LACEY, Wash. – Saint Martin’s University has announced that the 2022 Saint Martin’s Gala will feature celebrity chef host Anne Burrell, hugely popular and fan-favorite host of Worst Cooks in America, Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition and the new Food Network series Vegas Chef Prize Fight. Burrell is an industry veteran and passionate teacher who prides herself on creating rustic Italian dishes that celebrate simple and pure ingredients.
The Saint Martin's Gala, which will be on Saturday, Nov. 5, in Marcus Pavilion on Saint Martin’s main campus in Lacey, is the University’s major fundraising event for student scholarships. Last year’s Gala raised $2.7 million for scholarships. Over the years, the black-tie affair has grown to be the premier culinary event in the South Sound region, featuring a live auction, a five-course gourmet dinner, and on-stage cooking demonstrations by celebrity chefs. Previous featured chefs have included Jacques Pépin, Carla Hall, Roy Yamaguchi, Ming Tsai, Andrew Zimmern, Lidia Bastianich, and Michael Symon.
“Gala is an unparalleled night of hospitality, community, inspiration, generosity, and incredible food,” says Tedi Reynolds ’71, alumna, Gala committee co-chair and a member of Saint Martin’s Board of Trustees. “It is a perfect celebration of the many gifts we have received from Saint Martin's. I mark my calendar every November to attend and participate in raising scholarship funds for current and future Saints.”
Burrell grew up in upstate New York. Her passion for food and cooking developed at an early age and was triggered by her love of watching Julia Child and her own mother’s talent in the kitchen. She studied at Canisius College in Buffalo earning a degree in English and Communication.
In 1996, she graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and went on to further her education in Italy where she attended the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners. During that year, she did apprenticeships at La Taverna del Lupo in Umbria and the Michelin-starred La Bottega del ‘30, a 30-seat restaurant that offered one six-course seating a night in Tuscany.
In 1998, she returned to the United States and was hired as a Sous Chef at Felidia Ristorante in Manhattan alongside Lidia Bastianich. She then went on to become a Chef at Savoy Restaurant in Soho, a teacher at the Institute of Culinary Education, Executive Chef at Lumi Restaurant, Sous Chef on Food Network’s Iron Chef America, and Executive Chef at Centro Vinoteaca.
Since then, Burrell has appeared regularly on shows such as Chef Wanted, Beat Bobby Flay, Chopped, and Food Network Star. She is also the author of two cookbooks, the New York Times top ten bestsellers, Cook Like a Rock Star, and the follow-up Own Your Kitchen: Recipes to Inspire and Empower, both of which give home cooks the confidence and support to be rock stars in their own kitchens.
Burrell has served on the Garden of Dreams Foundation Advisory Board which brightens the lives of children facing obstacles and is also a Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Celebrity Ambassador, where she is an advocate for juvenile diabetes awareness. She travels frequently around the country in her role as both a mentor and guest speaker where she discusses her career and love of cooking.
Saint Martin’s University is an independent, four-year, coeducational university located on a wooded campus of more than 300 acres in Lacey, Washington. Established in 1895 by the Catholic Order of Saint Benedict, the University is one of 13 Benedictine colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and the only one west of the Rocky Mountains. Saint Martin’s University prepares students for successful lives through its 29 majors, 11 master’s programs, one doctorate program, and five certificate programs spanning the liberal arts, business, education, nursing, and engineering. Saint Martin’s welcomes more than 1,300 undergraduate students and 250 graduate students from many ethnic and religious backgrounds to its Lacey campus, and more students to its extended campus located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
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For more information about table reservations and ticket sales to the event, visit www.stmartin.edu/gala. Individuals or organizations interested in sponsoring Saint Martin’s Gala can contact Renee Oram, director for development, corporate and athletic sponsorships, at roram@stmartin.edu.