Culinary Journey

Local Chef, Food Blogger Making Her Mark

Chelsea Gieselmann can be described in many ways. She’s a chef, a foodie, a farm ambassador, and a community cheerleader. She’s embraced it all as she carved her path into the culinary world.

She advanced to the finals of the World Food Championships 2 years in a row — coming in third place in the seafood category at the 2025 competition in Indianapolis back in October. 3 years ago, Gieselmann appeared on the cooking competition show “MasterChef.” And in 2024, her Cajun shrimp and crab grits bested Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli in a Food Network “Outchef ’d” episode.

The Wicksburg resident and Wiregrass Electric Cooperative member is currently the marketing manager for Dothan’s Poplar Head Farmers Market. She served as a Sweet Grown Alabama ambassador in 2025, making appearances and using her social media influence to promote local farmers and agricultural products. A local distillery even created a watermelon jalapeno moonshine in honor of Gieselmann’s blog, SouthrnGritsKitchen, the color matching the signature pink in her hair. She’s been hired to cook private dinners, including 1 for Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, who visited Dothan last year to promote his National Wrestling Alliance.

Gieselmann learned to cook from her grandmother and her late great-grandmother.

“I was 2 or 3 years old rolling out biscuit dough and dumplings and cutting them out with a Mason jar rim,” Gieselmann says. “I make everything, or attempt to make everything, from scratch because of them. Not only is it cheaper, but why would I not if I already know how to do it?”

Cooking is a passion that evolved into a profession for Gieselmann. Originally, she wanted to be a journalist. She worked as a photographer for about 10 years. Her appearances on “MasterChef ” and “Outchef ’d” earned Gieselmann attention, and she now writes a food column for South Mississippi Living magazine. She consults with local restaurants on menus, does pop-ups with restaurants, and gives cooking demonstrations.

Gieselmann reaches more than 16,000 followers with her Facebook blog SouthrnGritsKitchen — and, yes, she’s aware there is a missing “e” in her spelling of Southern. The typo happened when Gieselmann quickly created an Instagram account about 10 years ago. She was sipping bourbon and playing Call of Duty in the middle of the night, stopping to create the account because her gaming friends wanted to see her food photos. When the account started taking off, it was too late to fix the typo.

While Gieselmann doesn’t have her own restaurant, she has found a lot of support and friends among local foodies, chefs, and restaurant folks.

“It’s a humbling experience to have so many amazing people around you and to have such a big support system,” Gieselmann says. “I’ve always supported local and done all these things for people because that’s what I love to do, and I never thought they would be the ones supporting me doing the things that I love to do.”

Her dedication to using local and regional products showed in the World Food Championships held in October. She even had J.T. Pollard cornmeal overnighted to Indianapolis.

Gieselmann’s World Food Championships culinary team, named Sizzlin’ Grits, included sous-chef Kimberly Gilgar, at the time a chef with Firestone Wood Fired Grill in Dothan, and Gieselmann’s 16-year-old daughter, MJ Greathouse. The chef jackets they wore were covered in patches from their sponsors, which included Wiregrass businesses, restaurants, coffee shops, and United Salt Corporation out of Houston.

Competing in the seafood category, Gieselmann’s initial dish — a loaded seafood etouffee with port wine cheese grits — won top marks in the semifinals, putting her in the finals with six other chefs from the same division.

Going into the final round, Gieselmann created a radicchio slaw with bacon, peaches, red onion, and minced pickles, a required ingredient. She incorporated the pickle juice into her remoulade and served it with conch, scallops, tiger shrimp, and cobia. Sizzlin’ Grits won third place behind chefs from Maryland and Missouri.

Competitors have to provide most of their own ingredients, other than some basics provided on-site, so Gieselmann loved bringing Gulf Coast and Alabama products to the World Food Championships.

“Our microgreens came from a farmer in Level Plains,” Gieselmann says. “We had all sorts of stuff that came from this area. We had our Pollards for both cooks. We had seafood. I’m really heavy on supporting local, and if I can raise awareness and show people what we have available here, it just makes me even happier.”

She plans to return to the championships next year.

“I’m just going to keep doing what I do because I love doing it,” Gieselmann says. “I love being engulfed in the community I’m in and being able to see other people succeed.”