Strong Roots 9Matthew and Tia Raiford

About Us

When Chef & Farmers = CheFarmers Matthew and Tia Raiford met over 25 years ago at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, how their common roots in farming, family and food would weave such a tapestry, connecting their past to shaping a future that is rooted in creating experiences so rooted in  their past, but how to shape the story of African American food and foodways into the future. 

Matthew Raiford

Raiford for the past decade has been working on his own family farm as the sixth generation to be farming land that has been in his family since 1874 and has been working on projects of soil regeneration and bioremediation using red wiggler worms, black soldier flies and creating pastureland. Matthew has worked to make it a mission to work alongside farmers and chefs to bridge the gap between the seed and the table. Alongside his wife, Tia, they have started Strong Roots 9.

After a 10-year military career, then graduation from the CIA, Matthew has worked on opening chef teams for large hotels, the Executive Chef at the House of Representatives, and Program Coordinator for the Culinary Arts Program at the College of Coastal Georgia. Matthew also attended the UC Santa Cruz the (CASFS) Center for AgroEcology and Sustainable Food System where theory meets the soil. CheFarmer Matthew uses the learnings from the CASFS program to help further the idea of what it takes to create a regenerative-sustainable food system. It takes pollinators like bees and bats, ensuring the soil is being treated as a living organism and ensuring that no matter where the land is located that is constantly being feed. Matthew currently sits as Board Chair for Georgia Organics, and had the opportunity also put to work the seed to table process not just in Georgia but also in Whidbey Island in Washington State, and in Berkely California with Alice Waters and the Edible Schoolyard Project. 

A 2018 James Beard Foundation semi-finalist in the Best Chef in the Southeast category, Matthew’s roots run deep along the Gullah-Geechee corridor that spans the South Carolina Lowcountry to northern Florida. Farming diversified crops of sugarcane, sweet potatoes, hibiscus, and animal husbandry including laying hens, goats, and KuneKune pigs, His passion and focus on terroir and understanding flavors lead Matthew to work with the University of Georgia Food Science Program Flavor Profiles for Foodpeneuers. 

Tia Raiford

As a self-proclaimed ‘First Generation Northerner’, Tia’s exploration of food began at a young age, as she cooked alongside her mother and grandmother. Born in Albany, New York, raised in Connecticut, growing up a daughter of a musician, disconnected from the heart of the 120-acre watermelon farm of her grandparents and ancestors.  However, that culture, food, and the sense of community reminiscent of the traditions of Wetumpka, Eclectic and Tuskegee, Alabama and the deep connection to food and farming from Alabama her family carried north during the Great Migration have manifested her passion and commitment to teaching the importance of health benefits and importance of the connection between food and the human experience throughout her career. 

Tia, also an alumni of the CIA, Tia has cooked in some of the country’s top kitchens, including New York City’s Oceana and Gramercy Tavern, leading to a highpoint role in her career as Senior Executive Chef at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. In 2006, she moved to Philadelphia to serve as the Campus Executive Chef at the University of Pennsylvania, where she lived and immersed herself in the Philadelphia community for over a decade. This move ultimately led her to a career changing role, building culinary and educational programs and experiences under the guidance of the USDA’s National School Lunch Program as Culinary Director for Vetri Community Partnership, led by James Beard Award recipient Chef Marc Vetri.  During her time as Culinary Director for Elior North America’s K-12 division, Tia was able to impact over 100,000 students across the country by creating culinary programs, changing the face of school lunch from within, to bring culturally authentic meals to students to school lunch, mission focused that all children, regardless of their backgrounds have great meals. 

Tia and Matthew created Strong Roots 9 in 2021 with a dedication to pioneering a return to the holistic practices of our forefathers. We strive to help our diverse community regain their connection to nature through the creation of food, beauty, and all-inclusive lifestyle products, that value agriculture and equality at their core. They most recently worked with EarthDance Organic Farm School and the Ferguson/Florissant School District in Ferguson, Missouri to help build an S.T.E.M. based agri-culinary programming program through the school district’s newly build Innovation High School, and hold dinners and events at Gilliard Farms, reminiscent of the Juke Joints of their ancestors. 

Matthew and Tia were married in 2021 and live at Gilliard Farms in Brunswick, Georgia