JC White

Teaches at The Chopping Block at the Mart

Chef at The Chopping Block since: 2018

Favorite class to teach: Old School Italian

Training/education: B.S. Culinary Nutrition, trained in Classical French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Greek, Indian, Southern American and Mexican cuisines

Cooking since: 2008

Favorite childhood food experience: Family meals at my grandfather's house when the day was spent cooking and yelling and the night was for stories and laughing.

What made you want to become a chef? Seeing the way food heals people and can cross all cultural borders, its something that to this day, blows my mind seeing it daily.

What is your signature dish? Sofrito chicken thighs, red rice and charred broccolini

What are the 5 ingredients you can't live without? Oil, onions, garlic, lemons, tomatoes

What do you love about cooking? The way you put yourself into making something from nothing and the joy it brings to everyone who eats it.

When you're creating a new recipe, what influences and inspires you?The time of year and the people who will get to try it first.

What advice would you give a new cook? Never say “good enough.”

Where are you from? Newport, Maine