Chef Ariel Fox has worked in and led some of the most renowned kitchens in the country.

STK, Hardings, Acme, and Los Caminos.

That success is not surprising.

Ariel knew very young that she wanted to be a chef,

and her performance in culinary school

proved that she was exactly where she was meant to be.

We talk about her approach to being a contestant

on Hell's Kitchen, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey,

her unique perspective on foods authenticity,

and the inspiration for her new cookbook, Spice Kitchen, Healthy Latin, and Caribbean Cuisine.

Ariel, thank you so much for doing this.

Thank you for having me.

Where am I talking to you today?

I am actually in an office at one of my restaurants in New York City, and we are launching a new menu today, so it is a busy, busy day for me. Okay. That explains so

much both about why you are in your gear, why you were 10 minutes early for this interview,

which nobody ever is. So thank you so much. I want to go back though and start at the beginning

because your family is not Mexican,

but you grow up in a Mexican community and surrounded by Mexican cuisine.

Take me back to growing up what your family was like, what your parents were like,

and the influence of growing up somewhere where you're not actually in the majority

culture. Yeah, I mean, it's pretty wild. So I grew up in Santa Cruz, but I went to school in

Watsonville, which is where my mom taught, and she's a bilingual teacher. She's been studying

...