restaurants Mezze, MonzuRuth Reichl

''NY Times'', May 30, 1997 Canteen, Commune, and Commissary. Kenney has said the economic slump caused by the September 11th terror attacks caused his restaurants to close.

Pure Food and Wine

Kenney, partner Sarma Melngailis and investor Jeffrey Chodorow in 2004 opened a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

restaurant, Pure Food and Wine, in

. Kenney left Pure Food and Wine in 2005, and the owner and manager sued him, alleging he broke his contract.

Culinary academy

In 2009, Kenney opened his first culinary academy in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, an ...

. In 2012, he moved the renamed Matthew Kenney Culinary Academy to

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

, and relocated his company to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

. In 2013, he established a campus of the Academy in Belfast, Maine. In 2017, he sold the Academy to Adam Zucker.

Matthew Kenney Cuisine

In 2012 Kenney formed Matthew Kenney Cuisine, a Los Angeles-based restaurant lifestyle company offering a variety of plant-based services and products, including hospitality, education, media, products and services. As of 2022, Matthew Kenney Cuisine operates more than 50 active restaurants, in more than 12 countries. In 2017, he was sued for unpaid rent at the popular Plant Food and Wine in Miami. In December 2017, he faced debt and foreclosure proceedings in Belfast, Maine, on a building that housed his former culinary academy. In 2019, Matthew Kenney Cuisine opened an all-vegan food hall Plant City in Providence, Rhode Island. In 2019, he launched Ntidote Life nutrition bars with Dr. Amir Marashi.

Restaurants

Active

*Hungry Angelina, Long Beach, California (2020–present)

Closed

Awards

Published works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenney, Matthew Living people Raw foodists American chefs American male chefs American restaurateurs People from Searsport, Maine Plant-based diet advocates University of Maine alumni Year of birth missing (living people)