Kristen Kish, the winner of last year's cooking reality contest Top Chef: Seattle, has come out gay.

The 30-year-old Kish over the weekend released a photo of herself with girlfriend Jacqueline Westbrook on Instagram. The photo of the smiling women inside a helicopter was captioned: “Helicopter ride over Charleston. Happy 1 year love. You've made me incredibly happy.”

The announcement coincided with a New York Times magazine story on female chefs which revolved around Barbara Lynch, Kish's mentor.

In the piece, Marnie Hanel quietly outs Kish while detailing a dinner Lynch organized at her Boston-based restaurant Menton during Kish's final shift in the eatery's kitchen.

Lynch “invited a surprise guest to complete the table. … It was Jacqueline Westbrook. She and Kish have been together nearly a year, but they kept their relationship under wraps at first. Westbrook, who is the assistant to the Food & Wine editor in chief, Dana Cowin, recalls telling her boss, 'So, you know my friend Kristen? Well, she's not just my friend.'”