{"id":117856,"date":"2022-02-23T23:45:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T05:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=117856"},"modified":"2022-02-25T10:50:54","modified_gmt":"2022-02-25T16:50:54","slug":"rebel-chefs-offers-local-cuisine-to-university-of-mississippi-sororities-and-fraternities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/rebel-chefs-offers-local-cuisine-to-university-of-mississippi-sororities-and-fraternities\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebel Chefs Offers Local Cuisine to University of Mississippi Sororities and Fraternities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019ve been in Oxford<\/strong> for a bit, you\u2019ve probably heard of the local Southern rock band Southern Groove Redemption<\/strong>\u2014they were voted Oxford’s Favorite Local Band<\/strong> in the Local Favorites this year. And if you\u2019ve seen SGR live, you\u2019ve seen Zechariah Tillotson<\/strong> rocking out on guitar and vocals. But that\u2019s not all Zechariah has been up to these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in December 2020, the Oxford service industry veteran had an idea. Having worked for a college catering service in 2017, among various other kitchen jobs before and after that gig, Zechariah decided to establish his own business crafting quality food for University of Mississippi <\/strong>sororities and fraternities. In January 2021, Rebel Chefs <\/strong>was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, Rebel Chefs provides breakfast, lunch, and dinner Monday through Friday to Sigma Pi<\/strong> on the University of Mississippi campus. Tillotson points out that, as a small, local provider, Rebel Chefs is able to operate with much less overhead than national food service providers, so they are a more affordable option for sororities and fraternities. The goal? \u201cA turnkey solution to take pressure and responsibility off the house director,\u201d says Tillotson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zechariah has also executed offsite catering, including an AOII event in Coffeeville, but landing contracts with more Ole Miss Greek organizations is his primary goal. To spread the word and give Ole Miss students a taste of what they\u2019re missing, Tillotson has partnered with Bar Muse<\/strong> for a pop-up event on February 27. Starting at 5 pm, the event is first come, first served, with a menu featuring braised beef birria eggrolls, masala-roasted pork shoulder, stewed white beans, and collard greens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally from Vicksburg, Mississippi<\/strong>, Zechariah moved to Oxford in 2009 to attend the University of Mississippi, where he earned a degree in History Education in 2013. While working as a chef at the ADPi house at Ole Miss, he realized he \u201creally enjoyed it and had a knack for it.\u201d He decided then to pursue a career in cooking and has never looked back. \u201cI feel like it\u2019s pretty closely tied to being in music,\u201d he explains, \u201cthe creative process…it\u2019s pretty similar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to cooking for a house full of college students, Zechariah\u2019s favorite part is seeing those students enjoy the meals he\u2019s prepared. \u201cI get a lot from it,\u201d he says. \u201cThese kids just want to eat good food, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To satisfy students\u2019 need for familiar food while also keeping things interesting, Zechariah often puts a new spin on familiar dishes. Instead of a baked potato, for example, he might introduce them to potatoes confit. Ultimately, he aims to have new menu items every week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, Tillotson knows where to draw the line. \u201cI tried not doing Taco Tuesday one time,\u201d he laughs. \u201cI thought they were gonna murder me.\u201d Since then, chips and queso have been served every single Tuesday without fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also appreciates feedback from the students who enjoy his meals. If a particular dish gets rave reviews from students, he\u2019ll rotate it in regularly. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a balancing act,\u201d Zechariah explains. \u201cYou want to do food that they know they like, comfort food, and put a little something new in it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more at rebelchefsMS.com and follow Rebel Chefs at @rebel.chefs on Instagram and @rebelchefsMS on Facebook. For more information, email rebelchefsMS@gmail.com.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you\u2019ve been in Oxford for a bit, you\u2019ve probably heard of the local Southern rock band Southern<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123459,"featured_media":117858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[307],"tags":[19671,4,20686,20687,13205,655,4637],"class_list":["post-117856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-people","tag-bar-muse","tag-oxford","tag-rebel-chefs","tag-sigma-pi","tag-southern-groove-redemption","tag-university-of-mississippi","tag-zechariah-tillotson"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/RebelChefs-logo.jpg?fit=1080%2C1095&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123459"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}