Kraft Heinz announces new partnership with acclaimed chef Edward Lee
The award-winning author, culinary figure, and Top Chef alum will join forces with Kraft Heinz to launch What's Cooking, a new food inspiration platform.
TORONTO, July 6, 2021 /CNW/ - Kraft Heinz has announced that acclaimed culinary personality, Chef Edward Lee, will be joining them as Creative Director in the launch of a new, food-centred digital platform, What's Cooking.
Formerly a well-known print publication, What's Cooking is relaunching as a reimagined digital platform for food creators to manage content, engage and grow their audience, and collaborate with other creatives, to better serve and connect more closely with home cooks.
"Food publications today are so geared towards what's trending and what's cutting edge," says Chef Lee. "A whole wave of people are being left out — our everyday home cooks who just want to make dinner a little more exciting. At What's Cooking, we don't want to teach you to cook, we want to make your current cooking routine more enjoyable. We want to cook alongside you and learn from our culinary community."
Billing himself as equal parts "Southern soul, Asian spice, and New York attitude," Chef Edward Lee is a Brooklyn-born, Louisville-based, Korean-American Chef. He is the author of Buttermilk Graffiti and Smoke & Pickles— the former winning him a James Beard Award for culinary writing. Chef Lee has appeared on TV screens on Food Network's "Iron Chef America", "Top Chef: Texas, Season 9", an Alumni judge on "Top Chef: Portland, Season 18", and in the pages of Esquire, Bon Appetit, GQ, and Gourmet.
The Kraft Heinz Company is best known for iconic brands like Heinz Ketchup, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, Kraft Peanut Butter, and Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Recently, Kraft Heinz has been investing in digital technology and talent, highlighted by their recent announcement of the creation of an advanced data platform. Kraft Heinz is committed to accelerating digital growth by enabling and driving more enticing, engaging, and interactive consumer touchpoints. The reimagined What's Cooking digital platform is an innovation coming out of the Canadian digital lab in Toronto.
"As a result of the pandemic, we've seen a huge number of people discovering, or re-discovering, their passion and ability to cook at home," says Diana Frost, Chief Growth and Sustainability Officer at Kraft Heinz Canada. "We're excited to engage, inspire and have some fun with consumers on this home cooking journey with our new What's Cooking platform."
In addition to a partnership with Chef Lee, What's Cooking will showcase a variety of culinary voices, allowing food creators, chefs, and home cooks to use the platform to learn new techniques, interact with a variety of new and familiar ingredients and cuisines, and seamlessly manage food content, videos, and imagery.
What's Cooking will release its initial beta phase in July 2021 as part of a larger multi-phase launch that will help creators supercharge their audiences, commercialize their content, and leverage superior technology. The platform will be promoting content exclusively from Chef Edward Lee in the beta phase while they actively source other culinary creators. Food creatives on What's Cooking will have the opportunity to work with brands like Kraft Heinz, but also showcase food content that is unique to their style, heritage, and audience.
"One of the most exciting parts of this project is that I get to work with other food creatives. I'm fascinated by what the new guard of food creators has to say and show and how they view food," says Chef Lee, who says one of his goals with What's Cooking is to help select culinary creatives from across North America to get early access to the platform.
"Cooking doesn't always have to be fancy!" he says. "We want to help you make delicious meals with what's already in your pantry and fridge, and maybe introduce you to some new flavours and ingredients along the way. What's Cooking is about making mistakes — we're going to burn things, but we're going to have a lot of fun in the kitchen!"
Visit What's Cooking at www.whatscooking.com via web and mobile, or follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/whatscooking and on TikTok at www.tiktok.com/whatscooking
About Chef Lee
Edward Lee has lived in Louisville, Ky. since 2003 and has three restaurants there – 610 Magnolia, MilkWood and Whiskey Dry. He is also the Culinary Director for Succotash restaurants in Washington, DC and Maryland. He is a multiple finalist for the James Beard Foundation Best Chef Award and won the award in 2019 for writing the best-selling 2018 book Buttermilk Graffiti. He also authored the 2013 best-selling book Smoke and Pickles. He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy as Host of Mind of a Chef Season 3 and wrote and hosted the documentary Fermented. Chef Lee has been working to promote equality and diversity in the restaurant community for years and The LEE Initiative programs are his passion.
About What's Cooking
Sponsored by the Kraft Heinz Company, What's Cooking is a dedicated food discovery and publishing platform celebrating the passion and enjoyment of food, both in and out of home. Visit What's Cooking at www.whatscooking.com via web and mobile.
SOURCE Kraft-Heinz Canada
Leanne Bull, Account Director, Proof Strategies Inc., 905-903-5542
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