Ashleigh Shanti Biography – Ashleigh Shanti Wiki

Ashleigh Shanti is Chef and Creator of Good Hot Fish, an Asheville, North Carolina-based fish fry pop up. Her cuisine honors Black foodways while also paying homage to her coastal Virginia upbringing where she stripped collard greens before she could walk.

Most recently, Shanti was the chef de cuisine at Asheville’s Benne on Eagle, owned by chef John Fleer, where she led a menu focusing on African-American food traditions in dishes of Appalachia. She left Benne on Eagle in late 2020 to pursue her own dining establishments and freelance under the company name Food or Death.

After earning her Bachelor’s in Marketing at Hampton University, Ashleigh studied Culinary Arts at Baltimore International College. After graduating from Baltimore International College in 2013 with an Associates Degrees in Culinary Arts, Ashleigh embarked upon a variety of culinary experiences, including a position teaching fermentation classes at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans and a stage at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in upstate New York.

In 2017, Ashleigh moved to Kinston, NC to assume the role of Culinary Assistant for Chef & the Farmer co-owner Vivian Howard. Here, she learned the importance of establishing a culinary identity and discovered the impact of telling a story through a plate of food.

While each of her kitchen experiences helped hone her technical expertise, Ashleigh struggled to find a cuisine that resonated with her on a personal level. In 2018, Shanti hit the road for a five-month road trip with hopes of discovering how she might intertwine her African-American heritage with her culinary career. It was this longing that beckoned Ashleigh to Asheville in Fall 2018 to help Chef John Fleer open Benne On Eagle: a restaurant located in The Block, a historic business district + reemerging hub for Black-owned businesses. Here, Ashleigh found her culinary identity in a kitchen where the food is both meaningful to her and honors her heritage.

Ashleigh was awarded 2019 Eater Young Gun and named a 2020 finalist for James Beard “Rising Star Chef of the Year” award during her tenure as Chef de Cuisine at John Fleer’s Benne on Eagle.

Ashleigh Shanti Top Chef

North Carolina chef Ashleigh Shanti is one of the 15 Top Chef contestants competing on Bravo TV’s 19th season of Top Chef: Houston for the title of Top Chef. She is only the third North Carolina chef to appear on “Top Chef” after Jamie Lynch appeared in Season 14 and Keith Rhodes competed on “Top Chef” Season 9. Lynch also returned for an All-Stars season in 2019.

“I decided to compete on Top Chef because I know I can level up against some of the best in our industry,” Shanti said in an email to the Asheville Citizen Times. “I hope to gain the opportunity to show off the cuisine our part of the South has to offer.”

Ashleigh Shanti Age

Ashleigh Shanti was born in 1991. She was born in St. Mary’s, GA and raised in Virginia Beach, VA.

Ashleigh Shanti Partner

Ashleigh Shanti is in a relationship with her partner Meaghan.

Ashleigh Shanti Ethnicity

She is of African-American ethnicity.

Ashleigh Shanti Nationality

She is of American nationality.

Ashleigh Shanti Instagram

Ashleigh Shanti’s Instagram handle is @foodordeath_.