“Top Chef” contestant and Oklahoma native Joshua Valentine will be the next guest chef to visit OSU Institute of Technology’s School of Culinary Arts as part of the Cowboy Chef’s Table series.

“I’m excited to be a part of it and contribute in a small way to the future of the industry,” Valentine said.

The third luncheon in the Cowboy Chef’s Table series is Tuesday, Dec. 5, at noon in the State Room on the OSUIT campus, 1801 East 4th St., in Okmulgee.

First, guest chefs spend the morning with students teaching them how to prepare the menu’s dishes.

“It will be a different point of view being on the other side of the classroom, but I am looking forward to talking to the students,” he said.

Then at noon, Valentine will present a cooking demonstration of that day’s featured menu to guests in the State Room and will talk about his career and culinary style.

Tickets to the luncheon are $15 with proceeds going to the Cowboy Chef’s Table Scholarship Fund for OSUIT culinary students. U.S. Foods and Ben E. Keith are donating the food for the luncheons, and U.S. Foods has already donated $500 to the scholarship fund.

School of Culinary Arts Dean Gene Leiterman said he wanted to have an event that would benefit students and bring renowned chefs as well as guests from the surrounding area and potential students to the OSUIT campus.

“We want to create an experience for all parties involved,” Leiterman said,

Valentine was born and raised in Oklahoma City and first became interested in cooking by reading cookbooks and food magazines. He started his culinary career in the kitchen of a Mexican restaurant while he was in high school.

After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School in Minneapolis, he worked in restaurants in Dallas and Los Angeles and competed on Bravo Network’s “Top Chef.”

He’s now the resident chef at Carlton Landing, a residential and vacation rental community on Oklahoma’s Lake Eufaula, and said he doesn’t really have a cuisine or style he specializes in.

“I get asked that question a lot. I just try to make delicious food. I focus on using the best ingredients I can get and then rely solely on proper technique,” Valentine said.

Leiterman said he’s looking forward to the knowledge and advice Valentine brings to the students in the kitchen and the dishes he brings to the patrons.

“Chef Valentine is such a talented and accomplished chef. We know his food will be great, and he will be able to connect with the audience about his story and culinary viewpoints,” he said. “He will be presenting several dishes from the eastern Mediterranean served family style. This is what makes him such a great chef, and we are excited to see what he creates.”

Valentine is the third guest chef in the luncheon series with four other presentations scheduled in the 2017-18 school year.

The two previous Cowboy Chef’s Table luncheons have raised close to $5,000 for the scholarship fund which will begin to be awarded in fall 2018.

For more information or to reserve your seat to the Cowboy Chef’s Table luncheon, go to osuit.edu/chefstable.