When Eddie Wilson chose to follow the culinary path of his parents, he had no idea that one day he would serve presidents.
The Talley Student Union Executive chef began his career as a Marine Corps chef, where he was first exposed to large scale catering.
After cooking with several catering companies for about 300 to 500 people, his big break came after catering at a PGA golf tournament.
He made connections there, which he said inspired him to form a company for on-site management. Contracting for six companies across the United States, Wilson and his culinary team catered Indy car races, tournaments and political events for 2,000 to 20,000 attendees.
“When you are doing large events, you find out immediately whether you’ve done a good job or a bad job,” Wilson said. “You can literally affect people’s lives for a very small moment, and it’s fun. It’s a lot of hard work, though.”
Wilson later took on more responsibility as head chef for the Democratic and Republican National Conventions for ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN in Philadelphia.
“We were doing the news, so we were open 24 hours, so we were doing about 4,000 meals a day,” Wilson said.
He also catered for the Indy 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which led to his promotion to team chef in 2000 for Kelley Racing, based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, according to Wilson.
“When I was with Kelley Racing and the Indy Racing League, in the 12 years that I was in racing, I never repeated a menu because I was feeding the same people every week, and those people were not from whatever region we were racing in,” Wilson said. “I tried to cook regional food and tried to present it so they would have something good to eat. It allowed me to expand my culinary career and get an opportunity to try some new things.”
His job with Kelley Racing allowed him to meet former President George H.W. Bush who was a guest of the owner of the team for the 2001 Indy 500. Wilson has also served former presidents Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton and former premier of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev.
“We did catering in President Ford’s house, so that one was a little difficult,” Wilson said. “He had a home in Beaver Creek, Colorado, and it’s a little more work because you have to deal with Secret Service and different things like that, but at the end of the day, they’re no different than you are. They want to just eat. They want it to be nice. They don’t want to have to worry about anything, and so if you just treat whoever it is exactly the same way you treat your dishwasher, let’s say, then there’s no issues, and that’s every famous person I’ve served, I’ve treated exactly the same.”
When he became executive chef of the IRL, he traveled across the globe helping to promote and sell products for two of the IRL’s companies.
“And so when I was over there I would get in the kitchen and learn specialty dishes from chefs in that area, and so I would bring it back to the racing,” Wilson said.
The recipes he brought with him also inspired the menu of One Earth in Talley Student Union, which was collaboration between him and Julie Staples, University Dining’s recipe development chef.
Wilson began working for the university after his time ended at The Chef’s Academy, a culinary school he opened in Morrisville four years ago.
“He was just head and shoulders above all other candidates,” said Food Service Director Kenny Hemmer.
According to Hemmer, Wilson is a humble but assertive chef who listens to others and tweaks recipes based on their feedback, but also knows when to say, “This is how it’s done.”
“Overall, Eddie is a character with a great sense of humor,” Hemmer said. “No matter how hectic things get … he does a great job when it comes to working with his staff.”
For example, Wilson will hold his staff accountable when it does something wrong, but also keeps the mood light by complimenting it on a job well done, according to Hemmer.
“He’s so cool, but he’s a stickler,” said Trese Crowder, an employee at Tuffy’s Diner who works with Wilson.
Overall, Wilson said one of the best parts about working as a chef is the challenges and the frenetic energy in the industry.
“There’s a tradition at the Indy 500 that when the track opens, there’s a howitzer cannon that goes off at 7 a.m.,” Wilson said. “Well, we would have breakfast served for 200 to 300 people ready to serve that morning, and so there is a calm just before that cannon goes off … and it’s just like an explosion of events, and there’s a sort of magic to it, to knowing that’s getting ready to happen.”
His next proudest moment occurred when he graduated his first class of aspiring chefs from his culinary school.
“Graduating our first class from the school was an emotional, exciting feeling knowing that you got to affect, and come full circle,” Wilson said. “Chefs affected my life as I was growing up, and now I did the same thing.”
With the high turnover rate in the industry, Hemmer said Wilson’s ability to teach serves University Dining well.
“If I did not have someone like him I could trust with his expertise and his talent, I would be dead in the water right now,” Hemmer said.
