Amy Sherman is a San Francisco based freelance writer who has contributed to publications including Afar, Architectural Digest, Food Network, Gastronomica, Wine Enthusiast, Taste Cooking and Martha Stewart. She is the author of Williams-Sonoma New Flavors for Appetizers, A Microwave, A Mug, A Meal and WinePassport: Portugal. Her recipe development clients include T-fal, Cargill, Nasoya and USA Pears. She also works for agencies and corporate clients and recently took on the additional role of city food expert for Trafalgar Tours.

A bank examiner gone astray, Andrea Nguyen is living out her dream of writing impactful books and teaching others how to cook well. She authored The Pho Cookbook, a 2018 James Beard Award winner and Wall Street Journal best seller, and edited Unforgettable, the biography cookbook about Paula Wolfert that won a 2018 IACP award. Her sixth cookbook, Vietnamese Food Any Day, has been spotlighted by  the New York Times, Bon Appetit, Eater, Epicurious, Library Journal, NPR and many others as one of the best cookbooks of 2019.

Annie Siebert is a Pittsburgh-based freelance writer, editor, and researcher. She currently works as a copy editor for Heated with Mark Bittman on Medium and as managing editor of LedBetter, a database that provides consumers with accessible data on the number of women in leadership roles at large public corporations. When she’s not behind the keyboard, Annie enjoys cooking, baking, knitting, and reading. Annie holds a bachelor’s degree in English writing and anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh.

Ashley Strickland Freeman is an award-winning food stylist, recipe developer, author, and editor based in Charleston, South Carolina. She has developed both editorial and advertising content for more than 45 publications with such brands as Southern Living, Coastal Living, Cooking Light, Health, Lodge Cast-Iron, Mars, Wonder Bread, and Sonny’sBBQ to name a few, and she most recently was the food stylist for delicious Miss Brown on Food Network. Her third cookbook, The Duke’sMayonnaise Cookbook, will be published on June 9, 2020.

The winner of numerous awards from the James-Beard-Award foundation, the International Association of Culinary Professionals, and the Association of Food Journalists, Barry Estabrook is the author of Pig Tales: An Omnivore’s Quest for Sustainable Meat and of the New York Times best-selling Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit. His website is www.politicsoftheplate.com

Beth Kracklauer is food and drinks editor for The Wall Street Journal’s Off Duty section, where she won the 2014 James Beard Award for Food Coverage in a General-Interest Publication. Prior to joining the Journal, she was an editor at Saveur, Gourmet and other publications.

Betsy Andrews is a contributing editor at Food & Wine and Eating Well magazines, and she writes about food and drink for many other publications, among them The Wall Street Journal, Heated, Travel & Leisure, and The Hideaway Report. She is the former executive editor of Saveur magazine and a former New York Times dining critic. Betsy is also a poet. Her award-winning books are New Jersey (UWisc Press, 2007) and The Bottom (42 Miles Press, 2014).

Bob Batz Jr. is a longtime Pittsburgh newspaper and writer and editor and former food editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He still keeps a hand in food and drink, regularly writing about craft beer, spirits, and wine — because someone has to. But he writes about everything. This year, he won a North American Guild of Beer Writer’s third-place award for Best Local Reporting, shared a Society for Features Journalism award for Best Section, and was proud to be a tiny part of a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting.

Carolyn Hilliard is the co-founder of Empath Sober Bar & Social Events and also a musician in the band, Dinosoul in Pittsburgh, PA. Empath was established in 2018 hoping to make an impact on the social scene in Pittsburgh after realizing how much alcohol is normalized in our culture. Empath provides sober social alternatives with creative and delicious non-alcoholic mixed drinks served in a fun, safe and inclusive atmosphere. She is dedicated to ending the stigma around recovery and sobriety and also hopes to bridge the gap for those who want a healthy social life without the pressure of alcohol. She and Empath’s cofounder, Donny Donovan, were recently awarded Pittsburgh’s People of the Year: Food and Bev in 2019 for their inspirational and much welcomed work with Empath.

Carolyn O’Neil MS, RDN, LD 

Registered dietitian nutritionist, Carolyn O’Neil believes “The More You Know, The More You Can Eat!”  Her food and nutrition blog is TheHappyHealthyKitchen.com with the tag line “Good for people and the planet!”

She is the cookbook author of Southern Living’s best selling The Slim Down South Cookbook: Eating Well and Living Healthy in the Land of Biscuits and Bacon and co-author of The Dish on Eating Healthy and Being Fabulous winner “Best Health and Nutrition Book” at the World Food Media Awards. 

Carolyn writes food, nutrition, travel and healthy lifestyle features for numerous publications including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, WebMD Magazine, Modern Luxury Magazines, VIE Magazine, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles Magazine and Best Self Atlanta Magazine. 

She currently serves as the Nutrition Advisor for Delta Air Lines. 

Carolyn appears regularly on NBC Atlanta & Company with food and nutrition-focused cooking segments. She can also be seen, as “The Lady of the Refrigerator” nutrition expert, on Alton Brown’s the all-new Good Eat: The Return on Food Network wearing a tiara and ice blue ball gown. 

She has earned two James Beard Foundation Awards for excellence in food journalism and was inducted into the James Beard Foundation Who’s Who in Food & Beverage in America. 

Carolyn was executive producer, correspondent, and anchor at CNN for nearly 20 years, launching and leading the network’s coverage of food and nutrition. 

www.thehappyhealthykitchen.com 

Cassandra Malis received a Masters of Arts in food studies from Chatham University in 2016 and now works as a program manager at Chatham’s Center for Regional Agriculture, Food, and Transformation (CRAFT). Within the center, she focuses on managing oral history projects about the region’s baking and grain industry, developing hands-on community and workforce education through a culinary and baking workshop program, managing a campus wood-fired bread oven, developing and managing programming to support a robust regional grain economy, and more. Cassandra is a past professional baker and an avid home-baker, and loves to explore the uses and flavors of locally grown and milled grains.

Celia Sack was born and raised in San Francisco. During her seven-year tenure as a rare book specialist at Pacific Book Auction, Celia channeled her passion for rare books into a private antiquarian cookbook collection. In 2008, she opened Omnivore Books on Food, San Francisco’s only culinary bookshop. Featuring new and antiquarian titles, her store has become the destination for internationally known food writers touring their new books, and for collectors expanding their shelves.

Chandra Ram is a James Beard- and IACP- nominated cookbook author who worked in restaurants for years before turning to food writing and editing Plate magazine. She holds degrees in journalism and culinary arts, and is a member of IACP, Les Dames d’Escoffier, SFA and the James Beard Foundation award committee.

Dan is an NYC-based writer covering travel, spirits, and culture for Conde Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, Vice, Paper Magazine, Food & Wine, among others. He was most recently the Deputy Digital Editor at Saveur magazine and previously served as Assistant Food & Drink editor at Time Out New York. In 2018, Dan was The Spirits Business’ annual Alan Lodge Young International Drinks Writer Award; and in 2019, he was named one of The Future 50 of the global drinks industry by the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC).

The son of Vietnamese refugees from Houston, Texas, Dan graduated from high school at the age of 16 before studying journalism at New York University. Beyond his editorial work, he has 10 years of experience in the hospitality industry as a barista, bartender, and consultant. Follow him on social media at @danqdao

A former newspaper editor who has written three cookbooks. At the Chicago Sun-Times, Daniel was often responsible for signing off on pages before they went to press. (Yes, this is when newspapers were widely read in print.) At the Chicago Tribune, he was responsible for arranging and deciding on the website’s homepage content. He has also taught editing classes at Northwestern University. His editor at Workman Publishing described his last manuscript as “a dream, as always.”

Darryl Coaston is the Lead Chef Trainer at Community Kitchen Pittsburgh. He first came to Community Kitchen as a participant in the Allegheny County Jail Reentry Program. After he graduated from CKP’s culinary program, he went on to manage a high volume Meals on Wheels kitchen. CKP brought him back to be lead chef trainer, with responsibility for managing CKP’s high volume contract meals as well as day-to-day program oversight. Community Kitchen Pittsburgh’s primary mission activity is culinary training and job placement services for adults experiencing barriers to employment.

Dianne Jacob coaches food writers and bloggers on getting a cookbook published and improving the quality and effectiveness of their writing. She specializes in book proposals, which have a 1 percent acceptance rate. Dianne is the author of a multiple award-winning book on food writing, Will Write for Food: The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Blogs, Memoir, Recipes and More. She also co-authored two cookbooks with a chef and has judged cookbooks for the James Beard Foundation and the International Association of Culinary Professionals. Previously a newspaper, magazine and publishing company editor-in-chief, she has a blog and free newsletter aimed at food writers and bloggers. See more at https://diannej.com/.

Dorie Greenspan has written 13 cookbooks, including her latest, Everyday Dorie and Dorie’s Cookies. A best-selling author, she was inducted into the Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America and has won five James Beard Awards and two Cookbook of the Year Awards from the International Association of Culinary Professionals.  She is a columnist for the New York Times Magazine and lives in New York City; Westbrook, Connecticut; and Paris. You can find her at @doriegreenspan

Dr. Karina Schumann received her PhD from the University of Waterloo in Canada, then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University before joining the psychology department at the University of Pittsburgh in 2015. Her primary research goal is to understand the psychological experience of being in conflict with others, with a focus on the predictors and consequences of various responses to conflict (e.g., apologies, empathy, forgiveness, revenge). Much of her work aims to identify the psychological barriers that transgressors and victims face when deciding whether to respond constructively to each other, so that these barriers can be reduced via psychological interventions.

Erin Clyburn is the copy editor for Food & Wine magazine. Previously, she served as copy editor for Cooking Light magazine, recipe editor and digital producer for Meredith’s print and digital brands, and copy editor for Progressive Farmer magazine. A book industry professional as well, Erin is a literary agent with The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency.

Gabriella Gershenson is a James Beard Award-nominated food journalist based in New York City. She has been an editor at Saveur, Rachael Ray Every Day, and Time Out New York, and is a contributor to The Wall Street Journal. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Food & Wine and many other publications. She is an editor of the recently published books The 100 Most Jewish Foods and Hummus. She is a food writing instructor at NYU Steinhardt’s graduate program in Food Studies.

As Director of Culinary Operations for Departure restaurant in Portland OR, Gregory Gourdet oversees food programming, menus, and events.  Under Gourdet’s supervision, the culinary team pairs local ingredients with the bold flavors and traditions of Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam, and  Korea to create modern Asian fare. A three-time James Beard Award semifinalist and native New Yorker from Queens, Gourdet honed his culinary skills within celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s restaurant dynasty. 

Gourdet’s extensive global travels to research and understand  other cultures allow him to see Oregon’s lush bounty through an Asian lens, producing a constantly evolving seasonal menu inspired by cooking methods and ingredients he has encountered during continuous trips to 

Asia. He also recently returned to Haiti for the first time in 20 years to reconnect with his cultural heritage, a trip that inspired Haitian cuisine to become a special part of his culinary repertoire. In 2019, Gourdet announced he will open his own restaurant which will tap into flavors from around the world, with a strong focus on his Haitian heritage. 

A self-proclaimed health freak and avid runner, Gourdet views food as nourishment, finding creative ways to mitigate food waste and utilize ingredients fully from top to tail. His mindful life approach shines through in his cooking, as he offers diners dishes that allow freshness, seasonality, and bold, alternative ingredients to star on the plate. As a  dedicated fitness lover Gourdet brings this health-mindedness to the table with his first cookbook, Everyone’s Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health, slated to come out in spring 2021. 

Gourdet grew up enjoying ethnic cuisine, especially traditional Haitian dishes emphasizing fish, rice and beans, roasted meats, pickled chilies, coconut, and plenty of herbs. It was while studying at the University of Montana and rooming with an avid cook that he discovered his culinary passion. He started as a dishwasher at a Missoula café, embarked on a semester abroad in France, and finally made his way back to New York after graduation to attend the prestigious Culinary Institute of America. He became the first student to land a highly coveted internship with Vongerichten, whom he trained under for close to seven years at three of his New York City properties. 

In 2008, Gourdet arrived in Portland, where he helped open Sage Restaurant Group’s Urban Farmer, and then served as Executive Chef for Saucebox, one of Portland’s oldest Asian-inspired cafés. In the spring of 2010, he took the reins as Executive Chef at Departure, the modern Asian rooftop restaurant adjacent to The Nines, quickly gaining praise for his innovative dishes that combine local ingredients of the Pacific Northwest with meaningful preparations. In 2013, Gourdet was named Chef of the Year by the Oregon Department of Agriculture. He was dubbed Eater Portland’s Chef of the Year in 2014. In 2015, his fame skyrocketed as he earned runner-up in Bravo’s  Top Chef Season 12, the same year he was first named a semifinalist by the James Beard Foundation in the category of Best Chef: Northwest. Gourdet has played an integral role in Portland’s culinary boom over the past decade. In 2017, he appeared on ABC’s 30 Years: A Celebration of the James Beard Foundation, as the crew filmed his journey from the Portland kitchen to New York City as he prepared for his first dinner at the iconic James Beard House. In 2018, he was named a semifinalist by the James Beard Foundation for Best Chef: Northwest for the second time. The same year, Gourdet appeared on Food Network’s Iron Chef Showdown, competing with Iron Chef Michael Symon in the final round. In 2019, Gourdet was named a semifinalist by the James Beard Foundation for Best Chef: Northwest for the third time. In March 2020, Gourdet will return to Bravo’s Top Chef for its All-Stars edition, competing on the show’s 17th season featuring 15 finalists, front runners and fan favorites from seasons past.

Hal B. Klein is Pittsburgh Magazine’s dining critic and associate editor. His work at the magazine ranges from writing culinary curiosity stories such as The Joy of Dumplings to examining how the region’s refugee communities find solace through food. Hal is also an avid gardener and a rather good bagel baker.

Hanna Raskin is the food editor and chief critic of The Post and Courier, the South’s oldest daily newspaper and winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for public service.

During her first full year in Charleston, Raskin wrote and directed a documentary on camp meeting fried chicken that was honored with an IACP nomination, and was named the nation’s best online food writer by the Association of Food Journalists. Soon thereafter, in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance, she produced the paper’s first podcast, an exploration of Gujarati kitchens concealed behind the check-in desks of Southeastern motels; she now co-hosts “The Winnow,” a weekly podcast about food and beverage in the American South. For her print coverage of topics including wage theft; sexual harassment in hospitality and consumer fraud, the South Carolina Press Association in 2018 named her the state’s best beat reporter. 

In 2016, Raskin received the Association of Food Journalists’ awards for “Best Restaurant Criticism” and “Best Food Business Story.” The following year, she received the James Beard Foundation’s inaugural award for Local Impact Journalism, created “to recognize the work of an individual who displays enterprise and excellence in ongoing local food coverage.” In 2019, Raskin was a finalist for the National Center on Disability and Journalism’s Katherine Schneider Award for Excellence in Reporting on Disability. 

Raskin previously served as restaurant critic for the Seattle Weekly and the Dallas Observer, earning recognition from the James Beard Foundation and the Association of Alternative Newsmedia. In 2013, she published “Yelp Help: How to Write Great Online Restaurant Reviews,” which received an M.F.K. Fisher Award from Les Dames Escoffier International.

A food historian by training, Raskin wrote her master’s thesis at the State University of New York’s Cooperstown Graduate Program on the relationship between Jews and Chinese food; she’s since written about immigrant food culture and regional food history for publications including American Heritage, Garden & Gun, Imbibe, Punch, Modern Farmer, Belt, Cooking Light and Tasting Table.

Raskin is a founding member of Foodways Texas, and active in the Southern Foodways Alliance. She is the president of the Association of Food Journalists, and Southeastern representative on The James Beard Foundation’s restaurant and chef awards committee.

Hetal Vasavada is a San Francisco-based cookbook author and blogger at Milk and Cardamom. Her recipes have been featured in the New York Times, Food52, and The Kitchn. Her cookbook was named one of the best cookbooks of 2019 by the San Francisco Chronicle and The Washington Post. In addition to blogging and writing, she consults on recipe development for brands like Brava Home, Imperfect Product, Renewal Mills and more. In addition, she is a freelance social media manager for Bay Area restaurants, food stylist and food photographer. 

Illyanna Maisonet is the first Puerto Rican food columnist in the country. Her column with the SF Chronicle, Cocina Boricua, explores and preserves traditional Puerto Rican recipes. illyanna is currently looking for an agent and publisher for her cookbook, Pasteles and Ketchup: A Puerto Rican Cookbook from a Diasporican. It shares traditional Puerto Rican recipes and recipes that have organically evolved from growing up in Northern California.

Over the past 20 years, Janet McCracken has served as an editor, recipe developer, and recipe tester at a variety of publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Bon Appetit, and Rachael Ray Every Day. She believes in the Zen of pie-making, that ice cream is the perfect food, and that sharing a meal with family and friends is the finest way to spend any part of the day. She splits her time between NYC and Connecticut.

Javier Cabral is a vato loco from East L.A. and the San Gabriel Valley reporting on food culture and punk rock since 2005. He is the former restaurant scout for Jonathan Gold and his past work includes being the West Coast Editor and Staff Writer for Vice MUNCHIES. He is the co-author of Oaxaca: Home Cooking from the Heart of Mexico, the Editor in Chief of L.A. Taco, and an Associate Producer for ‘Las Cronicas del Taco’ on Netflix.

Jeffrey Yoskowitz is a food entrepreneur and a revivalist of heritage cuisine. Jeffrey travels the globe speaking, cooking, and teaching. He serves as chef and scholar-in-residence for a culinary tour he developed in Eastern Europe in conjunction with the award-winning Polin museum in Warsaw and Taube Heritage Tours. He got his start in the food world as a pickler and an olive oil importer, and now co-owns The Gefilteria, which re-imagines Eastern European Jewish cooking. He co-authored The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods (Flatiron Books 2016)–named a cookbook of the year by Eater and a National Jewish Book Award finalist. His writings on food and culture have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Republic, among others. He teaches culinary anthropology at The City College of New York and has cooked as a guest chef at the esteemed James Beard House kitchen and was named to the Forbes Magazine 30 under 30 list for Food and Wine, as well as The Forward 50.

A passionate advocate for PA Wines, Jennifer Eckinger is the executive director for the  Pennsylvania Winery Association. In her role, she is an educator and industry spokesperson on behalf of Pennsylvania’s $2 billion wine industry. Eckinger is excited about the continued growth of the industry in the state, which now has more than 14,000 acres of grapes and growing conditions that are unique from other parts of the country — and the world. In fact, PA is home to vineyards growing nearly 60 different varietals, and she has made it her mission to educate people about the interesting wines made as a result.

Jerrelle Guy is an awarding winning author, food photographer, stylist, and recipe developer who received her Masters in Gastronomy at Boston University. Her debut cookbook Black Girl Baking received a 2019 James Beard Award nomination in the baking category. Currently, she owns and operates her own food photography studio, EJC Studio, in downtown Dallas, TX and is a recipe contributor to the New York Times.

Jessie Price is the Editor-in-Chief of EatingWell, a position she has held since 2013. She directs content for the print magazine, books and digital extensions of the brand. Price began her career with EatingWell in 2003, testing recipes. She quickly took on more responsibilities, writing a wine column, feature stories and contributing to photoshoots. By 2008 Price was promoted to Deputy Editor of Food and was responsible for directing all food content for the brand. She is the author of seven EatingWell cookbooks, including the James Beard Award-winning The Simple Art of EatingWell. 

Price began her professional experience with food as a cook at restaurants in Colorado and California, including the Relais and Chateaux, Home Ranch. Price has a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Williams College. She lives in Charlotte, Vt., with her husband and dog, and is based in EatingWell’s offices in Shelburne, Vt. Her latest food passion: shopping the farmers’ market in Burlington Vermont and making produce packed meals all week long from her market haul.

Jocelyn C. Zuckerman is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn. The former deputy editor of Gourmet, articles editor of OnEarth, and executive editor of both Modern Farmer and Whole Living, she has contributed articles on the environment, agriculture, and the Global South to Audubon, The Nation, Vogue, Men’s Journal, and other publications. A graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in western Kenya. Her first book, about the global palm oil industry, will be published by The New Press in September.

Joe Yonan is the Food and Dining editor of The Washington Post, supervising all food coverage in the features department. He is the author of “Cool Beans: The Ultimate Guide to the World’s Most Versatile Plant-Based Protein, with 125 Recipes.” He was the editor of “America The Great Cookbook” and has written two other cookbooks for Ten Speed.

John Birdsall is a freelance writer in Oakland, California. He’s the author of The Man Who Ate Too Much, a new biography of James Beard, to be published by W.W. Norton and Co. in fall 2020, and co-author with James Syhabout of Hawker Fare (2018). John has written for many publications, including Los Angeles Times, Lucky Peach, Bon Appétit, Saveur, Food&Wine, Jarry, and Wall Street Journal. He’s been honored with two James Beard Awards for writing.

Over the past decade and across the United States, Jourdan Abel has used food as a shortcut to connect people, communities, and ideas through talks and dinners with cookbook authors, chefs, and food writers. While at the 92nd Street Y, she started the Kitchen Arts & Letters Series with Matt Sartwell, and in San Francisco, she produces in-store events for Omnivore Books as well as larger off-site lectures and meals. She frequently moderates on-stage conversations and hosts the KALW radio show/podcast Binah. Newly based in Santa Fe, she looks forward to creating community around food in her new home.

Joy Manning is a James Beard award-nominated writer whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, Shape, and Men’s Health, among others. She’s the author of Stuff Every Cook Should Know and Almost Meatless, as well as the recipe editor of Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking. A former nutrition editor at Prevention magazine, Joy works at the intersection of food and health. Find her sobriety-related updates on Instagram @betterwithoutbooze.

Judy Pray is the executive editor at Artisan Books, where she acquires and edits lifestyle books with a particular focus on cooking. Judy is the editor of the New York Times bestselling cookbooks Heritage—winner of the IACP Julia Child First Book Award in 2015—and South, both by Sean Brock. She has edited several books that feature the intersection of culture and cuisine, including I Am a Filipino by Nicole Ponseca and Miguel Trinidad and Basque Country by Marti Buckley, voted IACP’s Best International Cookbook for 2019. Find her on Instagram @julep30.

Julia Turshen is the bestselling author of Now & Again, Feed the Resistance, and Small Victories. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, and Saveur. She is the founder of Equity At The Table (EATT), an inclusive digital directory of women/non-binary individuals in food, and the host of Keep Calm and Cook On, a podcast. Julia lives in the Hudson Valley with her wife and pets.

Justin Severino is the owner of Salty Pork Bits, an online retail company offering subscriptions to monthly packages of artisanal salumi hand-made in Pittsburgh and shipped nation-wide. He is also the chef and co-owner of Morcilla, a neighborhood Spanish restaurant spot serving pintxos and family-style dishes in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood. Larder, a collaboration with Scott Smith at East End Brewing Company, opened in summer 2019. Severino, a four-time James Beard Foundation award nominee for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic and a 2015 and 2014 winner of FOOD & WINE The People’s Best New Chef Mid-Atlantic, is a skilled whole animal butcher who brings an extensive charcuterie program and flavors of an Italian-American upbringing to his menu. 

Cure, Severino’s first restaurant, opened in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh in December 2011. In 2015, Pittsburgh Magazine name Severino Chef of the Year. In 2012, Cure was named one of the Top 50 Best New Restaurants by Bon Appétit magazine and one of the 25 Best Restaurants in Pittsburgh Magazine. Morcilla opened in December 2015 just a few blocks away from its older sibling, bringing Spanish-style charcuteria and traditional pintxos to the neighborhood. Since opening, Morcilla has been chosen by Pittsburgh Magazine as their 2016 Best New Restaurant, Bon Appetit ranked it number four in the country in their prestigious annual Best New Restaurants issue, and it was nominated for a 2016 James Beard Foundation in the national Best New Restaurants category. Severino launched Salty Pork Bits in summer 2018.

Prior to opening Cure and Morcilla, Severino was the executive chef of Elements Cuisine and sous chef to Derek Stevens at Eleven Restaurant in Pittsburgh. From 2005 to 2007, Severino co-owned and operated Severino’s Community Butcher in Santa Cruz, CA with Cure and Morcilla co-owner and director of operations Hilary Prescott Severino. Before opening the butcher shop, he worked for several renowned restaurants and chefs, including Manresa with David Kinch, The Big Sur Bakery with Phillip Wojtowicz and Michelle Rizzolo, Bouche and L’Auberge Carmel with Walter Manzke, and Bernardus Lodge with Cal Stamenov. Severino is a 1999 graduate of Pennsylvania Culinary Institute.

Kate Lasky and Tomasz Skowronski are the owners + chefs of APTEKA, a Central + Eastern European restaurant that opened in early 2016. The restaurant reexamines the cuisine from this wide region through an entirely fruit + mushroom + vegetable-based menu.  Apteka was named Best New Restaurant by Pittsburgh Magazine, and the couple was named Rising Star Chefs by Star Chefs and Pittsburgh Magazine.  With a shared background in public policy, Kate and Tomasz are leaders in the industry for sustainable business practices, and their contribution to a larger dialogue on plant-based and region-specific cooking has garnered national attention.

Kathleen Squires is an award-winning food and travel writer whose work spans book, blog, newsprint and glossy, appearing regularly in The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Food & Wine, Saveur, Conde Nast Traveler and many other publications. She is also the co-author of numerous cookbooks including the IACP award-winning and James Beard Award-nominated The Book of Greens with Jenn Louis.

Kate Krader is the new Food Editor at Bloomberg Pursuits, where she writes about news and trends around the country and all over the world for the website and the magazine. She also contributes to the Bloomberg business division.

She is the former restaurant editor at Food & Wine magazine, where she oversaw its news, trend and restaurant coverage. During her long tenure at the monthly magazine, she led Food & Wine’s annual search for Food & Wine Best New Chefs. She also edited the Food & Wine Cocktails, an annual guide to the hottest cocktail recipes, the best spots and the biggest trends in nightlife.

A graduate of Kenyon College in Ohio, Krader received her formal culinary training at La Varenne in Paris. She resides in Manhattan.

With nearly 20 years of experience as a chef, Ken Concepcion opened Now Serving in Los Angeles with his wife, Michelle Mungcal, in the fall of 2017.  Concepcion’s love of cookbooks was born at an early age, reading his mother’s Joy of Cooking and Good House Keeping cookbooks. Later as a novice, self-taught cook he relied on cookbooks as a way to educate himself to keep up with his fellow cooks in the kitchen.  A native New Yorker, Concepcion graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, where he also began cooking professionally. Before opening the only cookbook shop in Los Angeles, Concepcion was the Chef de Cuisine of CUT By Wolfgang Puck in Beverly Hills, CA.

Kendra Aronson is a food stylist, food photographer, and the author of The San Luis Obispo Farmers’ Market Cookbook: Simple Seasonal Recipes & Short Stories from the Central Coast of California. She raised $26,714 on Kickstarter to fund her first print run of 2,000 copies—which sold out in just 20 days. Now in its third print run, her self-published cookbook has sold over 14,000 copies and she even received a book endorsement from farm-to-table goddess Alice Waters. Her successful self-publishing journey has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, on Food52.com, and on the Radio Cherry Bombe podcast.

Kim Severson is a national food correspondent for the New York Times covering food trends and news across the United States. She was previously the New York Times Atlanta bureau chief and, before that, a staff writer for the Dining section of The Times. Her first full-time food writing job was with the San Francisco Chronicle. She also spent seven years as an editor and reporter at the Anchorage Daily News in Alaska. Before writing about food, she covered crime, education, social services and government for daily newspapers on the West Coast.

Severson won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for her contributions to the team that investigated sexual harassment and abuse against women. She has also won four James Beard awards and the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism for her work on childhood obesity.

She has written four books, “The Trans Fat Solution,” “The New Alaska Cookbook,” a memoir called “Spoon Fed: How Eight Cooks Saved My Life,” and, in 2012, “Cook Fight!” a collaborative cookbook with fellow New York Times food writer Julia Moskin.

Laurie Woolever is a writer and editor, and was, for nearly a decade, the right-hander to author, TV host and producer Anthony Bourdain, with whom she co-authored a cookbook, Appetites, in 2016. She’s written about food and travel for the New York Times, GQ, Food & Wine, Lucky Peach, Saveur, Dissent, Roads & Kingdoms, and others.

A graduate of Cornell University and the French Culinary Institute (now known as the International Culinary Center), Woolever has worked as a private cook, caterer, copywriter, farm hand, video store clerk and an editor at Art Culinaire and Wine Spectator. She will publish World Travel: An Irreverent Guide, a book co-authored with Bourdain, in fall 2020, and is currently at work on an oral biography of his life.

Leah Lizarondo, CEO and co-founder, 412 Food Rescue

412 Food Rescue is a social enterprise with a technology, logistics and civic engagement model that aims to fight hunger and promote sustainability by preventing perfectly good food from entering the waste stream and directly distributing to organizations that benefit those who are food insecure. Founded in 2015, 412 Food Rescue is one of the fastest-growing food recovery organizations in the U.S. Creating the infrastructure for national retailers, 412 Food Rescue has prevented over 8 million pounds of food from going to waste via technology that mobilizes over 8,000 drivers in 5 cities –food rescue heroes–the largest volunteer food transport network. 412 Food Rescue’s innovative distribution model bridges the last mile and significantly impacts access and food security as well as mitigates food waste’s impact on the environment.

Leanne Meyer is the Executive Director of the Accelerate Leadership Center at the Tepper School of Business and Program Director of the Carnegie Mellon Leadership and Negotiation Academy for Women. 

Leanne’s work focuses on assisting leaders to navigate critical inflection points where many have outgrown their professional identity and, given the demands and responsibility of their roles, need to change their perspectives regarding what is important and accordingly, how they spend their time and what new skill sets and behaviors they develop. 

Leanne’s journey began in South Africa. She was specifically influenced by the events in her home country, which ignited her interest in the possibility for human change and transformation. She has spent the past twenty years applying and building her change-agent skills in South Africa, England, Ireland, and now America.

Leanne’s calling is to help leaders make sense of their lives through the reclamation of passion and purpose. 

Leanne holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Psychology.

Lesley Téllez is a journalist, cookbook author and entrepreneur whose work focuses primarily on Mexican food, culture and identity. Her cookbook Eat Mexico: Recipes From Mexico City’s Streets, Markets & Fondas, was published in 2015 by Kyle Books. She also contributed to Nixtamal: A Guide to Masa Preparation in the United States, published by Masienda and Mini Super Studio in 2018. Her writing—about Mexican food, tortillas, and more—has appeared in TASTE, Food & Wine, New Worlder, The New York Times, Saveur, Eating Well, The Kitchn, and Eater, among other publications. Since 2010, Lesley has been owner and founder of Eat Mexico, currently one of the top-rated food tour agencies in Mexico City. A Southern California native and a third-generation Mexican-American, Lesley lives in New York City with her husband and two children.

Leticia Landa is Deputy Director of La Cocina. Throughout her career, Leticia has relied on her experience being the daughter of Mexican immigrants who moved to the US and started a business to fuel her belief that business ownership can be transformative, particularly for women, immigrants, and people of color. Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Leticia has a BA from Harvard University and is the co-author of We Are La Cocina: Recipes in Pursuit of the American Dream, a cookbook published by Chronicle Books in 2019. In addition to her work at La Cocina, Leticia serves on the Boards of Kitchen Table Advisors and California Immigrant Policy Center.

Lindsey Seegers directs the Department of Culinary Excellence at Kitchens for Good, a San Diego nonprofit social enterprise. There, she oversees the Culinary and Baking Apprenticeship programs for adults with histories of incarceration and foster care. Lindsey also oversees KFG’s hunger relief meals for youth and seniors. As the former Distribution Network Engagement Manager of Feeding San Diego, Lindsey managed the County’s Retail Rescue Program and Starbucks Foodshare Program that redirected 13 million pounds of rescued food to San Diegans in 2018. At Manna Food Center in Maryland, she managed the retrofitting, design, and programming of a 72-passenger school bus into a licensed commercial kitchen and mobile food pantry. She is a regular speaker on food insecurity and has been featured by The Kitchn, Share Our Strength, and Voice of America. Lindsey adores pierogis and poetry.

Lisa Gross is the founder/CEO of the League of Kitchens, a unique culturally immersive culinary experience in NYC where immigrant women, who are exceptional home cooks, teach intimate cooking classes in their own home kitchens. She is also the Director of Strategy and Partnerships for Gastro Obscura, the food vertical of Atlas Obscura, a travel media, trips, and experiences company.

As the senior digital nutrition editor for EatingWell.com, Lisa Valente, M.S., R.D., communicates the latest nutrition science and trends in a clear, concise and relatable way with a goal of balancing nutrition with realism and deliciousness. She also helps set and uphold brand nutrition standards and guide recipe development from a nutrition and health perspective. Lisa has an undergraduate degree in nutrition, food science and dietetics from the University of Vermont and a master’s in nutrition communication from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. Before starting at EatingWell magazine, Lisa worked as a research dietitian and taught cooking and nutrition classes.

Liz Alpern is the creator of Queer Soup Night, a global event series highlighting the talent of queer chefs and raising funds for locally-based social justice organizations. She is co-author of The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods and co-owner of The Gefilteria, a food venture that’s been reimagining Old World Jewish Foods. Liz received her MBA from Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business and is on the faculty of the International Culinary Center’s Entrepreneurship program.

Maggie Battista is an author, writer, podcast host, and hospitality advisor. She’s the co-host of the Made Fresh podcast, where everything is on the table, including the food. In 2007, she founded Eat Boutique, an award-winning online food shop. After creating pop-up Eat Boutique food markets for 25,000+ guests, she now advises developers on mixed-use retail and food developments. With her latest project, Maggie leads operations and marketing for the Speedway, a marketplace in Boston set to open in summer 2020. 

Mary-Frances is the Senior Food Editor of Food & Wine, where she oversees recipes for the brand and edits stories about food and cooking. She is the author of Sweet Potatoes and her writing and recipes have appeared in numerous cookbooks and publications including The Wall St. Journal, Eating Well, and Epicurious. She is the former test kitchen director of Bon Appetit and worked in the test kitchens of Lucky Peach and Saveur. Mary-Frances earned her BA in history from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a degree in culinary arts from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY.

Matt Sartwell is the managing partner of Kitchen Arts & Letters, an NYC bookstore specializing in food and drink books from around the world. A former editor with Penguin, he has served as the chair of the James Beard Foundation’s book awards and is currently a member of the IACP’s Culinary Classics committee.

Born into a large southern family, Mavis-Jay began mastering southern cooking before she could even see over the counter. Legend has it, she perfected poundcake before her abc’s. Looking to cultivate her talent, MJ attended the Culinary Institute of America after receiving a BS in hotel and restaurant management from Georgia Southern University. Later, she would impress with her ability and natural leadership at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Blue Hill, and Untitled in New York. She went on to be part owner of the award winning food truck Pico House in Los Angeles. Frustrated witnessing good food as a luxury for the rich, Mavis-Jay moved back to NYC to join the team at The Brownsville Community Culinary Center as Director of Operations to provide free, paid, world class culinary and hospitality training to marginalized communities in Brooklyn that culminated in guaranteed career placement.

Mavis-Jay is a chef who believes in sustainably raised ingredients, thoughtfully prepared. She is a social equity advocate that has dedicated her career to fighting for food justice in black and low-income communities. In 2019, she was honored as one of Star Chefs’ New York Rising Star Chef. She is a James Beard Chef’s Boot Camp alum, a Chef’s Collaborative scholar, and is frequently a featured chef of the New York’s Queer Soup Night.

Maya Feller, MS, RD, CDN of Brooklyn-based Maya Feller Nutrition is a registered dietitian nutritionist who works with patients who need weight management and those looking for nutritional management of diet-related chronic illnesses with medical nutrition therapy.  Maya received her masters of science in clinical nutrition at New York University, where she is adjunct faculty in the Department of Nutrition Food Studies and Public Health. .When working one on one and with groups, Maya believes in meeting the whole person where they are and using a patient-centered, culturally sensitive approach to effect agency and enable each client to meet their unique nutrition-related goals. Maya believes that by making simple food choices, you can greatly reduce your risk of developing a diet-related chronic disease. Half of all Americans suffer from preventable chronic diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, cancer, and stroke. To address this difficult and complex epidemic, Maya is dedicated to promoting nutrition education that helps the public to make informed food choices that support health and longevity. Maya shares her approachable, real food-based solutions to millions of people through regular speaking engagements, writing in local and national publications, via her social media account on Instagram, @mayafellerRD and as a national nutrition expert on Good Morning America,  Dr. Oz and more. She is the author of The Southern Comfort Food Diabetes Cookbook: Over 100 Recipes for a Healthy Life which released on October 1, 2019.

An award-winning food writer, cookbook author, and cooking video personality, Melissa Clark writes about cuisine and other products of appetite. She earned an M.F.A. in writing from Columbia University. She’s won two James Beard Foundation awards and two IACP awards (International Association of Culinary Professionals), and her work has also been selected for the Best American Food Writing series. In 2012 she joined the staff of the New York Times, where she writes the highly popular Food Section column, A Good Appetite and has starred in over 100 cooking videos. She is a frequent guest on NBC’s The Today Show and The Rachel Ray Show, and is a regular guest host on APM’s The Splendid Table. In addition, Clark has written 42 cookbooks, many of them in collaboration with some of New York’s most celebrated chefs. Her forthcoming cookbook, Dinner In French, explores French cuisine with her characteristic Brooklyn je ne sais quoi.

Melissa M. Martin grew up on the Louisiana coast and has lived in New Orleans for twenty years. After Hurricane Katrina, she relocated to Northern California and worked at some of the top Napa Valley restaurants, honing her self-taught culinary skills. Upon returning to New Orleans, she helped to open Satsuma Café, a casual farm-to-table restaurant, and worked at Café Hope, a nonprofit restaurant, teaching at-risk youth to cook. In 2014, she opened Mosquito Supper Club, where she serves a family-style Cajun dinner with a glimpse into life on the bayou. Her first book, Mosquito Supper Club, will be published by Artisan in April 2020.

Melissa McCart is the editor of Heated with Mark Bittman on Medium.com. Before that, she was a restaurant critic for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Newsday and South Florida New Times. Her work can be found in Bon Appetit, Eater, The Washington Post, and other publications. She lives in Jersey City.

Meredith Meyer Grelli is Co-Founder and Co-Owner of Wigle Whiskey, Pittsburgh’s first distillery since Prohibition. Since beginning distilling in December 2011, Wigle Whiskey has worked to restore Pittsburgh’s legacy as the Birthplace of American Whiskey and the epicenter of Rye. Meredith is a 2018 and 2019 James Beard Award Semi-Finalist; 2018 Imbibe 75 Beverage Professionals to Watch; and the author of The Whiskey Rebellion & The Rebirth of Rye. The Distillery was the most awarded Craft Whiskey Distillery in the US By the American Craft Spirits Association for four straight years. Wigle has won Best in Class Gin, Best in Category Rye Whiskey, and Wheat Whiskey and a gold medal for its Bourbon by the American Craft Spirits Association. In 2017, Meredith co-founded Threadbare Cider & Mead, a Cidery in Pittsburgh PA.

Before starting Wigle, Meredith worked in brand management at the H.J. Heinz Company, received her MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, worked in community development, studied cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Paris and received her BS in urban history and geography at the University of Chicago. Meredith co-founded a Pittsburgh urban beekeeping organization and started the nation’s first community apiary.

Michel Nischan is a four-time James Beard Award-winning chef with over 35 years of leadership advocating for a more healthful, sustainable food system. He is Founder and CEO of Wholesome Wave, Co-Founder of the James Beard Foundation’s Chefs Action Network, as well as Founder and Partner with the late actor Paul Newman of the former Dressing Room Restaurant. Nischan, whose parents were farmers, began his career at 19, cooking breakfast at a truck stop. He quickly realized that the ingredients coming in the back door fell far short of the farm-fresh harvests he’d grown up on, and began a life-long career championing the farm-to-table concept, decades before it had a name.

Nischan and his late partner, Gus Schumacher, were instrumental in securing $100M for Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) grants for the food equity field in the 2014 Federal Farm Bill, which was recently expanded to $250M in the 2018 Farm Bill to become a permanent part of all future farm bills. The Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program permanently expands affordable access to fruits and vegetables for low-income Americans, while creating a legacy for Wholesome Wave’s late co-founder Gus Schumacher. 

He’s also the author of three cookbooks on sustainable food systems and social equity through food. A lifetime Ashoka fellow, he serves as a director on the board of the Jacques Pepin Foundation; and on the advisory boards of Chef’s Collaborative, Modern Farmer, Good Food Media Network, and The Culinary Institute of America. The James Beard Foundation honored Nischan as 2015 Humanitarian of The Year, and he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Post University with the graduating Class of 2019.

To learn more about Chef Nischan, follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and visit www.chefnischan.com 

To learn more about Wholesome Wave visit, follow us on Twitter and Instagram or visit www.wholesomewave.org

Michelle Dudash is an award-winning registered dietitian nutritionist, Cordon Bleu-certified chef, and author of the cookbook Clean Eating for Busy Families, revised & expanded, now in its second edition. 

Michelle contributes her streamlined recipes, articles, and science-based nutrition sound bites to publications including Food Network, Men’s Journal, O, The Oprah Magazine, Bon Appétit, Forbes, AARP, The Washington Post, Woman’s Day, Better Homes and Gardens, and Today, to name a few. Michelle loves to demonstrate her knowledge on television, spanning “The Rachael Ray Show,” “The Doctors,” “The List,” Cheddar Business, ABC Los Angeles, and her monthly segments on “Indy Style” on WISH-TV.

Michelle’s next cookbook, with her twist on the Mediterranean diet, will release early 2021 (Fair Winds Press). Her latest endeavor, Dash Dinners™ Meal Spice Kits, helps families across the country get chef-seasoned meals on the table in minutes. 

A native of the rural suburbs of Philadelphia, Nicole moved to Pittsburgh in 2007 for college where she studied English Literature, Philosophy, and Women’s/Gender Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. While those topics still remain important in her life, she has been working in the hospitality industry, pursuing her passion of wine as the bar and front of house manager at Senti restaurant, an upscale Italian restaurant, and wine bar in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville— the neighborhood where she also lives with her wife, Marissa, their Shiba Inu, Jack, and their two cats, Cleopatra and Anyanka. She loves Italian and French wine,  Star Wars (yes, all of them), Doctor Who, and cooking for her friends and family. 

Osayi Endolyn is a James Beard award-winning writer and editor whose work reflects on food, culture and identity. Her writing appears in Time, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, Eater, Food & Wine and the Oxford American. Her essay contributions to the books YOU AND I EAT THE SAME (Artisan), WOMEN ON FOOD (Abrams) and RAGE BAKING (Simon & Schuster) are widely acclaimed. Osayi has been featured on Chef’s Table on Netflix, the Sporkful podcast, Special Sauce with Ed Levine, NPR’s 1A, and The Splendid Table with Francis Lam. During her tenure as deputy editor of Gravy, Southern Living Magazine named her to their list of 30 Women Moving Southern Food Forward. In 2018, Osayi received the James Beard Award for column writing in a series that reflected on race and gender in the dining space. In 2019 she guest edited Eater’s inaugural Young Gun section dedicated to upcoming restaurant talent. She was awarded the UC Berkeley 11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship that same year. Osayi serves on the board of trustees for the Edna Lewis Foundation. She’s based in Brooklyn.

Emmy-nominated Padma Lakshmi is internationally known as a food expert, model, actress and best-selling author, as well as the recipient of Variety’s Karma Award and the NECO Ellis Island Medal of Honor.  Lakshmi serves as host and executive producer of Bravo’s Emmy-winning series Top Chef, which garnered a 2019 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program, the show’s 13th consecutive Emmy nod. In 2020 Lakshmi will host and executive produce a new show for Hulu, marking the network’s expansion into original food programming. The new half-hour series will serve as a “living cookbook” focused on people and cultures which have contributed to American cuisine.

Lakshmi established herself as a food expert early in her career, having hosted two successful cooking shows and writing the best-selling Easy Exotic, which won the “Best First Book” award at the 1999 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.  Lakshmi followed this success with the publication of her second cookbook, Tangy, Tart, Hot & Sweet. In 2016, she released her food memoir, The New York Times best-selling Love, Loss and What We Ate, which also won “Best Lifestyle, Body & Soul” at the 2017 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, followed by The Encyclopedia of Spices & Herbs.

In addition to being named a visiting scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), she serves as an artist ambassador for the ACLU, focusing on both immigrants’ rights and women’s reproductive rights, and was recently appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Development Program, seeking to boost support for its Global Goals including addressing inequality worldwide.

Paula Forbes is a cookbook author and journalist whose work has appeared in GQ, Texas Monthly, and more. She is the author of The Austin Cookbook and editor of Stained Page News, a cookbook newsletter. She lives in Austin, Texas.

Rahanna Bisseret Martinez is an American chef and businessperson based in Northern California. She has been called a rising culinary star and is known for promoting inclusion in the culinary industry, namely diversity in fine dining. She first appeared on culinary television joining Bravo’s Top Chef spin-off Top Chef Junior Season One as a finalist at the age of 13. She has staged at Chez Panisse Café, Mister Jui’s, Emerils, Gwen LA, Californios, Compere Lapin, Ikoyi and many more culinary institutions. At age 15, Rahanna continues to build her company, Rahanna LLC and volunteers to support culinary access and inclusion.

Raquel Pelzel is the Editorial Director of Cookbooks at Clarkson Potter where she edits culinary icons including Ina Garten, Giada De Laurentiis, and Michael Symon and rising stars including Bon Appetit’s Claire Saffitz, Vilailuck “Pepper Thai” Teigen, cinema star Danny Trejo, Vallery Lomas, Rick Martinez, Jenny Rosenstrach, pitmaster Rodney Scott, and James Beard award-winning chef Maneet Chauhan among many other incredible chefs and food writers. Prior to joining the team at Clarkson Potter in 2017, Raquel was a cookbook author and collaborator on more than two dozen cookbooks including four cookbooks of her own, most recently Umami Bomb published by Workman in 2019; her work has garnered awards and nominations through the James Beard Foundation and IACP. Raquel went to Johnson + Wales culinary school and The School of Natural Cookery in Boulder before becoming a pastry chef at Barbara Lynch’s No. 9 Park in Boston; she was also an editor and recipe developer at Cook’s Illustrated and the food editor at Tasting Table. Her first IACP conference was Providence, Rhode Island in 2000.

Renee Brooks Catacalos is the author  The Chesapeake Table: Your Guide to Eating Local. She works with Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders, an organization that helps amplify the impact of philanthropy in support of just and sustainable food and agriculture systems. Renee has served on the boards of ECO City Farms in Maryland and FRESHFARM Markets throughout the greater Washington area.

Rick Camac is a proven brand builder and concept creator with strong leadership skills.  Over a career spanning two industries (technology and hospitality), he has succeeded in launching startups as well as running large regions for billion-dollar organizations.  In the restaurant industry, Rick’s primary focus has been on concept development, branding, investment, business development, operations, and management. Known as a tireless performer and acknowledged troubleshooter, Rick has been involved in the opening of 12 restaurants both here and abroad (Hong Kong and USVI).  He has owned two restaurants that survived and thrived 10 years or more (5 Ninth and Fatty Crab) in the New York City (“NYC”) market. Incredibly, every restaurant that Rick has opened received a New York Times (“NYT”) review (including 2-star reviews from 3 different NYT Reviewers and 12 New York Times stars in total). Rick’s track record of performance is one that speaks for itself. Rick has also received the coveted Michelin Bib Gourmand award for two concepts and has been a guest lecturer at several venues. He has also been a guest judge on TV.   Additionally, Rick has sold numerous products through Williams Sonoma (chocolate bars and various sauces) and sold other products to Barclays Arena.

Currently, Rick is passing on his industry experience to others as Dean of Restaurant & Hospitality Management for the Institute of Culinary Education in NYC (new campus in LA), recently named Best Culinary School in America.  

Certifications

• Private School Teachers License – 2019
• Workplace Harassment Training – September 2019

Volunteer

• NYC Chapter Board Member for the New York State Restaurant Association from 2012 through 2015.
• NYSRA – served on its statewide Member Benefits Committee (2 years 2014 – 2015).  
• God’s Love, We Deliver – Prep cook.

Recent Consulting 

• Recently worked with Uber Eats on their Delivery Only program.
• As a consultant, hired to curate the NYC talent (speakers) for International Food and Success Conference, NYC May 2019, featuring some of the most respected speakers in the restaurant industry.  Also, spoke on Industry Trends.
• Acting as lead consultant on a restaurant project opening in NYC’s Seaport District.
• Advised a marketing company on current Snacking Trends.
• Advisor to a group opening a farm-to-table venue in Rochester, NY.
•  Consultant to a bitters company.
• Consulted on the business plan for a Delivery Only operation (ghost kitchen).

Speaking Engagements, Speaker Moderation, Conferences, Curation and Commentary

• Opening speaker at the International Food and Success conference in May 2019.
• Curate and moderate monthly speaking engagements with top industry talent for the Institute of Culinary Education.  Recent guests include Missy Robbins, Ed Brown (Restaurant Associates), Michael Stillman (Quality Branded), Lyon Porter (Urban Cowboy), Cedric Vongerichten, Ron Silver (Bubby’s) and Drew Nieporent (Nobu, Tribeca Grill, etc).
• Blogging for the Institute of Culinary Education.
• Frequently quoted as an industry expert in many media outlets including recent posts in Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Washington Post, Associated Press, Reuters, FitSmallBusiness.com, Oyster.com UpServ.com, and EatThisNotThat.com
• Teach professional development classes in “Restaurant Financials”, “10 Things Every Prospective Restauranteur Should Know” and “Ghost Kitchens”. 

Robert’s formal title is Director of Public Relations.  Schueller specializes in handling all public relations for food trade and consumer press.  He has been given the title of “Produce Expert” among national consumer and trade publications, and radio and television personalities. He is accredited with more than 15,000 articles in consumer and trade press to date. He also handles all aspects of marketing as well including forecasting, researching, creating and designing marketing promotions for the sales team.

Schueller has given leading industry, trend, and marketing presentations at food events and trade conferences including:  Disney World Epcot Food & Wine Festival, Disneyland California Adv. Food & Wine fest, O.C. Fair, Culinary Institute of America (St. Helena), Produce Marketing Association, New York Produce Show, United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Associati

Rocco DiSpirito is a James Beard award-winning chef, healthy lifestyle crusader and #1 New York Times bestselling author who is dedicated to proving that healthy and delicious are not mutually exclusive.

Recently, DiSpirito brought his creative vision and culinary talents to the iconic Standard Grill restaurant at The Standard, High Line. As Chef, he reimagined a menu of healthful and indulgent options, led a visual redesign of the dining room and elevated the kitchen with an expanded raw bar and new Binchotan-fired Josper grill from Spain. Offering exquisite, fresh, organic, locally-sourced and gluten-free meals, his celebrated return to a restaurant kitchen earned high praise, including a notable 2-star New York Times review. The chef also delighted customers by featuring his signature Peconic Bay Scallops & Uni dish first served at his critically acclaimed 3star restaurant Union Pacific which was a culinary landmark in NYC for many years.

Growing up in Queens, New York, DiSpirito’s love of food began at a young age where his mother taught him how to make simple, magnificent meals using only a handful of real foods. His passion for cooking led him to study at the Culinary Institute of America and Boston University, where he graduated early to embark on his culinary career. By the time he turned 20 years old, he was working in the kitchens of legendary chefs around the globe. He was named Food & Wine magazine’s “Best New Chef,” People magazine’s “Sexiest Chef” and was the first chef to appear on Gourmet magazine’s cover as “America’s Most Exciting Young Chef.”

He is the author of thirteen books that have been translated into multiple languages and sold the world over. His first book, Flavor, earned DiSpirito a James Beard award and showed readers how to create bold, sophisticated yet surprisingly easy meals. His bestselling cookbook series Now Eat This inspired DiSpirito’s syndicated television show, Now Eat This! with Rocco DiSpirito, which he also executive produced. Additionally, in 2012 DiSpirito founded his production house, Savory Place Media, whose first project for AOL Originals, Now Eat This! Italy, became an instant Top 10 series and received millions of views.

A global #1 bestselling phenomenon, The Pound A Day Diet book led DiSpirito to create a bespoke meal delivery service that he currently runs in New York City. He prepares fresh, delicious, ready-to-eat meals that are delivered to clients across the country. Each client receives a menu completely customized to help reach their weight loss, lifestyle, and health goals, and features only the best, local, natural, organic, no sugar added, gluten-free and dairy-free ingredients.

After this runaway hit, DiSpirito introduced The Negative Calorie Diet, which also debuted as a New York Times bestseller, followed by his latest cookbook Rocco’s Healthy + Delicious, which inspired DiSpirito’s plant-based, all-natural product line featuring high-protein bars, shakes, protein powders, flours and snacks.

He frequently appears as a special guest judge on Guy’s Grocery Games. He has guided life-changing transformations as the Healthy Food Coach on ABC’s Extreme Weight Loss, hosted the cooking competition show Restaurant Divided on Food Network and starred in Rocco’s Dinner Party on Bravo.

His remarkable weight loss journey has played a significant role in his cooking philosophy as well as his charitable efforts for over a decade now. To that end, he serves as an Ambassador for HealthCorps, inspiring students at schools across the country to build healthier habits. Dr. Mehmet Oz, HealthCorps Chairman, presented DiSpirito with the organization’s highest honor, the Golden Heart Award. Additionally, in September 2017, he earned the champion title of the hit Food Network series Guy’s Grocery Games: Superstars, and donated the $40,000 grand prize to HealthCorps.

Advocating on behalf of food issues has been one of the most rewarding experiences of DiSpirito’s life. He is an Entertainment Council member for Feeding America, advisor with Wellness in the Schools (WITS), and frequent volunteer at food banks throughout NYC. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, DiSpirito donated 500 warm meals a day for two months from his Now Eat This food truck.

He is hailed as a leading health expert and is often called upon to speak at events, including the Partnership for a Healthier America summit in Washington, D.C. He enjoys bicycling and participating in triathlons. @RoccoDiSpirito / Rocco.Shop

Rollie Wesen, Ed.D. is the co-founder and executive director of the Jacques Pépin Foundation, a culinary instructor and Associate Professor at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI and the husband of Claudine Pépin. Rollie cooked at the Rainbow Room, Gramercy Tavern and many other notable restaurants. In 2016, Rollie, Claudine and Jacques created the Jacques Pépin Foundation (JPF) whose mission is to improve lives through culinary training. The JPF supports community kitchens across the USA that provide free life skills and culinary training to adults with barriers to employment such as homelessness, issues with substance abuse, and previous incarceration. Rollie and family live in Rhode Island and continue to travel, explore, teach and learn.

Sam Sifton, The New York Times food editor, columnist, and former restaurant critic, believes that regular dinners with family and friends can make your life better, and the lives of those who eat with you as well. These dinners aren’t parties. They’re a metaphor for connection, space where memories can be shared as easily as salt or hot sauce, where deliciousness reigns. Even if you don’t particularly like entertaining, there is a great pleasure to be found in cooking for others—and great pleasure to be found in gathering with others, more often than sometimes, on a regular schedule

The point is simply to gather around a table with good company and to enjoy good food, and to do so regularly enough that people know they’ll be happening because they happen every week. Sunday dinners aren’t special occasions. They become that way over time… Sam Sifton’s See You on Sunday:A Cookbook for Family and Friends(Random House | February 18, 2020,| $35.00 | Hardcover) is the book to make them possible.

See You on Sunday is a guide to preparing meals for groups larger than the average American family (though all the recipes can be scaled down or up). The recipes are mostly simple and inexpensive and derive from decades Sifton spent cooking for groups from six to sixty. 

Readers will learn how to shuck an oyster and about the perfection of Mallomars served with Champagne flutes filled with milk, as well as the joys of grilled eggplant, gumbo, rice and beans, big meats and big pots. There are a few words on salad, a diatribe on the needless complexity of desserts, and many points of discussion: how to stock your kitchen; how to stretch a lobster; how to carve a ham. You’ll find proteins and grains, vegetables and desserts, as well as odes to taco dinners and pizza parties – and a chapter on the exception of family dinners, just for us. 

In addition to Sifton’s prose and argument, his sermonizing and storytelling, See You on Sunday is filled with low-stress, high-impact recipes designed to make eating with family and friends young and old easier and more joyful. See You on Sunday is an indispensable addition to any home cook’s library, and it will inspire you to get in the kitchen and get cooking.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

SAM SIFTON is the food editor of The New York Times, a columnist for The New York Times Magazine, and the founding editor of the NYT Cooking, an award-winning digital cookbook and cooking school. Formerly the newspaper’s national news editor, its chief restaurant critic and culture editor, he is also the author of Thanksgiving: How to Cook It Well. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children.

SEE YOU ON SUNDAY
by Sam Sifton
Random House
February 18, 2020
ISBN: 9781400069927• $35.00 • Hardcover 

Steve Palmer is the managing partner and founder of The Indigo Road Hospitality Group which operates 24 restaurants in six states. In 2016, Palmer co-founded Ben’s Friends, the food-and-beverage industry support group offering hope, fellowship, and a path forward to industry professionals struggling with substance abuse and addiction. Steve’s the author of, Say Grace:  How The Restaurant Business Saved My Life.

Suzanne Clements is an award-winning food photographer and stylist based in Central Florida. The challenge, detail, and problem solving of food photography has been her wheelhouse for over eight years. And she finds the collaboration with her teams from conception to the final image uniquely rewarding. When she’s not in the studio on a client project, she can be found on the lecture circuit or on the seat of her mountain bike exploring the outdoors.

Tanya Sichynsky is a newsletter editor at The Washington Post and the author of the 12-week newsletter series Meal Plan of Action, which was named best food column by the Association of Food Journalists. Previously, she served as the embedded audience editor on the Style desk. She has also held roles on the Post’s core social team, on the Snapchat Discover team and on the Financial desk. Before joining The Post, she was a social media editor at USA Today Sports.

Therese Nelson is a chef, writer, and founder of BlackCulinaryHistory.com, a social network and digital archive she started in 2008 as a way to preserve black heritage throughout the African culinary diaspora, to celebrate and network black chefs globally, and to steward modern black foodways into this next generation.

Toni Tipton-Martin is a culinary journalist, author and community activist who has dedicated her career to building a healthier community. She is the author of Jubilee: Recipes From Two Centuries of African American Cooking, an Amazon #1 Best Seller, also named one of the best books of 2019 by The New York Times, NPR, the New Yorker, and The Atlantic, among others. Jubilee is the follow-up to The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks, which the New Yorker recently named one of the “Best cookbooks of the Century So Far.” For this celebration of the important legacy of African American cooks and their cookbooks, Toni received a 2016 James Beard Book Award, the 2016 Art of Eating Prize, and a 2015 Certificate of Outstanding Contribution to Publishing from the Black Caucus of the Library Association. Toni was the first African American Food Editor of a major daily newspaper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the nutrition writer for the Los Angeles Times, and a contributing editor to Heart and Soul Magazine. She is a member of the James Beard Awards committee, and is a cofounder and former president of both Southern Foodways Alliance and Foodways Texas. Toni is profiled in the 35th Annual Aetna African American History Calendar and a member of the Advisory Board for Oldways’ African Heritage Diet Pyramid. She has been a featured speaker at book festivals, libraries, museums, universities and multiple food organizations.

Unmi Abkin is the author of Curry & Kimchi, which was named one of NPR’s Favorite Books of 2019. Her early relationship with food centered around longing. As an orphaned child in South Korea, she experienced hunger on a daily basis. Eventually adopted by a Jewish-American father and a Mexican mother, Abkin was steeped in diverse food traditions. A graduate of California Culinary Academy, she interned at Chez Panisse and worked at Boulevard Restaurant. Abkin is the owner, with her husband Roger Taylor, of Coco & The Cellar Bar in Easthampton, Massachusetts. She is a four-time semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Northeast.

yvette is a mother, womanist, and justice-hearted mediator and facilitator. yvette believes that all our struggles are about justice and are indivisible. If you believe in justice, it has to be justice for all. yvette is committed to disrupting patterns of oppression that exist within herself to restore her sense of wholeness and completeness.

As a Qu-Bu, she is grounded in the principles and practices of Quakerism (Friends) and Buddhism. She takes refuge in silence, contemplation, community, dharma, gardening, meditation, tea blending, vegan cooking, her ancestors, and nature. She is guided by the knowing that we are here because of those who came before us.

A certified mediator, she has a BA in Communications and an MA in Social and Public Policy, Conflict Mediation and Peace studies. In this life, yvette aims to speak openly and be gracious always.

Zoë François is a classically trained pastry chef and co-author of the bestselling cookbook series Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. She shares the tricks she learned while at the CIA’s pastry program and her decades in professional kitchens, through her website, ZoeBakes, her books and her award winning Instagram tutorials (@zoebakes). Zoë’s next book about cake is due out Spring 2021. Zoë’s recipes can also be found in the New York Times, Food 52, The Today Show, Bake from Scratch, Washington Post, Better Homes and Gardens, Yummly and many other media outlets.