Southern Food and Beverage Museum Announces Board Members

NEW ORLEANS, LA—The Southern Food and Beverage Museum, located in New Orleans, would like to announce its newly appointed regional Board of Directors. They include Elizabeth Williams, Matt Konigsmark, John Besh, Regina Charboneau, Daphne Derven, Hubert Des Marais, John Egerton, Roy Guste, Jessica Harris, Julia Johnston, Virginia Miller, Mary Stone, and Jeff Tunks.

The Southern Food and Beverage Museum is a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the discovery, understanding, and celebration of the culture of food and drink in the South.

Elizabeth Williams of New Orleans is President of the Museum. She is a Consulting Professor at the Kabacoff School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management at the University of New Orleans. She is also a practicing attorney, a food writer, and a consultant to other museums.

Matt Konigsmark , the Museum’s Secretary, is the former Director of Marketing for the City of New Orleans. He now owns Mojo Communications, a marketing and communications consultancy based in New Orleans. He also helped found InsideNewOrleans.com and was the creative force behind Y’all.com, a critically acclaimed website devoted to Southern culture.

John Besh is the owner and acclaimed chef of Restaurant August and The Besh Steakhouse at Harrah’s in New Orleans. He received formal training at the Culinary Institute of America, and travels to France annually to train fellow chefs in the fine points of Creole cuisine.

Though best known for her San Francisco restaurant Regina’s at the Regis and her nightclub Biscuits & Blues, Regina Charboneau now owns Twin Oaks, a Bed & Breakfast in Natchez, Mississippi. She is also consultant to Stanton Hall and Longwood, historic plantations where she oversees destination weddings and special events.

Daphne Derven is the Director of Program and Development at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in New York, an 80-acre farm that teaches and promotes community-based food production. She also teaches and writes about her on-going research into food and culture.

Executive Chef Hubert Des Marais directs the three dining venues at the Four Seasons Resort in Palm Beach, Florida. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, he is noted for his southeastern regional cuisine characterized by flavors of the Deep South, Caribbean, and South and Central America.

John Egerton is an independent journalist and nonfiction author who lives in Nashville, Tennessee where he writes about his native South. Through books and articles, he strives to discover and interpret the positive and negative forces that for centuries have given this complex region its distinctiveness.

Roy Guste’s identity lies within Antoine’s Restaurant in New Orleans where he was the director for sixteen years. Being a chef and an author, he has also written several cookbooks, a garden book, and a stage play.

Jessica Harris is the author of nine critically acclaimed cookbooks documenting the foods and foodways of the African Diaspora. She has lectured on African-American foodways and has written for most of the major food magazines including Gourmet, Food & Wine, Cooking Light, and Eating Well. She splits her time between homes in Brooklyn, NY, Martha's Vineyard, and New Orleans.

Julia Johnston is a certified kitchen designer and co-owner of The Kitchen Strand, a kitchen design studio in Boca Raton, Florida. She designs, sells, and consults on kitchen design for high-end residences, specializing in kitchens for the avid home chef.

Virginia Miller is partner/owner of Beuerman Miller Fitzgerald, a public relations and advertising firm in New Orleans. She manages many of the firm’s largest community and media relations and governmental projects, including those in the fields of government, healthcare, law, transportation, education, and energy.

Mary Stone of Louisville, Kentucky is the Homeplace Culinary Manager for Brown-Forman Corporation and oversees the food, beverage, and group sales initiatives at all Brown-Forman brand homeplaces. She is also a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and the International Association of Culinary Tourism.

Jeff Tunks is the Executive Chef and co-owner of three Washington, D.C. restaurants, DC Coast, TenPenh, and Ceiba. His newest restaurant to join the group in September will be Acadiana, a Louisiana seafood house.

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