Florida chef Norman Van Aken is known internationally as the founding father of New World Cuisine. This fusion of Latin, Caribbean, Asian, African and American flavors initially came into prominence in the mid-1980s, when Norman, as the leader of a quartet of talented South Florida chefs, put South Florida’s new style of cooking on the international culinary map.  

Today, he oversees his acclaimed restaurant Norman’s at the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando, Florida. He also conducts culinary demos and seminars across the country and recently launched his own line of signature cookware with HSN.

Norman is the only Floridian inducted into the prestigious James Beard Who’s Who in American Cooking. He was the James Beard winner of  Best Chef in the Southeast in 1997, and his restaurant, Norman’s of Coral Gables, Florida, was deemed Best Restaurant in Florida by The New York Times. Gourmet magazine named it as one of America’s Top Tables. The James Beard Foundation named Norman’s as The Best Restaurant in America in its first year of eligibility.

Norman was the first chef in America to become a member of the James Beard Foundation’s Board of Trustees. His last task was fulfilling a request made by Susan Ungaro, president of the Foundation, to accept the Celebrated Culinarian Award posthumously for James Beard from The American Culinary Federation. He was recently named to the James Beard Foundation’s National Advisory Board.

The chef was hailed as a culinary genius by Johnson and Wales University and given an honorary doctorate. In 2006 he was honored as one of the Founders of the New American Cuisine, alongside Alice Waters, Paul Prudhomme, and Mark Miller at Spain’s International Summit of Gastronomy Madrid Fusion event. He also is one of the only chefs to have won both the Robert Mondavi Award and the Food Arts Silver Spoon for lifetime achievement.

Norman is the author of three cookbooks including the Julia Child/IACP-nominated, Norman’s New World Cuisine. His other books are: New World Kitchen: Latin American and Caribbean Cuisine; Norman Van Aken's Feast of Sunlight; and The Great Exotic Fruit Book: A Handbook of Tropical and Subtropical Fruits, With Recipes.

His work has appeared in The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, Charlie Trotter’s cookbooks, Australian Vogue, and many more. He has appeared on CNN, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Emeril Live, and many other television programs. He has cooked, consulted, written and lectured on New World Cuisine internationally. His culinary philosophy is to create a marriage of the sensual and rustic with the classic and intellectual in a celebration of the various places we live.

He lives in Key West with his wife and soul mate Janet. They have one son, Justin who is also a chef.