Stepping up its effort to educate consumers and the market at large about the merits of minimally processed animal fats like lard and beef tallow, Coast Packing Company has named longtime Southern California chef/educator Ernest Miller its first Corporate Chef.

Miller, who has been called “the Huell Howser of California food,” is a chef, historian, educator, consultant and speaker – a familiar presence in museums, schools and kitchens throughout Southern California. He is the co-leader of Slow Food Los Angeles, a member of the speakers’ bureau for the Culinary Historians of Southern California, lecturer for the National Food and Beverage Foundation, director of Slow Food Preservers of Los Angeles County and founder of Rancho La Merced Provisions LLC, a manufacturer of fermentation kits.  Miller, formerly a chef instructor for Le Cordon Bleu Los Angeles, was educated at the United States Naval Academy and Yale Law School.