Dr. Jessica B. Harris is a culinary historian and the author of twelve critically acclaimed books documenting the foods and foodways of the African Diaspora, including High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America, which was transformed into a four-part Netflix docuseries in 2021. My Soul Looks Back: A Memoir was a finalist for the PEN Open Book Award. Her most recent book is Vintage Postcards from the African World: In the Dignity of their Work and the Joy of Their Play. Harris is professor emerita at Queens College, CUNY, and holds an AB from Bryn Mawr College; an MA in French literature from Queens College, CUNY; a Licence ès Lettres from the Université de Nancy, France; and a doctorate in performance studies from New York University. She was the inaugural scholar in residence in the Ray Charles Chair at Dillard University in New Orleans. Harris has received many honors, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern Foodways Alliance, the Amelia Award from the New York Culinary Historians, and the Carol DeMasters Service to Food Journalism Award from the Association of Food Journalists. Harris was named to the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America in 2010, her cookbooks were inducted into the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame in 2019, and in 2020 she was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the same organization. Harris was named one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2021 by TIME magazine. 

Chef Dana Honn is the owner of two restaurants in New Orleans, Carmo and Café Cour, both of which focus on high-quality local ingredients, sustainability, and affordability. For more than 15 years, Honn has been an advocate for ocean and coastal conservation and restoration, and for the use of sustainably sourced seafood. His interviews and articles profiling enlightened chefs, fishers, and famers have been featured by regional and national publications.

As a passionate supporter of local farmers and fishers, he is also the founder of the Tropical Foodways Institute, launched in 2013 with a primary function of acting as a conduit for research, education, and resources relating to the cuisine and culture of the tropics, its history, and preservation. He is a member of the Audubon GULF Chefs Council, Slow Food Chefs Alliance, American Culinary Federation, and Chefs Collaborative. He has been a featured chef, speaker, educator, delegate, and panelist at multiple local and national events, including Farm to Table International, Slow Fish, and Sea Web International—and  for the past six years he has been a chef presenter at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. As an educator, he has also conducted classes and cooking demonstrations for fellow chefs via NOCHI, the James Beard Foundation, and Southern Food and Beverage Museum. He was the adjunct professor for the launch of the Restaurant and Catering Management program at Dillard University.