Courtesy photo

Name: Brent Adkins

Age: 42

Home: Roanoke

Occupation: Philosophy professor at Roanoke College

Nominated by: Mom Jenny Adkins, who wrote, “Brent has created a class of Italian cooking that is offered every few years as a summer or spring course [at Roanoke College] in which he teaches students about healthy eating, cooking and also actually goes to the store with students … to buy ingredients needed for their meal that they will prepare in class.”

Why I love cooking: Good food makes people happy.

Who taught me: I was fortunate to live in Italy for a year during graduate school, and there I learned that simply prepared, high-quality ingredients could be delicious.

When I returned from Italy, I had friends who were also interested in cooking. We talked about food and cooked together occasionally. At the time my wife was working long hours at a new job, and I took over more of the cooking duties. So, most importantly, I got lots of practice and slowly began to expand my repertoire.

To keep reading about Brent, click here.

Click these links to see Brent’s recipes for:

Simple Marinara Sauce
Italian Meatballs*
Spinach with Butter and Parmesan

*Meatball recipe was missing one clove of minced garlic when it was published in the newspaper. The garlic has been added in this online version.