Edward Lee is the Chef/Owner of 610 Magnolia in Louisville, KY and the Culinary Director for Succotash in National Harbor, Maryland and Succotash Prime in Penn Quarter, DC.

Chef Lee was the recipient of the 2019 James Beard Foundation Award for Writing for his book "Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting Pot Cuisine." He is also the author of "Smoke & Pickles: Recipes and Stories from a New Southern Kitchen" (Artisan Books, May 2013). Lee has been a six-time finalist for the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast. In 2018, Food & Wine Magazine named 610 Magnolia one of the country’s most important restaurants of the past 40 years. The Michelin Guide DC awarded Succotash a Bib Gourmand in 2019.

Chef Lee appears frequently in print and television and his writing has been featured in The New York Times, Esquire, Food & Wine and many other national publications. He was nominated for a daytime Emmy for his role as host of the Emmy-winning series, “Mind of Chef” on PBS. He has hosted and written a feature documentary called Fermented.

In 2018, Chef Lee launched The LEE Initiative, which works to bring more diversity and equality to the restaurant industry. In 2020, the relief efforts of LEE Initiative has totaled more than $5 million of direct aid and has been recognized as one of the foremost organizations helping restaurant workers and farmers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Chef Lee won the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for his work with The LEE Initiative.

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