Renowned chef and restauranter Melissa Cookston is married to Pete Cookston. Melissa has returned for season 2 of Barbecue Showdown which aired on Netflix on 26 May 2023. She is a legend in the pitmaster business but very little has been shared about her personal life though she has discussed a few details on her socials. Who is her husband? How old is he? What is his job?
This Pete Cookston Bio brings all the information about Melissa Cookston’s husband.
Meet Pete Cookston, Melissa Cookston Husband
Chef, cookbook author, and restauranter Melissa Cookston has been married to her husband Pete Cookston for two decades now. The couple exchanged their wedding vows in September 1997. On their 14 anniversary, Pete posted on his Facebook, “I would like to thank my beautiful wife Melissa Nichols Cookston for keeping me around for 14 years today. Your appointment to Sainthood should be coming in any day.”
On her YouTube channel, Melissa posted a video back in 2017. She said in the video “my husband made a mistake taking me to a barbecue contest when we were dating and it was so interesting to me…I saw these guys cooking these whole hogs and it really appealed to that competitive spirit that I think we all have and who doesn’t love barbecue.”
It was in 1996 that she started cooking up whole hogs, racks of ribs, briskets, chickens, and pretty much anything else you can fit on a smoker, and winning more blue ribbons than a Pabst factory in the process.
In fact, Pete helped Melissa with her first competition. She called it a “disaster”. Melissa added, “My brother and husband were loading my stuff down for me and lost all the technicals. It was freezing cold raining. I had to huddle under the hotbox during the night just to stay warm and did I mention I was seven months pregnant.”
Melissa was born in a small town called Ruleville but later moved to Greenville. She was introduced to the restaurant business at the age of 13. Now she owns three restaurants and is also the author of two cookbooks: Smokin’ Hot in the South (2016) and Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room (2014).
After dominating her rivals on the barbecue circuit, including two grand champion and five whole hog champion wins at the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Melissa first entered the food scene. Her renowned pitmastery has also gotten her on national television, where she has been on programs like “The Chew” and “Chopped” and served as a judge on Season 4 of Destination America’s “BBQ Pitmasters.” She also explored the globe in quest of fresh culinary techniques to introduce to the Mid-South.
Besides the restaurant business, Melissa has worked as a paralegal for 12 years.
Melissa And Pete Cookston Kids
Melissa and Pete Cookston share one daughter named Lauren Cookston from their successful marriage. Born in July 1998, Lauren is 24 years old. She attended Hernando High School and graduated in 2016.
For college education, Lauren went to The University of Mississippi – Ole Miss where she studied international business in 2020. She also studied Italian at Croft Institute for International Studies at the University of Mississippi.
Lauren is also involved in the family business. She sells a variety of preserves, salts, and sauces in their online retail store that ships a wide variety of products.
Pete Cookston Age
Born in 1968, Pete Cookston is currently 54 years old.
Pete Cookston Job
Pete Cookston is Melissa’s righthand man who co-owns several restaurants with her. He and his wife have been in the restaurant business for 40 years. They have owned and operated their catering company called STEAK by Melissa and two barbecue restaurants called Memphis BBQ Company, one in Horn Lake and the other in Dunwoody, Georgia, for the past 10 years.
Besides the restaurants, Pete and Melissa also operate a non-profit named the World Junior BBQ League. The mission of the organization is to encourage young people to build life skills and work as a team while training in boot camps and competing in barbecue competitions with their peers.
“Our kids today need something to do other than the next video game,” Melissa told Eat Drink Mississippi in 2022. The goal isn’t about competition as much as it’s about comradery and work ethic. “It’s very rewarding to help kids, and I aim for diversity. I want to try and get them all they need to succeed.”
During competitions, The Cookstons call themselves Yazoo’s Delta Q.
Is Pete Cookston On Instagram?
No, Pete Cookston is not on Instagram. But you can find him on Facebook.
Related FAQs
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When Is Pete Cookston Birthday?
Pete Cookston celebrates his birthday on 4 December.
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Where Is Pete Cookston From?
Pete Cookston is originally from Covington, Tennessee. He now resides in Nesbit, Mississippi with his family.
