Today, we talk with two chefs who are putting their own stamp on Southern food, each refusing to be pigeonholed in the process. Vishwesh Bhatt was born and raised in Gujarat, India. He moved to Oxford, Mississippi, for graduate school and quickly embraced the region in his cooking, and his identity. Tanya Holland has family roots in Virginia and Louisiana, but she's not originally from there. Still, she took the Southern food traditions she grew up with to the West Coast to create what she calls California soul.

Vishwesh’s first cookbook is I Am From Here, and Tanya’s new cookbook is California Soul. If you want a chance to win a copy of their cookbooks, subscribe to our newsletter here!  

The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Tracey Samuelson, and Jared O'Connell.

Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.