Tanya Holland

Tanya Holland

Cooking demonstration at Bloomingdales, SF, 2011
Born (1965-07-14) July 14, 1965
Hartford, Connecticut
Education University of Virginia; La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine, Burgundy, France
Website tanyaholland.com

Culinary career

Cooking style New Soul

Tanya Holland is an African-American professional chef, cookbook author, and owner of Brown Sugar Kitchen. Her first book, New Soul Cooking, was published by Stuart, Tabori & Chang in 2003. A second book, Brown Sugar Kitchen: New Style Down-Home Recipes from Sweet West Oakland with a foreword by Michael Chabon, was released in 2014 by Chronicle Books. Holland is a regular guest chef on NBC's Today Show and CBS's The Talk. She hosted the Food Network TV show "Melting Pot Soul Kitchen" from 2000-2003.

Biography

Holland was born in Hartford, Connecticut where her father, Hollis Holland, attended Western New England College. The Holland family moved to Rochester, New York when Holland was two years old, when her father took a job with Eastman Kodak.[1]

Holland’s parents (Hollis and Annette Holland) influenced her interest in cooking: her father is from rural Virginia and her mother from Louisiana.[2] When Holland was eight years old, her parents founded a gourmet cooking and eating club that consisted of six couples from different ethnic and professional backgrounds.[3] They gathered to share experiences and meals that ranged from French, Mexican, Jewish, Indian, Pennsylvanian Dutch, Italian and Southern Cuisine.[4]

Education

Holland graduated from Pittsford-Mendon High Schooll in 1983. She attended the University of Virginia, where she graduated in 1987 with a BA in Russian Language and Literature,[4] and began her restaurant career in New York City as an assistant manager at Cornelia Street Café, Café Rakel and Nosmo King restaurants. She went on to work as a catering office manager, a tasting assistant for a wine importer, and a server at Mesa Grill before she committed to a career in the kitchen.

Holland attended La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine in Burgundy, France, where she received a Grand Diploma in 1992.

Career

While in France, she trained with Michel Sarran at Le Mas Du Langoustier on the Island of Porquerolles and with Jean-Michel Bouvier at Restaurant L’Essential in Chambéry. Holland returned to Mesa Grill in 1994 to work as a line cook. While working as a line cook at Verbena, she supplemented her income as a food styling assistant to Roscoe Betsill[4] whose work has been featured in Metropolitan Home, Vegetarian Times and Food and Wine magazines.

She spent two summers cooking on Martha’s Vineyard Island at The Oyster Bar and L’Etoile, interrupted by a winter at Hamersley’s Bistro in Boston.[4] She received positive reviews as the Executive Chef of The Delux Café in Boston and The Victory Kitchen in Brooklyn.[5] In 2002, she returned to the front of the house as Creative Director at Le Théâtre in Berkeley, CA.[6]

Holland has lived in Oakland, California since 2003.[1] She opened Brown Sugar Kitchen in West Oakland in 2008, receiving positive reviews for signature dishes such as chicken and waffles, oyster po’boys, and BBQ shrimp & grits.[7] Her barbecue restaurant, B-Side BBQ, opened in December 2011.

She has contributed to Food and Wine and Signature Bride magazines. She has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Savoy magazine, Travel + Leisure, Sunset,[1] Food and Wine,[8]O Magazine,[9] Ebony, Essence, and local publications. She has written for Wine Enthusiast[10] and The Huffington Post.[11] In 1998 she taught at the Cambridge Culinary Institute in Massachusetts and continues to share her knowledge at recreational cooking schools across the country such as Cooking by the Book, Ramekins, Draegers, Central Market, Whole Foods, and Andronico’s Market, and at Rancho La Puerto Resort and Spa in Tecate, Mexico. Holland is a member of the prestigious Chef’s Council for The Center For Culinary Development in San Francisco.[12]

The mayor and city council of Oakland passed a council resolution on June 5, 2012, declaring that day as "Tanya Holland Day” for her “Significant Role in Creating Community and Establishing Oakland as a Culinary Center”.

Holland was named "2013 Restaurateur/Chef of the Year" by the California Travel Association during the California Travel Summit in March 2013 in San Diego. Holland was elected co-president of the San Francisco chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier in 2013. The Women's Initiative for Self-Employment named Holland Woman Entrepreneur of Year in October 2013. Holland was awarded The Key to the City of Oakland by Oakland Mayor Jean Quan on August 2, 2014.

Television appearances

[1]

Awards and Organizations

Tanya has received numerous awards and accolades, including:

[1]

Bibliography

Contributions

Holland has contributed recipes or been featured in the following books:

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Ladd, Mary. "Food Secrets of Chef/Author Tanya Holland". KQED. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  2. ↑ Holland, Tanya. "Sweet West Oakland". Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  3. ↑ Henning, Wanda. "Too Many Cooks?". Oakland Magazine. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Melting Pot Bios: Tanya Holland". Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  5. ↑ Karpinske, Stephanie (2005). Today's Kitchen Cookbook. Meredith Books. ISBN 0-696-22542-5.
  6. ↑ "Most Innovative Menu A Celebrity Chef's Culinary Lab". East Bay Express. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  7. ↑ Richardson, Derk. "Brown Sugar Kitchen Does Down-Home Cooking Right". Oakland Magazine. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  8. ↑ Hamaday, Gina. "Best BBQ: Pit Masters and Grill Geniuses". Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  9. ↑ Thelin, Emily Kaiser. "The Restaurant That's Changing the Face of Gritty West Oakland". Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  10. ↑ Holland, Tanya. "Soul Food Steps Up". Wine Enthusiast. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  11. ↑ Holland, Tany. "Sweet West Oakland". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  12. ↑ "Chef's Council". Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  13. ↑ "California Travel Association to Honor Industry's Best at 31st Annual Summit March 18-20, 2013". Retrieved 21 December 2012.
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