It’s Monday. New week, new weekly theme. This week’s theme will focus on well-known African-American chefs.
Sunny Anderson (born April 9, 1975) is an African American Food Network personality. She began hosting How’d That Get On My Plate? in July 2008. She also hosts the Food Network program Cooking for Real and served as co-host with Marc Istook of the Food Network program Gotta Get It.
Sunny Anderson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and grew up as an Army brat, which allowed her to travel the world and sample many local cuisines with her parents, who were food enthusiasts. She attended high school in San Antonio, Texas and upon her graduation she joined the United States Air Force in June 1993, where she earned the rank of Senior Airman and worked as a military radio host in Seoul, South Korea, then worked for Air Force News Agencyradio and television in San Antonio from 1993 to 1997. She was honorably discharged from the Air Force in June 1997.
Between 1995 and 2001 Anderson worked as a radio personality at KCJZ and KONO-FM in San Antonio, WYLD-FM and KUMX in Fort Polk, Louisiana, WJWZ in Montgomery, Alabama, and WDTJ in Detroit, Michigan.
Anderson settled in New York City in 2001 at the age of 26 and worked as a radio personality for HOT 97 (WQHT) in New York City from 2001 to 2005. From 2003 to 2005 she was the owner of Sunny’s Delicious Dishes, a catering company based in Jersey City, New Jersey.
She first appeared on the Food Network in October 2005 (as a guest on the Emeril Live program) and began hosting How’d That Get On My Plate? in July 2008. She also hosts the Food Network program Cooking for Real and served as co-host with Marc Istook of the Food Network program Gotta Get It.
In 2006 and 2007 she served as Food & Lifestyle Editor for Hip Hop Weekly magazine.
Anderson has been a guest on the CBS Morning Show and Good Morning America.
In January 2014, Anderson became a co-host on the Food Network’s series The Kitchen along with Jeff Mauro, Katie Lee, Marcela Valladolid, and Geoffrey Zakarian.
Anderson has been a guest chef on several talk shows and morning news programs including Good Morning America, The Early Show, The View, The Talk, as well as The Wendy Williams Show.
Anderson currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.