Vivian Howard as seen in “A Chef’s Life”

If you're like me and really like food, the array of cooking shows on TV these days is a little slice of heaven. There's something to satiate everyone's desires, be it a culinary competition, a talk-based program or a lesson-based show.

PBS is spicing up the traditional cooking show format, however, bringing viewers inside the life of a North Carolina chef in the half-hour character-driven documentary series "A Chef's Life." With a new episode airing Sunday, Nov. 16, on the public broadcaster (check local listings), season 2 of this Peabody Award-winning show is shaping up to be delicious and engaging.

"A Chef's Life" follows Deep Run, N.C., native Vivian Howard as she navigates her life with husband Ben Knight, their twins and their restaurant in eastern North Carolina. It's not your typical cooking show, where a chef stands in the kitchen and churns out a recipe or two per episode. What PBS has done is given the audience a behind-the-scenes look at a renowned chef, her family and her kitchen.

Of all the chefs in the world to highlight, Howard couldn't be more perfect. The charismatic, easygoing chef got her start in Manhattan with a gourmet delivery service, but a tantalizing offer from her parents brought her back home to the South. They'd help her build her own restaurant, but it would have to be opened in Kinston, N.C. Though she swore she'd never return, it was too good an offer to pass up, and Howard and Knight opened Chef & the Farmer restaurant.

Howard uses her upbeat personality to cultivate relationships in the Southern community, where people are more known for tobacco and hog farming than glamor and drama. "A Chef's Life" trails behind Howard as she scours North Carolina for the freshest farm ingredients and recipes to use in her kitchen, forgoing the traditional scripted idea behind TV shows and opting for a more natural conversation.

It's an intriguing diversion from the standard cooking fare on television these days, and with a truly unscripted and naturally flowing vibe resonating from "A Chef's Life," it's easy to see how Howard embodies Southern hospitality. Catch a new episode of "A Chef's Life" when it airs Sunday, Nov. 16, on PBS (check local listings).