-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email In 2018, writer Julia Bainbridge published an interview with North Carolina-based chef Scott Crawford about his work in the restaurant industry and his, at the time, 14 years of sobriety . He speaks remarkably candidly about his experiences with alcoholism, drug addiction and myriad illnesses and struggles that came along with them. When asked what helped him to make a change, he named Alcoholics Anonymous, or AA.
"It took me a while to embrace the program," Crawford said. "I get why it doesn’t work for some people, but you know, if you really, truly have the desire, like I did ..
. I didn’t want to die." Related What do we mean when we say "sober" now? As far as what helped him "stay the course," as Bainbridge put it? "Well, it was cooking," Crawford continued.
"I felt like I had something to contribute. I had some people tell me that I was wasting talent that not everyone has. And I felt guilty about that.
And you know, I used to create that culture of work hard, play hard. These guys in my kitchen looked up to me. I didn’t view myself as a role model, but I was, and I didn’t accept the responsibility of that.
So I wanted to make up for that a little bit." Now, years later — and 20 years sober — Crawford and his team just recently were nominated fo the 2024 James Beard award for "Outstanding Hospitality," the first time he was nominated for a Beard award in the hospitality category (He'd been a semifinalist in the chef cate.