Cooking for a sorority was never Kevin Ashton’s plan. Nor were the 4.9 million followers he has since gained on TikTok.
When Mr. Ashton left the toil of the restaurant business in 2020, he wasn’t sure he wanted to cook professionally again. But two years later, when an acquaintance who was once a member of the Alpha Nevada Chapter of the Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women called him, desperate for a temporary cook, he agreed. Today, he’s not only a full-time chef there, but also a mentor to the 28 women living in the sorority house — where it is less expensive to live in the house with a cook than it is to live on campus with a meal plan.
He spends his days preparing lunch and dinner in the sorority house, and the time in between editing TikToks, in which he prepares meals and shares candid details about his personal life, including his struggle with cancer. His thoughtful approach to the sorority job has turned every member into an advocate for home-cooked meals — and changed many minds about eggplant.
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Priya Krishna is a reporter in the Food section of The Times.
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