An avid cook and eater from a young age, Jared Kent always knew he wanted to be a chef. As a kid, he would follow his mom around the kitchen and soak up everything like a sponge. He took the first major step towards his dream of being a chef at the age of 16, when he started washing dishes at a local family restaurant. After a few months in the dish pit, he moved onto the line and learned every station in the kitchen. Upon graduating high school, he attended culinary school at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the most prestigious culinary institutions in America. For an internship, he cooked at the famed Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.
On a gap year between college degrees, Jared moved to Bermuda to be part of an opening team at luxury resort restaurant run by world-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson. It was there that he gained an appreciation for bold, bright tropical flavors and cooking techniques.
After leaving Bermuda, Jared returned to Johnson & Wales for a year and a half to earn a bachelor’s degree in foodservice management. In that time, he worked as a teaching assistant in the college of culinary arts, fostering an ability and a passion to help others learn how to cook. Once he finished school, he helped two chef instructors open and operate a farm to table food truck in Charlotte.
Over the course of his cooking career, Jared has worked in a wide range of foodservice establishments including fast-casual restaurants, food trucks, fine dining, and banquet centers. He has traveled extensively in South America, Australia, and Southeast Asia. With each new destination, he’s absorbed the food and culture, which has helped him broaden his culinary repertoire to include a range of international cuisines.
In his time traveling the world and cooking, he’s been able to work famous international sporting events such as the Master’s Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia and the Australian Open Tennis Tournament in Melbourne, Australia.
In recent years, Jared has worked his way out of professional kitchens and funneled his passion for cooking into writing and other pursuits. He is currently working as a chef and operations specialist for CookinGenie, a home cooking startup in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. He also serves as the associate editor and chief recipe developer at Stone Pier Press, a nonprofit environmental publication committed to helping build a better food system.
Jared is deeply devoted to helping people eat more plant-forward, eco-friendly diets and teaching people how to cook delicious vegetarian and vegan food.