Isaac Toups (Author) Isaac Toups has four times been named a James Beard Best Chef of the South Semi-Finalist or Finalist since opening Toups' Meatery in 2012 with his wife, Amanda. He was named an Eater Young Gun of the South, Eater New Orleans' Chef of the Year, and a Top Chef fan favorite. Before opening Toups' Meatery, he honed his skill for a decade as a fine-dining chef at restaurants such as Emeril's Delmonico. His cooking has been featured by the Wall Street Journal, Food & Wine, CNN, and Tasting Table, among many other outlets. He is a passionate advocate for the protection of America's wetlands Jennifer V. Cole (Author) Jennifer V. Cole spent nearly a decade getting to know the intricacies of the South at Southern Livingmagazine, where she served as Deputy Editor and where her annual Top 100 Southern Restaurants and Best New Restaurant lists were considered the final word on where to eat in the South. Her writing appears widely in other publications. A native of Mississippi, she spent eight years in New York City, where she annually had live crawfish flown up for her birthday boil--she purged them in her bathtub, to the chagrin of her roommates. She now lives in Louisiana.