Norman Van Aken

Norman Van Aken is known internationally for introducing "fusion" into the lexicon of modern cookery and considered to be the founding father of New World Cuisine. He is the only Floridian inducted into the prestigious James Beard list of “Who’s Who in American Food and Beverage”.

Van Aken is a James Beard semi-finalist for “Best Chef in America” and his namesake restaurant NORMAN’S, was nominated as a finalist for “Best Restaurant in America.”

Van Aken has penned five previous cookbooks and a memoir, "No Experience Necessary, The Culinary Odyssey of Norman Van Aken", which was nominated for the IACP/Julia Child Award.

In 2016 he opened a restaurant in partnership with the Modernism Museum, “1921 by Norman Van Aken” in Mount Dora, Florida. He is partnered with Candace Walsh at “In the Kitchen with Norman Van Aken”, a cooking school in Miami as well as the Chef-Parter of "Three" a fine dining restaurant in the Wynwood Arts District in Miami and also "No. 3 Social" the roof-deck lounge there. He is the Chef-Founder of NORMAN’S at the Ritz-Carlton, Grande Lakes, Orlando which opened in 2003.

He has appeared on television from CNN’s “Parts Unknown” with Anthony Bourdain to “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” He hosts of “A Word on Food” a radio show on NPR.

His new book, “Norman Van Aken’s Florida Kitchen” is published by University Press of Florida.

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“Norman Van Aken is the Walt Whitman of American Cuisine” --- Charlie Trotter