2024 Field to Table Dinner Chefs

Jeff Benda lives in Fargo, North Dakota where he works as a wild game chef, outdoor writer, and photographer. He owns a media company that works with businesses in the hunting, fishing, and shooting industries. When he is not working, Jeff loves traveling the desolate back roads of the Little Missouri National Grasslands found in western North Dakota in search of upland birds and mule deer. He's also an avid waterfowl hunter, chasing ducks and geese across the U.S. for six months out of the year. But his greatest love is raising his outdoor-loving daughter with the help of his wife and hiking partner, Melissa, who shares his passion for protecting wild places and wildlife.

Jamie Carlson is a hunting, fishing, and foraging enthusiast. He lives in Burnsville Minnesota with his wife, 2 kids, and their Wire-haired pointer. He works as a registered nurse at the VA hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking and the great outdoors and when he can, he loves to combine the two. Jamie enjoys sharing his knowledge with others, particularly those who are new to hunting, fishing, and cooking in the great outdoors. He is a contributing food writer for The Outdoor News and Modern Carnivore.

Tom Healy is the former Vice Chair and Region One representative for the Montana Chapter of BHA. He is a passionate bird and big game hunter and lives with a motley pack of bird dogs, horses and a mule in Wisdom, MT. If he is not working in his shop, or volunteering on behalf of conservation, he is frequently lost somewhere on our Public Lands. Tom frequently cooks for BHA Hunting for Sustainability events.

Born and raised in Missouri, Paul spent years in the local food scene running a farm to table kitchen, managing an organic farm and founding a local farmers market.

As the Chairman for the Missouri chapter of BHA, Paul has a passion to educate and advocate for the amazing natural food resources we have available in our own backyards in Missouri and on our public lands all across the country.

Paul enjoys spending time outdoors procuring wild foods with his wife, 3 kids and their new German Shorthaired Pointer puppy “Ladybird."

Pete Kvale is a back to back 2021 & 2022 BHA Wild Game Cook-off champions with his father, Greg. Pete is an EMT and police officer and resides in Breezy Point, MN with his partner Ashton and her two sons.

Adam Steele was fortunate enough to learn about cooking at the same time he was growing up in wild places and combines these to help teach others. He currently hunts and fishes the St. Johns watershed in central Florida where he runs a small abattoir and processing shop. Proud to call Florida home with his family, and dog named Roux, he volunteers as the Florida chapter R3 chair.

“Under the radar” is as apt a phrase as any to describe Jeff. He has the chops and resume that a cook his age (or any cook, period) would envy—stints at Fäviken, Luksus and Willows Inn on Lummi Island, to name a few—but the quiet, brawny 30-year-old, who didn’t go to culinary school, isn’t one to talk himself up. The son of a commercial fisherman on Cape Cod, Jeff knew and appreciated good, fresh food from an early age. He worked on an oyster farm in high school and started as a line cook at a country club in his hometown. He is the owner of The Press Room and Jook Sing, both restaurants in Chicago. 

During Covid with more time on his hands, Jeff started hunting -a passion he had always wanted to pursue. His favorite thing to hunt is squirrels with what he suspects is the only squirrel dog in Chicago, Roux.