AUTHENTIC Leading the way through innovation and example.
Authentic: Ramone Dickerson “I was 4, and my granddad used to let me come into the kitchen to cook with him,” said Ramone Dickerson, Executive Performance Chef at the University of South Carolina. “And when I was 9, my dad started letting me fry fish for him and my uncle when they would play chess together on Fridays. It went from there.” Locals who have been around Columbia for a while may recognize Ramone from his popular food truck, 2 Fat 2 Fly, which served up wings with a twist: they were stuffed with anything from mac’n’cheese to fresh buttered baked potatoes. The food truck had a dedicated following around town, too. Customers would flock to wherever the truck would set up shop and the truck would sell out of all of the food within hours.
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Now, Ramone is out of the truck and at the University of South Carolina working with the athletes in the Athletic Village. “I’m the Executive Performance Chef which is someone who cooks specifically for the performance of an athlete,” Ramone said. “I write the menus for the athletes and work closely with the nutritionist. She focuses on the nutritional value while I handle the flavor of the food.” He’s currently working with a variety of teams at the University including baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, equestrian, football, golf, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, and volleyball.
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“The athletes are always asking about the wings,” Ramone said. “I tell them that when y’all win the SEC, I got you!” Ramone’s culinary skills extend beyond just wings—he has a wide repertoire of talent in the kitchen. He has ingredients that he loves to cook with and savory dishes that he enjoys preparing for family and friends. “My favorite ingredient to cook with right now is a combination of parmesan and honey,” Ramone said. “I love the depth that you can get besides just sweet from honey and the savoriness you can get from parmesan. But I think that probably right now my favorite dish to cook is beef short ribs over cream cheese grits. That’s just where it’s at.”
