Growing up, there was no place Vivian Howard wanted to leave more than her hometown of Deep Run, N.C. And she did manage to escape for a couple of years, working in some of New York City’s most popular restaurants and meeting the man she would go on to marry. 

However, just as she and her husband were about to settle down for good, her father offered to help her set up her own restaurant. It only came with one condition: that she move back to Deep Run. 

And so, Vivian and her husband Ben moved back to N.C., opened up their restaurant, Chef & the Farmer, and documented the shift from city to country life in the PBS show A Chef’s Life, which ran for five seasons. 

Unlike other culinary series that replicate recipes or are high-intensity cooking competitions, A Chef’s Life follows Vivian’s day-to-day in North Carolina and watches her build a network to support her business, while also paying the bills, via TV, to support her growing family.