Kentucky Chef Ouita Michel appointed to the American Culinary Corps

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky Chef Ouita Michel was honored as a global culinary ambassador.

The Lexington restauranteur was appointed by the U.S. State Department to the American Culinary Corps, a diplomatic culinary partnership between the State Department and the James Beard Foundation.

Michel will be working with other well-known chefs and culinary industry professionals like Padma Lakshmi and fellow Kentuckian Edward Lee.

A social media post from Michel's Holly Hill restaurant said the Culinary Corps has a mission "to embrace and utilize food, hospitality, and the dining experience as diplomatic tools to engage foreign dignitaries, bridge cultures, and strengthen relationships with civil society."

Photos posted show Michel at the White House with others in the corps, including Lee.

"My entire career has been dedicated to the idea that food can connect us to each other, to our communities, to our landscape, our past and our present. To think about sharing our American and Kentucky food culture and traditions as a way to bring the world together is inspiring," Michel said in the post. "We feel so dangerously divided, and such a simple notion of communal dining seems almost impossible to attempt. But if given the opportunity I’d give it my ALL. A friend of mine once said, "I can’t do much, but I sure can cook for a crowd."

In addition to Holly Hill restaurant in Midway, Kentucky, Michel and her husband, Chris, own Wallace Station in Versailles, The Midway Bakery in Midway as well as Windy Corner, Smithtown Seafood, Zim's Cafe, The Thirsty Fox and Honeywood in Lexington.