Indianapolis chef Greg Hardesty's legacy being kept alive with new Ivy Tech scholarship
A coalition promoting Indiana food is looking to keep the legacy of one of Indianapolis’ most prominent dining champions in front of the next generations of chefs.
Culinary Crossroads is establishing a scholarship to honor chef Greg Hardesty, the leader in the independent restaurants scene, who died in June 2021, the organization announced Tuesday night.
The annual Culinary Crossroads Chef Greg Hardesty Scholarship will go to students at Ivy Tech Community College School of Culinary Arts.
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Details of the scholarship are still being worked out, but it will be available through Ivy Tech campuses throughout the state, said Culinary Crossroads founder Larry Dickerson ahead of announcing the creation of the Greg Hardesty Scholarship Fund, which is funding the award.
Culinary Crossroads is seeding the fund with money from various events, including those featuring chefs who were trained through Hardesty’s shops. It will begin with at least $10,000 and is open to donations.
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The organization unveiled the effort Tuesday night at the conclusion of its spring dinner series at Highland Golf & Country Club. Hardesty was the featured chef at the finale of the 2021 dinner series in the same space.
“We want to work with the leadership at Ivy Tech to make sure it's in line with what they want to make sure that their students have when they leave. And also we're hoping to incorporate some of the key aspects of what Greg brought to the industry; his passion for teaching others," Dickerson said. “Our intent is to have an influence of Greg's accomplishments built into the Ivy Tech culinary school's programming through this scholarship.
Culinary Crossroads was formed in 2019 to showcase the state's restaurants, produce and artisan food products and support Hoosier chefs competing in the World Food Championships.
The organization lured the World Food Championships' The Final Table competition to Indianapolis in 2020.
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The announcement comes nearly a year after Hardesty died following a year-long battle with leukemia.
A regular semifinalist in the regional best chef category for the James Beard Awards, the 52-year-old had been the chef-proprietor of the acclaimed restaurant Recess, as well as H2O Sushi, farm-to-table restaurant Elements, and Studio C coffee spot-dinner club.
He trained many of Indianapolis' best chefs — including Bluebeard’s Abby Merriss and Milktooth’s Jonathan Brooks — who contributed to a series of fundraisers before his death, and were among the roughly 500 that celebrated his life at a memorial weeks after.
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Dickerson said the effort to commemorate Hardesty's contributions to Indianapolis' food scene has been in the works since last year.
The scholarship is an apt tribute, said Susan Hardesty, the chef’s high school sweetheart and wife of 27 years.
Hardesty was a proponent of keeping culinary careers accessible, without the need for costly formal training, she said.
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He taught plenty through volunteering, workshops at his spaces, taking on interns and mentoring in his kitchens, she said.
“It’s just brilliant because it does really fit with what Greg talked about,” she said. “To know that there’s a culinary scholarship for an education that's so expensive; I just know he would be really pleased with that.”
Ivy Tech will begin accepting scholarship applicants for any of its six campuses later this year, with the first award anticipated for the spring semester of 2023.
For more information, visit CulinaryCrossroads.org.
Contact IndyStar reporter Cheryl V. Jackson at cheryl.jackson@indystar.com or 317-444-6264. Follow her on Twitter: @cherylvjackson.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Ivy Tech scholarship to honor late pioneering Indianapolis chef
