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PAUL:

As we count down the days to March 2 and the inaugural Jackson Food & Wine Festival, we continue our series on the event with this week's special episode with Chef Chair Nick Wallace.

Hey, it's Paul Wolf for the front row seat to conversations on culture from Jackson, Mississippi. We call our podcast Soul Sessions. It's the people, places and events that make the city with soul shine. Today, Edwards Mississippi native Nick Wallace talks about his role with the festival, helping to attract top talent in Jackson - as well as his friends from past TV appearances like those on Top Chef. He also talks about how Mississippi has something to prove and how he believes the state can compete on a world stage.

This event I know is years in the making in some ways, you know, Fondren kind of whet our appetite with a smaller festival in 2019. But, this one, Jackson Food & Wine, the inaugural year, kind of takes it to the next level and we're bringing in talent from across the country for this. Chef, how do you feel about serving as the chef chair?

NICK:

I thought it was very important for Jackson to be celebrated just because it's the capital of Mississippi. You know, honestly, Jackson is the star of Mississippi, however you look at it. Being the chef chair of the Jackson Food & Wine Festival is very important for me to shine as best as I can for my people because this is my community. It's important for me to celebrate the moment when I was on Top Chef as well because it was a great moment for Mississippi and I was the first Mississippi chef, you know, resident to be on Top Chef. And people [were] very proud of me and I'm definitely proud of myself. But, they have favorites there, you know, of course, I'm sure I'm a lot of people's favorites, but me and Dammar had a really touchable moment on Top Chef. He is, you know, a very awesome chef. He's going to be here. Me and Buddha had a chemistry throughout the whole season that was beautiful and I love me some Buddha. Probably try to take him fishing or something while he's here. I'm getting that Mississippi experience. And Chef Ashleigh, she is a sister. She called me big bro. She's my sister. We won a lot of money together, too, on Top Chef. We have a chemistry as well, but we're also Restaurant Wars champion and I want people to see all of us together. So it's very important for Mississippi to do all the shining.

PAUL:

You went out and shone a light on global platforms, bringing that light them back to Jackson. What does it mean to you knowing where you've come from, studying at the feet of your grandmothers: what does it mean to have all these fellow Top Chef contestants to come to your home to see where it all started?

NICK:

It's a feeling that I probably couldn't explain. It's almost like an energy to it. I've shared a lot of stories my mom lately about I'm just glad that I have grace over me because that that that moment and then this moment coming up for March 2 is pretty powerful. You know, the talent we have here in Mississippi period is incredible. We have so many talented people from pit masters to fine dining to Caribbean to African. Like everything is on the line here. You know, it's very important for us to come together just like some champs. That's what we are. This is our Super Bowl.

PAUL:

Yeah, I love the football metaphor. And guess what? The game is rigged, right? I mean, Jackson has got the goods.

NICK:

Very true. Very true.

PAUL:

When I travel with my wife and we go to different cities, we like to try new things, but we also like to try foods, especially that remind us of places back home. And then I have those things and I say, I just want my places from back home. Why is that?

NICK:

Mississippi is, it's, it's a special place. I have been, you know, trying to discover exactly how do you define Mississippi because I personally don't believe soul food is the way to go. I don't know what it is. So, regardless of whatever we're doing, Mississippi has a way to just almost like a chef’s kiss in a way. With the hospitality, the way we talk to you, the way we approach you, the way we serve you, like everything is full of respect. We have a lot riding on us, always. You know, we're always kind of like the underdog, too, in a way.

PAUL:

Yeah, I was gonna say it's like, we've got something to prove.

NICK:

Yeah, and I think we need to. Mississippi is stereotyped for a lot of the bad messaging across the world. You know, majority of times you say something about Mississippi, it's full of past racism. That's how they identify Mississippi. And to be honest, like I've read more about racism than I've had in my life. My grandfather raised me and my grandmother, my whole family on a homestead in Edwards, Mississippi, which we were protected. And the reason why he wanted to be a homestead is so we didn't have to go into town. So, I don't know about a lot of those stories. And then when I got a little older, my mom moved me and my sister down to Jackson, and that's where we've been ever since. So, I believe him. I know it exists. But look, I live here every single day. I'm telling you, we're better than that. And that's not our whole entire story. Yeah. But we're mixed bag, eclectic, really eclectic. We're a mixed bag, but I think we're all the same though.

PAUL:

Yeah. And you being a storyteller with food, we see that on the plates that you create some commonality, right? So I guess my next question then is what will we see on the plates that you create for Jackson Food and Wine?

NICK:

You're going to see something very special. It's going to be something that has a lot of thought into it and I want everybody to understand when I'm surrounded by that much talent - and this is with having my Mississippi community - I mean, that's enough talent by itself, right? But then now, you're going to plop over this wonderful chef from Chicago, then you got this other chef from New York that's going to be here, worked in Michelin Star kitchens all his life, then you got this very creative chef that love local fronts from all different directions when she's talking about her food. That's Chef Ashleigh from Asheville. Come on?

PAUL:

And you've got Cat Cora, too.

NICK:

I left her to the side because I think in a way, Cat Cora is in a lane by herself. I always tell Cat that she's a living legend. A lot of us, we got work to do. Cat is this year, is light years and miles down the road from us. So I respect Cat so much. I've spent a lot of time with her. She's been a close friend. I can call her. I can call her wife at any given time. And anytime she needs something, they just call and I never say no. But the reason why I don't, she never says no to me.

PAUL:

The home for Jackson Food & Wine - the Mississippi Museum of Art and their art garden: I know you have a history with them that's important to you.

NICK:

So the Mississippi Museum of Art has a very special place in my heart. And it's really because of Betsy Bradley. She is the chief in charge of the museum. She may not like the title, but you know, I adore her so much. I think she's a really good symbol for Mississippi, not just the Museum of Art. I think she is the symbol profile, especially when it comes out to art. But the Museum of Art, I ran the Museum of Art [kitchen] for almost six years. I was the executive chef and culinary curator. Me and Julian Rankin, which was the marketing director there, we came up with Sip Source, which was a pop-up. We did it every Thursday. It got so big that we couldn't even feed everybody. We had to invite all the food trucks in the state of Mississippi that wanted to come. It's a very special place because it really challenged me to start writing food towards some of the rolling exhibits. Julian really got in my head in a way that, Nick, you need to start seeing food a little differently. It could still be playful, but challenge yourself. So I used to sit up in the galleries and just stare at the paintings because I was trying to find inspiration. The last thing that I'm going to say is we came up with a garden in the back of the museum and we had roughly about 500 kids a week that used to come by there. So we used to teach them about soil, we used to teach them about different plants. So I just want everybody to know, Mississippi Museum of Art is not just a place, it's a community. This is going to be the most exciting festival that Mississippi has ever seen come March 2nd. I will see you there.

PAUL:

My thanks to Chef Nick Wallace, the chef chair for the Mississippi Food & Wine Festival coming March 2 to Downtown Jackson. Yes, VIP tickets are sold out, but there's still time to grab your general admission tickets, inviting you on to Festival Grounds at 630 pm. We've got a link in the show notes or you can just hit jxnfoodandwine.com now to score those tickets.

Soul Sessions is produced by Visit Jackson, the destination organization for Mississippi's capital city. Our executive producers are Jonathan Pettus and Dr. Ricky Thigpen, and I'm our managing editor. You want to know more about the work we do at Visit Jackson? Well, just head to our website. You can find all of that and more at VisitJackson.com.

I'm Paul Wolf, and you've been listening to Soul Sessions.

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