All About!

Growing Chefs was founded in 2005 as a way to connect people to food, from the soil to the kitchen.  To connect to food, from field to fork, is to raise a generation of healthier eaters, more confident chefs, and better ecologically minded citizens.

Our Work.

From farm-based education to cooking workshops, Growing Chefs offers a wide range of programming. We currently hold partnerships with several area schools, workshopping, gardening and cooking.

Follow our events calendar to keep posted on what we're cooking up next.

Our Team.

Many of us learned our skills through mentorship--whether as farmer's apprentices or through cooking with our family.  Our current volunteer team features nutritionists, educators and chefs drawing from their own passions for produce, a well-cooked meal, and the beauty of freshly grown food.

Farmer & Founder.

Program Director Annie Novak is the farmer and co-founder of Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.  Since 2005, she has worked with the Children's Gardening Program at The New York Botanical Garden.  Annie has worked with GrowNYC and the New York City Greenmarket system, Slow Food and Just Food.  Her work in farming, food and education has been featured on Martha Stewart, National Public Radio, and CNN, among other publications.

A lifelong vegetarian, Annie spends several months of the year traveling and investigating different ways people grow and eat their food around the world. She's followed blueberries and cows through New Zealand, sheep and hops through Argentina, quinoa and llamas through Peru, cassava and fish through Fiji and the Cook Islands, and chocolate through Ghana.  Her current interest is to visit all the countries in the world in which one can harvest salt and grow pepper.