Chef Joe Randall, champion of Black Southern cooking, dies at 79

Joseph G. “Chef Joe” Randall, a leading voice in African American Southern cooking whose 50-plus year career helped recast Black culinary traditions as central to American food culture, died Feb. 14 at his home in Savannah, Georgia. He was 79, and died surrounded by family, his daughter Cari Randall said.

Randall built a national reputation as a chef, teacher and institution builder. He co-authored the 1998 cookbook A Taste of Heritage: The New African American Cuisine with author and historian Toni Tipton-Martin, a volume credited by peers and obituaries as a foundational work that reframed Black culinary history and featured hundreds of recipes rooted in heritage and innovation. The book has since been recognized by the James Beard Foundation’s Cookbook Hall of Fame, and artifacts from his career were placed in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, where his work appeared in a 2016 exhibit alongside figures such as Edna Lewis and Leah Chase.

A native of Pennsylvania, Randall discovered the power of Southern food while serving as a cook in the United States Air Force. Stationed at Turner Field in Albany, Georgia, in 1963 as a 17-year-old, he realized the cultural and culinary distinctiveness of the region. After leaving the Air Force, he worked through the 1960s in restaurants and refined his craft under accomplished chefs including Robert W. Lee. His résumé included executive chef posts at the Cloister Restaurant in Buffalo and the Fishmarket in Baltimore, faculty positions at four schools including the Savannah College of Art and Design, and the opening of Chef Joe Randall’s Cooking School in Savannah in 2000.

Randall also organized the machinery for recognition and preservation of Black culinary achievement. In 1993 he founded the African American Chefs Hall of Fame as part of the Taste of Heritage Foundation and later founded the Edna Lewis Foundation. He was honored with the Chef Darryl Evans Milestone Award and was inducted into the Les Amis d'Escoffier Society of Chicago, among numerous other accolades. The Southern Foodways Alliance preserves his oral history in its archives.

Colleagues and civic leaders stressed his role as a teacher and mentor. Savannah Mayor Van Johnson said, “He was a teacher, a storyteller, and a keeper of southern culinary traditions. His passion for food was only matched by his love for the community.” The Los Angeles Times author who wrote about Randall described a three-decade friendship, saying, “He particularly inspired me, as a Black restaurateur in Los Angeles, and became a beloved mentor and friend to me over three decades.” Randall often offered practical counsel to young cooks: “Take what you’ve got and make it work for you,” he advised during a December 2021 conversation on a food podcast.

Randall is survived by his wife, Barbara Randall; children J. Christopher Randall, Kenneth A. Randall and Cari P. Randall; grandson Joey; and sisters Lorraine Stone, Cathryn Buchanan Stevenson and Carolyn Lewis, along with extended family. Visitation will be held Friday, Feb. 27 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at The Adams Chapel, 510 Stephenson Ave., Savannah. A Celebration of Life service is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 28 at 11 a.m. at St. Paul CME, 1601 Barnard St., Savannah; the service will be livestreamed on the church’s Facebook page.

His supporters say Randall’s lasting imprint is less a list of awards than the shift in how American cooks and diners understand Southern food: not as a single category called soul food but as a complex, evolving tradition rooted in history, technique and community. As one institutional tribute put it, “Chef Joe is remembered for his generosity, vision and unwavering belief that cuisine is both art and history.”