Events continue on Saturday with a cooking class led by Chef St.John, who will demonstrate his skills and techniques in the kitchen while preparing some of his favorite dishes. Best of all, participants will enjoy the fruits of his labor!

StarShine culminates Saturday evening when Chef St.John prepares an exceptional four-course meal complete with wine pairings. Guests will also have the opportunity to bid on StarShine Auction packages, including dinner parties with local chefs and a fabulous vacation package.

Celebrity Chef Robert St.John is a restaurateur, chef, food writer, author, and a true original. St.John, one of the nation’s only food/humor columnists, began self-syndicating his weekly newspaper column 10 years ago and quickly amassed a loyal and fanatical readership. The Lexington Herald-Leader called him a “Jeff Foxworthy-style chef with an opinion on all things culinary.”

A native of Hattiesburg, MS, St.John is a 28-year veteran of the restaurant industry. For the last 22 years he has served as executive chef, president, and CEO of the Purple Parrot Café, the Crescent City Grill, and the Mahogany Bar in Hattiesburg and Meridian.

St.John’s column is published weekly in 30 newspapers. He has appeared on The Food Network, The Travel Channel, and the Turner South network. He has two television projects in development, an internet radio station in development, and is an up-and-coming creative force in the gourmet food business. He writes a regular column forY’all magazine and is a contributing writer to Taste of the South magazine.

A self-taught cook, St.John has been named the state’s top chef by Mississippi Magazine in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Additionally, the former Mississippi Restaurateur of the Year’s restaurant— The Purple Parrot Café— has been named the best fine-dining restaurant in Mississippi and just received a Four-Diamond rating from the AAA Travel Guide.

St.John has authored seven books in the last six years, including:
•A Southern Palate, a collaboration with renowned watercolorist Wyatt Waters
•Deep South Staples or How to Survive in a Southern Kitchen Without A Can of Cream of Mushroom Soup, a collection of updated and legitimized traditional southern recipes
•Nobody’s Poet, an anthology of his food columns illustrated by two-time Pulitzer finalist Marshall Ramsey
•My South, a collaborative effort with Rutledge Hill Pressand the Turner South network
•Deep South Parties a collection of new and old Southern cocktail party favorites
•Southern Seasons, a coffee table cookbook and his second collaboration with watercolorist Wyatt Waters
•New South Grilling his third book with Hyperion was released in the spring of 2008

St.John is past president and chairman of the board of the Mississippi Hospitality & Restaurant Association, and a past board member of the Mississippi Tourism Authority. He currently serves as chairman of the board of the Mississippi Arts Commission, serves on the board of The Mississippi Museum of Art, The Lauren Rogers Museum of Art Advisory Board, and is on the National Chef’s Council for the Chef’s for Humanity Organization.

St.John is married with two children who worship the ground he walks on (as long as that ground is in Toys R Us or The Gap).

The Starkville Area Arts Council is thrilled to welcome St. John as the 2009 StarShine Celebrity Chef. For additional information about the weekend’s events, please call 662-324-3080 or visit StarkvilleArts.org.