AIWF Honors Norman Van Aken

By JULIETTE ROSSANT The South-East Chapter of the American Institute of Wine and Food (AIWF) is honoring Norman Van Aken at the annual Governors Dinner tomorrow evening, Tuesday, September, 27 at the Miami Beach Loews Beach Resort. (Click here for further details.) NORMAN VAN AKEN The Father of New World Cuisine Chef, Author, Restaurateur Norman Van Aken founded a visionary way of cooking called New World Cuisine, giving new meaning to an entire region of the Americas. He is the only Floridian to have ever won entrance into the James Beard Foundation Who's Who. In 2005, Chef Norman Van Aken accepted a position to the Board of Trustees for the James Beard Foundation. Van Aken transformed a number of Florida restaurants into international culinary destinations before he opened Normans in Florida’s historic Coral Gables section of Miami in 1995. In 2003, Van Aken opened: Normans at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando and Normans at Sunset Millennium in Los Angeles. Chef Van Aken has been recognized by the James Beard Foundation as the Best Chef in the Southeast [1997]. He has received a wealth of accolades including the Robert Mondavi Culinary Award of Excellence, the Food Arts Silver Spoon Lifetime Achievement Award and the American Visionary Award [see previous article]. His acclaimed signature restaurant, Norman’s, in Coral Gables, has been honored as one of America’s Top Tables for five consecutive years by Gourmet Magazine, and has earned the title of Best Restaurant in South Florida from New York Times and Best Restaurant in Miami from Food & Wine Magazine. Van Aken has also been featured on numerous television programs, including The Today Show, Good Morning America, Emeril Live, the Food Network’s My Country My Kitchen, and Eating Out Loud with Ruth Reichl. In addition to being an award-winning chef, Van Aken is highly regarded as a culinary educator and cookbook author. He shares his passion for cooking by teaching classes at Normans as well as culinary schools across the country. He is the author of four cookbooks: Feast of Sunlight 1988, The [Great] Exotic Fruit Book 1995, Normans New World Cuisine 1997, and New World Kitchen 2003 [a 2004 James Beard Award nominee]. Super chef: Norman Van Aken Previous articles: Restaurants for Relief: September 27 Katrina Relief: Restaurants to the Rescue? Norman Van Aken: First "American Visionary" Les Enfantes Terribles devient terriblement vieux After the Hurricane, Norman Van Aken Breezes Gently In Wolf Wines & Dines, or Puck's Party Technorati Tags: superchefblog, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine --> back to superchefblog