Ashleigh Shanti Cookbook Brunch at Lillian!

We’re so excited to partner with Lillian Oyster Hall for this event celebrating Ashleigh Shanti’s new book!

RESERVATION THROUGH RESY REQUIRED.

Ashleigh Shanti, Chef-Owner of Good Hot Fish in Asheville, NC, will be at Lillian for a special brunch celebrating the release of her new book, Our South: Black Food Through My Lens.

Signed book with reservation through Resy! Brunch will feature some of Ashleigh’s favorite dishes from her book alongside Lillian’s regular menu. We can’t wait to see you there!

About the Book:

Raised in Appalachia, native daughter Ashleigh Shanti, a queer Black woman and acclaimed chef, knows Southern Black cooking means more than we’ve come to believe.

While hot buttered cast-iron-pan cornbread and crunchy, juicy, lard-fried chicken have their roles to play, they are far from the entire story. The key to understanding how Black influence has defined foodways and cultures in the South is to explore its microregions, each with distinct flora and fauna, dialects, traditions, and dishes. In Our South, Ashleigh takes readers through the five regions closest to her heart, beginning with a glimpse of mountain life in the Backcountry through recipes like Fish Camp Hush Puppies and quail spiked with black pepper. A swing over to the coastal Lowcountry fills your plate with smoky grilled oysters and benne seed–topped crab toasts. Seasonal produce shines in the Midlands, where bountiful stone fruits enrich dishes from shortcakes to salads. Lowlands nods to the diversity of food cultures that meet in the region, where Ashleigh grew up eating noodle dishes like Virginia yock alongside Southern classics like Brunswick stew. The book concludes with Homeland, with foods that share what it’s like to cook—and live—as a Black Southern chef now.

Ashleigh’s culinary journey culminates in Our South, where each dish speaks deeply to its origins, revealing the true story of Black food in the region along with its many pleasures for readers to savor at home.

About the Author:

Ashleigh Shanti is the author of Our South: Black Food Through My Lens and Chef-Owner of Good Hot Fish in Asheville, NC.

Born in St. Mary’s, GA and raised in Virginia Beach, VA, Ashleigh’s heritage has roots across the Southeast. Her happiest days as a young girl were Sundays spent in the kitchen with her family; friends would stop by to visit, eventually prepare themselves a plate, and stay for hours. These moments ingrained in Ashleigh the power of food and how drastically a meal can impact a person’s mood, ultimately inspiring her successful career creating in kitchens across the country and on the pages of her book.

She graduated from culinary school at Baltimore International College in 2013 and went on to stage at Minibar in Washington, D.C., and act as culinary assistant for Vivian Howard before becoming Chef de Cuisine at John Fleer’s Benne on Eagle in Asheville. She was named an Eater Young Gun in 2019 and was a finalist for the James Beard “Rising Star Chef of the Year” award in 2020. She was also a top five “cheftestant” on season 19 of Bravo’s Top Chef and was the winner of Restaurant Wars.

Shanti was given the reins for culinary exploration during her tenure at Benne on Eagle, which prompted her move to open Good Hot Fish in 2024, where she now mixes ideas from traditional fish camps with Black Appalachian and Southern cuisine on the menu. These experiences, along with her familial roots in Appalachia, all contributed to the creation of her first cookbook, Our South, which delves into five microregions of the American South and serves as an expression of her culinary identity.

Shanti lives in Asheville with her wife, Meaghan, and their dog, Roux. In her spare time outside of the kitchen, Ashleigh’s culinary explorations continue. She is often found foraging for wild foods or exploring the process of fermentation in her homegrown lab.