Jason Stanhope grew up in Topeka, Kansas, then pursued a culinary degree at Le Cordon Bleu before working in Cusco and Machu Picchu, Peru. After expanding his understanding of global cuisine and ingredients, Stanhope returned to the Midwest to work with Chef Debbie Gold at Forty Sardines in Kansas City, Missouri, then headed in 2008 to Charleston, South Carolina, to join the team at FIG as chef-tournant. FIG’s philosophy of serving cuisine that is relevant, approachable, sensible, technically driven, and seasonally inspired has worked well: Stanhope won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2015. He also contributes to a number of nonprofit organizations in the Charleston community, and in his spare time tends to his home garden and chicken coop.