Nathalie Dupree
Georgia

Nathalie Dupree, a grand dame among television celebrity cooks has hosted more than 300 television cooking shows airing on PBS, The Learning Channel and the TV Food Network. She is also best selling cookbook author with more than half a million hardback copies of her books in print (with one book in its 13th printing).

The combination of Nathalie's television series and companion books, Nathalie Dupree Cooks Quick Meals for Busy Days, Nathalie Dupree Cooks Everyday Meals from a Well-Stocked Pantry, Nathalie Dupree Cooks Great Meals for Busy Days, Nathalie Dupree's Southern Memories, Nathalie Dupree Cooks for Family & Friends, Nathalie Dupree's Matters of Taste, and New Southern Cooking with Nathalie Dupree, have earned her millions of fans around the country who admire her culinary expertise, engaging personality and eloquent writing style.

In addition to her 12-year public television presence, Nathalie has appeared on &qout;The Today," Good Morning America, CBS This Morning and CNN. She is frequently solicited by television, radio, magazines and newspapers across the country as an authority on food and cooking. She has been featured in articles in Traditional Home, New Woman, Home, Redbook, Bon Appetit, Family Circle, Ladies Home Journal, The New York Times and Gentlemen's Quarterly.

Winner of the 1994 James Beard Americana Award for Nathalie Dupree's Southern Memories, Nathalie has authored columns for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate and the Atlanta Journal Constitution and currently writes an award-winning monthly column for Atlanta Magazine.

In addition to obtaining an advanced certificate from London's prestigious Cordon Bleu cooking school, Nathalie has trained with many of America's premier chefs, including renowned Louisiana chef Paul Prudhomme, as well as chefs from Italy and France. An avid traveler, she constantly pursues international culinary knowledge and training. In 1975, she founded the prestigious Rich's Cooking School, where she was teacher and director for nearly a decade, serving more than 10,000 students in demonstration and participation classes.

John D. Folse, CEC, AAC
Louisiana

Chef John Folse's Lafitte's Landing Restaurant in Donaldsonville is recognized as one of the finest restaurants in and around New Orleans. White Oak Plantation, in Baton Rouge, houses his catering and events management company, "Voila!" Louisiana's Premier Products, his cook and chill plant in New Orleans, manufactures soups, sauces, entrees and meats for food service and retail establishments across the country. Chef Folse is the author of numerous books and publications available in bookstores nationally.

John is respected around the world as an authority on Cajun and Creole cuisine and culture. He hosts his own national television cooking show on PBS, produced by Louisiana Public Broadcasting. He has taken his famous "Taste of Louisiana" from Hollywood to the Great wall of China, opening promotional Louisiana restaurants in Hong Kong, Japan, Beijing, London, Paris, Rome, Bogota, and Taipei. In 1989, Chef Folse was invited to create the first ever Vatican State Dinner in Rome, and while there had a private audience with Pope John Paul II. In 1990, Chef Folse was named the "National Chef of the Year" by the American Culinary Federation, the highest honor bestowed upon an American chef. In that same year, his Lafitte's Landing was inducted into the "Fine Dining Hall of Fame," one of ten restaurants in America honored with this prestigious award. In 1987, Chef Folse was selected as "Louisiana Restaurateur of the Year" by the Louisiana Restaurant Association and in November of 1988, the Louisiana Sales and Marketing Executives named him "Louisiana's Marketing Ambassador to the World." In 1988, Chef Folse made international headlines by opening his "Lafitte's Landing East" in Moscow during the presidential summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. This opening represented the first time an American restaurant had operated on Soviet soil. Immediately following this venture, John hosted ten Soviet chefs for the first Soviet-American Culinary Exchange.

Chef Folse is the recipient of numerous culinary awards and recognitions, and has been honored by local, state, and international governments for his continuing efforts to showcase America's regional cooking around the world. His most prestigious acknowledgment to date was Nicholls State University's decision to name their new culinary program in his honor. An Associate of Science in Culinary Arts degree program will begin in January of 1995 with a Bachelor of Science in Culinary Arts degree program beginning in January of 1997.

Grant Nooe
Mississippi

Music was Grant's first love. Initially, his work in a variety of restaurants, from classic French to Southern cafe-style supported his musical training and study.But, it wasn't long before Grant discovered that preparing and serving fine food, and later the challenge of restaurant ownership, was an art in and unto itself.

A growing desire to further please this new audience led him to the Culinary and Hospitality Institute of Chicago. While in Chicago, Nooe was privileged to work on the restaurant teams of nationally acclaimed chefs, including Michael Foley of Printer's Row and Monique Hooker of Monique's Cafe.

Returning to his Southern home of Jackson, Mississippi, Nooe joined Nick Apostle in opening 400 East Capitol where Nooe staged innovative menus featuring native products that brought high praise from regional and national press.

The most recent applause from the press is in response to Nooe's latest venture, The Brick Oven Cafe, also in Jackson. The new American restaurant's menu includes wood-fired pizzas, fresh pasta, rotisserie meats, and unique desserts. Plans for yet another concept combining his love for music and fine cuisine is under way.

Nooe's interests include culinary arts instruction. He serves on the advisory board for the new culinary arts program at Mississippi University for Women in Columbus. He has also developed a CD-ROM training program used in food and beverage educational curriculum as well as professional restaurants and clubs. In addition to providing solutions to many of the liability training and sanitation issues facing the industry, this state-of-the-art training product provides more time for what all restaurateurs love most. . . pleasing the crowds.

Nooe's recipes have been featured in numerous cookbooks, Food Art Magazine, Nations Restaurant News, Alliant Food & Service Ideas and the Chicago Tribune.

Nooe serves on the Mississippi Symphony Board and is active in local hunger relief efforts and nationally through Share Our Strength.

Leslie Bailey
Alabama

Leslie's cooking style demands for the experience to be simple, delicious, and above all fun. She explains cooking techniques in understandable terms with splashes of humor which encourages viewers to prepare featured recipes for themselves, a rarity in cooking television. She is the cooking host for the everyday cook, surviving in today's world.

Bailey owns Silver Spoon Caterers and the restaurant Silver Spoon a la Carte, both in Montgomery, Alabama. She also hosts a weekly segment entitled &qout;What's Cooking With Leslie?" on the local NBC affiliate's 5:00 PM newscast. She has also hosted two Alabama Public Television cooking marathons, Desserts Southern Style and Casseroles Southern Style, and has been a Montgomery, Alabama radio personality for more than 21 years.

In 1994, Bailey received a Special Achievement Award from the US Small Business Administration, and in 1993 received an Emerging award from the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce. That same year, she was named National Small Business of the Year.

Bailey also serves on the boards of Montgomery AIDS Outreach, the Janis Capilouto Center for the Deaf, the Alabama Restaurant Association, the Montgomery YMCA, and FAME, the support organization for Booker T. Washington Magnet School for the Performing Arts Board Member. Her numerous community theatre performances include Godspell, Carousel, Showboat and Man of LaMancha.

Don J. Bingham
Arkansas

Don J. Bingham is a familiar face in the culinary world in Arkansas. As a former Chef of the Year (1995) and current American Culinary Federation state president, Don has 25 years in the field.

Until recently, he was seen daily for seven years on Little Rock's CBS affiliate, KTHV, as a guest chef on a noon show. His cooking segment was sponsored by Kroger Company.

The author of two books (Celebrate with Cooking and Celebrate the Holidays), Don hosts hundreds of cooking demonstrations, lectures and club appearances each year in Arkansas.

He recently accepted a position as Adminstrator of the Arkansas State Governors Mansion where he oversees the day to day operations of the Mansion, its staff, and its operations.

A major function of his new postion is the special event planning of the Mansion's activities and functions including Heads of State Dinners, lawn extravaganzas with royal tent parties, menu planning and party production.

Don has also been AETN's host for its ABCs of Cooking series, since its inception. There have been 10 shows with accompaning cookbooks.