Rotary Celebrates Birmingham’s Food CUlture
Rotarians Cheryl Morgan, Frank Stitt and Cathy Sloss Jones with Valerie Thomas and Leigh Sloss-Corra
This week the Rotary Club of Birmingham presented a special program, "Celebrating Birmingham's Food Culture," honoring the 25th anniversary of The Market at Pepper Place, and the enduring relationships between Birmingham's chefs, Alabama farmers, and our city's acclaimed culinary community. These connections have helped shape the Magic City's rise as a nationally recognized food destination and have helped to drive the expansion of the city's signature Southbound Food Festival, previously FOOD + Culture, which has just been rebranded.
The presentation featured a dynamic conversation with Rotarian Frank Stitt, celebrated local chef; Market Board President Valerie Thomas, and Executive Director Leigh Sloss-Corra, led by Rotarian Cathy Sloss Jones, President and CEO of Sloss Real Estate and Market Board President Emeritus. Jones played a pivotal role in developing the Pepper Place Entertainment District—a thriving design and culinary hub and home of the market.
The panelists discussed the ecosystem and innovation of Birmingham's food scene and how it fosters community and strengthens our city's identity. The Market team set up a mini market for attendees to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from Ireland Farms and Knight Farm, as well as cookbooks and other items.
The Market team also provided Ireland Farms carrots, cherry tomatoes & heirloom tomatoes Mountain Meadows Farm blueberries, Petals from the Past blackberries, W & W Farm cucumbers, squash & zucchini that were incorporated into the menu for guests to enjoy, along with rolls from Hinkel's Bakery, honey from Warrior Bee Co. and desserts from Emily's Heirloom Pound Cakes and Homewood Gourmet..
PANELIST BioS
Catherine Sloss Jones is President and CEO of Sloss Real Estate Company, a multidisciplinary firm in Birmingham, Alabama founded by her grandfather in 1920. Her focus is on urban redevelopment/revitalization and the renewal of the community by renovating historic buildings, constructing new buildings that honor their surroundings and by providing planning services throughout the region. Pepper Place is an example of this work.
A recognized civic leader, Jones serves on many local boards and is a member of the National boards of Rails to Trails (RTC) and LOCUS/Smart Growth America. She was a Loeb Fellow and Visiting Scholar at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and currently serves on the Loeb Alumni Council. She has received numerous awards including, Birmingham Businesswoman of the Year. In 2017 she was named to the Alabama Academy of Honor, Alabama’s highest award.
A native of Cullman, Alabama, Chef Frank Stitt developed an appreciation for local farming and agriculture at an early age. His culinary journey began to take shape when he moved to San Francisco, where he honed his kitchen skills at the now legendary Chez Panisse. In 1977, he moved to the South of France to work for the cook and food writer Richard Olney and also spent time working in vineyards in Provence and Burgundy.
Stitt eventually made his way back to the American South, returning to the foods and traditions of his childhood. Those roots, combined with his culinary experiences and adventurous spirit, led him to create a singular, deeply rich and passionate approach to food and cooking. Highly committed to regenerative agriculture and humane animal husbandry, Chef Stitt led the way in championing these practices. He received the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2001, and was nominated for Outstanding Chef in 2008. Additional culinary honors include membership in the James Beard Foundation’s “Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America,” induction into Esquire Magazine's Restaurant Hall of Fame, the Craig Claiborne Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern Foodways Alliance, and the Horst H. Schulze Award for Excellence in Hospitality from Auburn University.
In 2019, Birmingham’s downtown Rotary Trail honored him with a public sculpture: "Frank's Table," and in 2023, Chef Stitt was inducted into the Alabama Business Hall of Fame and named one of Birmingham Business Journal's "People to Watch." In 2024, Stitt, along with his wife and business partner, Pardis, received the Business Alabama Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a standing board member of Jones Valley Teaching Farm and The Market at Pepper Place, and previously served on the board of the Downtown Rotary Club of Birmingham.
Before joining the Market at Pepper Place as Executive Director in 2016, Leigh Sloss-Corra was an Executive Producer for Time Inc.’s Lifestyle Video Group, where she helped build their digital division for 9 years. Prior to that, she worked as a producer of children’s films for Weston Woods Studios/Scholastic Publishing, in Norwalk, Connecticut, and many years earlier, ran a catering business in New York, wrote book reviews, and worked as a French translator.
Since she joined the Market at Pepper Place team, Leigh has launched several key initiatives to strengthen its operations, access and impact, including: extending the market season to year-round, increasing education about healthy living and seasonal eating, hosting an annual month-long focus on women chefs and food producers, offering free business education workshops for market vendors, and running a SNAP (food stamps)/Double Bucks program. In 2019, she partnered with the City of Birmingham and BJCTA to establish the Birmingham Central Market at the MAX Bus station to make fresh food more accessible to low-income transit riders. Since 2021, she’s served on UAB’s Live Healthsmart Alabama advisory board. Leigh helped bring a major food conference, IACP 43, to Birmingham in 2021, and two years later, helped found the award-winning Birmingham Southbound Food Fest, to celebrate and promote the city’s rich and diverse culinary scene. As a past President of the Birmingham Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International, she helps raise money to support future women in food with culinary scholarships and entrepreneur grants. As part of the Market’s 25th Anniversary Celebration in 2025, she is working with leading architects on a design for the Market’s permanent home and developing a comprehensive plan to insure the Market’s healthy continuation for the next quarter-century.
Leigh is a graduate of Momentum Executive Women Leaders, and Leadership Birmingham. She currently serves on the boards of Les Dames D’Escoffier International and FOOD+Culture Fest. She has previously served on the board of the Altamont Alumni Association. A native of Birmingham, Leigh attended the Altamont School, Brown University (BA) and Columbia University (MA). Her husband, Stan Bosich, is retired; her son, George, works for Royal Cup Coffee in Birmingham; her daughter, Sophie, is a film editor based in Los Angeles.
Valerie Collins Thomas, President & CEO of The VAL Group, Inc., moved to Birmingham in 2010 with her husband Steven, who accepted the Director position for the UAB Hospital Burn Service. Reluctant to leave San Antonio, but always optimistic – she invested in getting to know the city, and eventually, fell in love with all that it offered.
She concluded that The Magic City is one of the nation’s best kept secrets and decided to help change that in April 2014 by forming The VAL Group, Inc. a recruiting support service to UAB Hospital, Children’s of Alabama and others who need to showcase Birmingham to visitors or future residents. Valerie has become one of Birmingham’s Greatest Ambassadors!!
At IBM for over thirteen years, Valerie later pursued nonprofit management and development as Corporate Relations Director for United Way in NC, Executive Director of Pitt County’s Domestic Violence Center, Director of Development at the Allentown Art Museum in PA, Manager of Major Gifts at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network and Director of Development for the National Trauma Institute in TX.
An active community supporter, Valerie serves as the Chair of the board for Pepper Place Farmers Market, President of UAB Arts Advisory Board, which includes the Alys Stephen Center and Treasurer of the UAB Women’s Club. She also serves on the board of directors for Birmingham Airport Authority, Create Birmingham, Railroad Park Red Mountain Theatre and on the Executive Council for the historic First Methodist Church in downtown Birmingham.
Valerie and Steven have two children who reside in Birmingham. Morgan is a chef in training, Meghan a doctor of Public Health relocated in 2022 from Boston to serve as the Director of Community Development for the City of Birmingham and as a Major in the AL National Guard. They also have a 78+ lb, Dogue de Bordeaux puppy, Murdoch.ne can reach their full potential.