chef spotlight: james ohern

James O’hern grew up in Orlando with a large family that hosted cookouts every Sunday night. Surrounded by so much community, James fell in love with the way food brought people together in any setting. He moved to Seattle and found his passion in understanding where food comes from, spending more than a decade not just cooking, but learning and building relationships with the farmers growing this food.

Heritage and family is so important to James, but building a community around food is the foundation from which he cooks for his loved ones and friends. That's why he works in small mom and pop restaurants, supporting small local farmers, and products like Spicewalla that value community as much as he does.