Lidia Matticchio Bastianich is a television chef, best-selling cookbook author, restaurateur, and owner of a food and entertainment business. Her cookbooks include Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy and Lidia’s Italy—both companion books to the Emmy-nominated television series Lidia’s Italy—as well as Lidia’s Family Table, Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen, Lidia’s Italian Table, and La Cucina di Lidia. Lidia is the chef/owner of four acclaimed New York City restaurants—Felidia, Becco, Esca, and Del Posto (awarded four stars by The New York Times), as well as Lidia’s in Pittsburgh and Kansas City. She and her family also own Eataly, the largest artisanal Italian food and wine marketplace in New York City. Lidia has taken her passion for education and enrichment through food, making culinary classes a defining focus of Eataly. As dean of La Scuola at Eataly, Lidia is responsible for the culinary curriculum for the food and wine courses, demonstrations, and lectures from renowned chefs and food and wine producers.
Randi Konikoff Beranbaum, MS, RD, LDN, is a nationally recognized nutritionist and managing editor of Nutrition Today. She is also the author of numerous articles appearing in Tufts Health and Nutrition Letter, Cooks Illustrated Magazine, and Glamour.
Scott Uehlein is corporate chef for Canyon Ranch, overseeing the food and beverage programs at all resorts, hotels, SpaClubs, and Living communities. The author of several Canyon Ranch cookbooks, Scott trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, and studied with Madeleine Kamman at her school for American chefs at the Beringer Vineyards in Napa Valley, California. Under Scott’s direction, Canyon Ranch cuisine has been given top honors by Condé Nast Traveler and Gourmet magazines, which stated that chef Uehlein and his staff “have brought Canyon Ranch cuisine into a new dimension.” Scott has been highlighted in Bon Appetit, Self, Fitness, Food Arts, Esquire, Nation’s Restaurant News, Chef Magazine, and Health & Fitness UK.
Ina Garten was working in the White House Office of Management and Budget in 1978, eager to do something more creative. She was struck by an ad in The New York Times for a specialty food store for sale in the Hamptons, and soon enough, Ina and her husband were driving to Long Island to see the store. Her offer was accepted—and so it began. Barefoot Contessa became a store celebrated both for its style and delicious food. Ina is the author of seven New York Times bestselling cookbooks, including The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, Barefoot Contessa Parties!, Barefoot Contessa Family Style, Barefoot in Paris, Barefoot Contessa at Home, Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, How Easy Is That?, and Foolproof.
Green Street Café was for many years one of the best restaurants in Northampton, Massachusetts. The ever-changing menu of French cuisine featured herbs and vegetables from local organic gardens. We thank Jim Dozmati and John Sielski for their recipe for this cookbook, for their pot o’ crème, and for their hospitality.
Located in the Texas Hill Country, Lake Austin Spa Resort has received awards and been honored by many magazines, including Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, Allure, Health, Garden Design, and U.S. News & World Report. Executive chef Stéphane Beaucamp attended the Belliard culinary school in Paris before apprenticing at the Hôtel Plaza-Athénée, then cooking at several Parisian landmark restaurants. His first experience with health-conscious cookery was at the spa of Enghien-les-Bains, just outside Paris. He became executive chef at the Buddha Bar, working under Kazuto Matsusaka—a pioneer of Asian fusion cooking. This led Beaucamp to Los Angeles, where he first worked at the Bouchon Bistro Lyonnais, then became executive chef and pastry chef at Vermont Restaurant. It was the eco-friendly, organic lifestyle that drew him to Lake Austin Spa Resort.
Jacques Pépin grew up in the kitchen of his family’s restaurant near Lyon, France, which led to the young boy’s first apprenticeship at age 13 at the Grand Hotel de L’Europe. Pépin later served as personal chef to such French elites as Charles de Gaulle before moving to New York in 1959. The celebrated author of numerous books and host of popular television shows, he received the Chevalier de L’Ordre du Mérite Agricole in 1992, Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1997, and the French Legion of Honor in 2002. In 2005, he was inducted into the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame.
Debra Samuels, who lives in Japan with her family, has taught cooking and written many articles on Japanese food and culture for American and Japanese magazines and newspapers. The American embassy has sponsored Debra’s cooking demonstrations throughout Japan. In the United States, she has designed and led cooking programs on obento, the popular Japanese lunchbox, for civic groups, universities and for the Japanese embassy in Washington, DC. She is the coauthor with Taekyung Chung of The Korean Table and author of My Japanese Table: A Lifetime of Cooking with Friends and Family.
Alice Waters, owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, California, has championed local, sustainable farms for over four decades. She is the founder of the Edible Schoolyard at Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, a model public education program that integrates edible education into the core curriculum and brings children into a new relationship to food with hands-on planting, harvesting, and cooking. The mission of her nonprofit organization, the Edible Schoolyard Project, is to gather and share the lessons and best practices of school gardens, kitchens, and lunch programs worldwide. Waters is also the author of 10 books, including 40 Years of Chez Panisse: The Power of Gathering, The Art of Simple Food: Notes and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution, and The Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea.
Andrew Weil, MD, is director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, pioneers in developing a comprehensive curriculum in integrative medicine. Dr. Weil is also the editorial director of the popular website DrWeil.com, and appears in programs on PBS. He is a founder and co-owner of True Food Kitchen restaurants and an internationally recognized expert and guest speaker on medicinal plants, alternative medicine, and the reform of medical education. Dr. Weil is the author of many scientific articles and of eleven books, including Eating Well for Optimum Health: The Essential Guide to Food, Diet, and Nutrition, and Why Our Health Matters: A Vision of Medicine That Can Transform Our Future.