Tamara Murphy facts for kids

Tamara Murphy was a famous American chef. She owned and ran a popular restaurant called Terra Plata in Seattle. In 1994, a magazine called Food & Wine named her a "Best New Chef." The next year, in 1995, she won a big award called the James Beard Foundation Award for being the "Best Chef in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii." Tamara Murphy passed away on August 10, 2024.

Early Life and First Steps

Tamara Murphy was born in Freedom, Pennsylvania. She grew up in North Carolina. During her early teenage years, she lived in Peru. Her very first job in a restaurant was in Charlotte, North Carolina. She worked at a bar for a Sicilian couple. She was only 15 years old at the time!

A Chef's Journey

After working in several restaurants in New York City, Tamara Murphy moved to Seattle. She worked as a sous chef at a restaurant called Dominique's. A sous chef is like the second-in-command in the kitchen. While there, she took part in the Bocuse d'Or competition, which is a very important cooking contest.

After two years, she became the executive chef at a fancy restaurant called Campagne. An executive chef is the head chef. Here, she was nominated for another James Beard Foundation Award. This time it was for "Rising Star Chef."

In 1993, she helped open Café Campagne. She also kept working at Campagne. In 1995, while leading both restaurants, she won the James Beard Foundation Award for "Best Chef in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii."

Tamara Murphy then decided to open her own restaurant. With help from the owners of Campagne, she opened Brasa in 1999. Brasa was very popular at first. It had 170 seats and was often full. However, it closed after a few years because of tough economic times.

In 2008, she started running the Elliott Bay Café. At this café, she served food that was organic and came from sustainable farms. This means the food was grown in a way that is good for the environment.

Tamara Murphy was known for using fresh, local ingredients. She believed in "farm-to-table" cooking before it became very popular. This means she used ingredients directly from local farms. She was a big influence on how people think about local food in her area.

Terra Plata: Earth to Plate

In 2011, Tamara Murphy opened her "Earth to Plate" restaurant, Terra Plata. She continued to get her food from local farms. The menu at Terra Plata changed every day. It mixed flavors from Spanish, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean cooking. Her most famous dish was roasted pig with clams, chorizo, and special spices.

Community Work

Tamara Murphy also cared a lot about her community. In 2008, she started a fundraising event called "An Incredible Feast." This event helped the Seattle Neighborhood Farmers Markets. It raised money for the Good Farmer Fund. This fund helps farmers when they lose crops or animals because of bad weather or other unexpected problems.

In 2015, Tamara Murphy and her business partner, Linda di Lello Morton, were honored as "Community Leaders of the Year." They said that being active in the community helps you succeed.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, they helped other restaurants. They started a project called "Food Is Love." Their goal was to help restaurants get back to work. They also wanted to give healthy meals to people who needed them. Through "Food Is Love," they provided more than 38,000 meals to families during the pandemic.