Heritage Cooking With Heart: Elaina Ruth Is Preserving the Past While Shaping the Future
📍 Culinary Instructor, Fort Dorchester High School | Private Events & Pop-Ups
📸 @treatgod
Some chefs are born with a whisk in hand. Others, like Elaina Ruth, take a more explosive path — literally. “I blew up a microwave in high school,” she laughs, recalling her very first foray into cooking (foil and microwaves, it turns out, do not mix). “That’s when they put me in culinary classes.”
What started as a high school mishap turned into a calling — and now, a career rooted in legacy, purpose, and community. As a culinary instructor at Fort Dorchester High School in South Carolina, Elaina is passing on not only skills, but stories — teaching her students about flavor, heritage, and where they come from.
Whether she’s leading a class full of teens or hosting a pop-up dinner inspired by her family’s recipes, Elaina cooks with deep intention — honoring the women who taught her how to move in the kitchen and in the world.
Rooted in Legacy
Elaina didn’t grow up stirring sauces or sneaking bites off a stovetop. In fact, she never really cooked as a kid — but her earliest inspiration came from watching her great-grandmother Mildred and her daughters (Joyce, Maxine, and Dorothy) gather, cook, and care for others through food.
“These women were the first examples I saw of teamwork, love, and selflessness in the kitchen,” she says. “They showed me that food can be powerful — it brings people together, tells stories, and passes on history.”
That idea is now at the heart of Elaina’s culinary philosophy: food as a form of remembrance. Today, she specializes in heritage cooking — a deeply personal approach focused on recreating and preserving the recipes passed down through her family.
Each dish carries more than flavor. It carries memory.
From Student to Teacher (and Chopped Finalist)
After discovering her love for cooking during high school culinary classes (post-microwave incident), Elaina pursued professional training and now boasts 3–5 years of experience in the industry. But her proudest moment so far hasn’t been in a restaurant kitchen — it’s been in the classroom.
“Becoming a culinary instructor has been my biggest milestone,” she says. “I get to share everything I’ve learned with high schoolers — and watch them grow, not just as cooks, but as people.”
Elaina’s skill in the kitchen has also been recognized on a national level — she was a finalist on Food Network’s Chopped, where she brought her signature style, focus, and heart to the high-pressure competition. It’s a moment she’s proud of, and one that reflects her ability to shine under pressure.
For Elaina, both experiences — on TV and in the classroom — are about the same thing: believing in yourself and showing up with purpose.
Bringing History to the Plate
Charleston, where Elaina lives and teaches, is steeped in food history — and that legacy inspires her every day. “Charleston has such a rich history,” she says. “And it’s absolutely beautiful.”
It’s also a place where tradition meets innovation — where chefs like Elaina can draw from the past while carving out their own path. Through her private events and pop-ups, she shares her heritage cooking with the wider community, creating space for storytelling, connection, and soul-nourishing food.
There’s no ego in her work — just gratitude, reverence, and a whole lot of flavor.
The Women Who Paved the Way
While many chefs cite big names or TV personalities as their role models, Elaina’s list of favorites is beautifully personal: her great-grandmother Mildred, and Mildred’s daughters Joyce, Maxine, and Dorothy.
“They’re the ones who taught me everything,” she says. “Their recipes, their energy, their commitment to caring for others — that’s what I bring into my own kitchen.”
In many ways, Elaina is keeping their legacy alive with every meal she teaches, cooks, or shares. She’s not chasing trends or trying to reinvent the wheel — she’s preserving a lineage.
A Rising Force in Charleston’s Culinary Scene
In May 2025, Elaina joined over 30 other women for Our Table x Charleston — a community gathering hosted at The Chef’s Collective, designed to celebrate and elevate female chefs across the city.
For many attendees, it was their first time getting professional headshots, meeting other female chefs, or even being seen as leaders in their field. Events like these remind us of the importance of visibility — and Elaina was a standout.
With her signature smile, infectious energy, and elegant Funky Chef jacket patterned in heritage blue oysters, she radiated confidence and care. She’s the kind of person who makes others feel seen — and who turns a kitchen into a place of welcome.
Why We Spotlight Elaina
At Funky Chef, we’re not just making jackets that fit women’s bodies — we’re telling the stories of the women inside them. Women like Elaina Ruth, who are changing the culinary landscape not with bravado, but with heart.
Elaina’s story is a reminder that great chefs don’t always come from traditional backgrounds. That the best recipes are often the ones scribbled in the margins of old notebooks, whispered through generations, and cooked with love.
She didn’t start out aiming for the spotlight. But now that she’s in it, we see her — and we celebrate her.
Creating Her Own Legacy
Whether she’s guiding teens through their first roux or hosting soulful pop-ups rooted in family tradition, Elaina is creating more than meals. She’s creating legacy.
She reminds us that success doesn’t always look like Michelin stars or viral fame. Sometimes, it looks like a classroom full of students finally believing in themselves. Or a dinner table where every dish tells a story. Or a microwave mishap that turned into a meaningful career.
Elaina Ruth is a chef to watch. Not because she’s the loudest in the room — but because she’s one of the most grounded. And in a world that too often overlooks the quiet brilliance of women in food, she’s exactly who we need more of.
Thank you to Tina McCard for organizing the Our Table event, Kate Blohm for capturing these stunning headshots, and Meredith Fischl of Eat Drink Play Charleston for championing the stories of Charleston’s female chefs.
Because if there’s one thing Funky Chef believes in, it’s the power of women like Elaina — soulful, steady, and serving up a future we’re proud to be part of.