MasterChef USA contestant Seby Joseph named Captain of Texas Food Revolution

Joseph

Seby Joseph, the youngest contestant to compete on celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay's hit MasterChef USA cooking competition, has joined the Texas Food Revolution -- a group of volunteer chefs who demonstrate locally-produced food at the Market at Alhambra on Saturday mornings.
  Joseph, an 18 year-old resident of McAllen, Texas, will demonstrate a dish using ingredients from the Market at Alhambra on Saturday, October 1, from 10am-1pm at 17th & Fresno in McAllen.
   "I am all up for it, man," Joseph said about being named Captain of the Texas Food Revolution.
   Now a culinary student at the Art Institute in Austin, Joseph's path to notoriety started in the Winter of 2011 when he was accepted as a contestant on the MasterChef USA television series. He was the first contestant chosen by Ramsay to pass the cutting and chopping challenge of the competition, selected from a pool of thousands of competitors to participate in the televised portion of the competition. He was eliminated in the second episode among the final 38 competitors.
   "I left high school to participate in the second season of Fox's MasterChef USA. You can imagine how upset and worried my parents were that I might be jeopardizing my college future by leaving high school during the final semester of my senior year," explained Joseph.
   "But I had to follow my dream, and the chance to learn from chefs Gordon Ramsay and Graham Elliott, and famed restauranteur Joe Bastianich, was too rare of an opportunity for me to waste," Joseph said.
   Besides hosting the U.S. version of the television series Hell’s Kitchen, Ramsay also owns several restaurants, hosts other TV shows and is a noted cookbook and biographical author.
  Elliot is also a restaurateur who was named “Best New Chef” by Food and Wine magazine in 2004. Bastianich is a well-known vintner and restaurateur with establishments in New York Las Vegas, Italy and Argentina. Together they host MasterChef USA.
   Though Joseph studies culinary arts in Austin, he said that he considers McAllen his home, a place where his parents live and where he moved to from India when he was 13 years old.
   Joseph said that he's joining the Texas Food Revolution because he believes in the quality of food that's grown and raised locally, and that he's eager to help South Texas' small farmers and artisan food producers thrive.
   "I'll be in downtown McAllen taking part in this stunning event. I'll be cooking some local favorites with a little Indian twist, always with fresh, seasonal and more importantly local ingredients," Joseph said.
   Now graduated from high school, Joseph pursues his career in culinary arts independently, making the difficult decision to act against the wishes of his parents, who hoped he would pursue a more traditional career, he said.
   The Texas Food Revolution will gather donations during Joseph's appearance at the Market at Alhambra Saturday to help with his culinary school expenses.
   Joseph joins a growing list of Texas Food Revolution captains that includes James Canter, chef at Alhambra restaurant, Lana De Leon, publisher of Namaste Valley magazine, Gene Carangal, publisher of Valley Foodie food blog, Evana Vleck, marketing director of the Edinburg Chamber of Commerce, and more than a half dozen other volunteers aiming to promote small farm and ranch food production in the Texas Valley.

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Press contact
David Robledo 956.203.4152

Interviews with Seby Joseph and other Texas Food Revolution captains can be arranged

Farm to Table Dinner by the One and Only James Canter

What: Farm to Table Dinner by Chef James Canter
When: Sept 16, 2011, 7pm
Where: Private McAllen home open to anyone who wishes to join
Cost: $95, proceeds will benefit the Texas Food Revolution

You may have seen Chef James Canter in his youth rocking out backyard grill gatherings like an undiscovered Bobby Flay in the Guerilla Gourmet, an independent cooking show that Canter starred in. See an episode of this classic sleeper by clicking here.
   These days Canter is a little more serious about cooking, but he's still having just as much fun.
   Instead of eating drunken bearded clams on surfboards, Canter now has his culinary sights focused on promoting small-farms of the Texas Valley.
   Last year he opened a Farmers' Market in McAllen inside the Alhambra Restaurant, Bar, and Hookah Lounge, a market that you may have read about in The Monitor newspaper.  You might have read about Canter's farm to table dinners there too, as seen here.
Now everyone has the chance to participate in one of Canter's famed farm to table dinners at an exciting McAllen home. To sign up, stop by The Market at Alhambra this Saturday at 17th & Fresno in McAllen between 10am and 1pm and look for the Texas Food Revolution table. We'll reserve your spot and also offer free samples of food made using ingredients purchased at the market. Or call 956.994.9754 to reserve a spot.
   Proceeds from this dinner will help fund the Texas Food Revolution, a team of volunteer chefs who sample local food to the public.
   Eat local. It's thousands of miles better.

Please forward this message to anyone who loves fresh food.