Most of us have memories of our first attempts at cooking as a youngster. Kimber Keplinger is no different, only she took things a lot further and turned that early love of cooking into a full-time job.
Now, at the age of 49, she commands the small kitchen in her food truck, Chubby Vegan, every weekend at Chattanooga Market, which opens in April, as well as traveling around the Scenic City to cook for events and other occasions — or wherever the road takes her.
Read on to discover how her food truck got its name and why she enjoys having a restaurant on wheels rather than a brick-and-mortar eatery.
Q: Who inspired you to become a chef?
A: My Aunt Misty is an amazing home chef. I lived with them for some of high school and kinda got blown away by the level that a self-trained chef can attain. When I was in college in Portland, Oregon, I started reading cookbooks, watching PBS and Food Network cooking shows and experimenting — that’s how I learned to cook. My “mentors” were on a screen — not terribly unlike the TikToks that my oldest daughter uses for recipes now that she is away at college.