2010 Symposium Speakers
The 2010 speakers will include:
Antonia Allegra
Rux Martin
Joe Yonan
Carole Bidnick
James Peterson
...others to be added soon!
Don Fry
Rick Rodgers
David Joachim
Andrew Schloss
Dorothy Kalins
Molly Wizenberg
Bios of the 2009 speakers:
Antonia Allegra
Writer | Coach | Speaker
www.antoniaallegra.com
707-963-0777 | Fax: 707-963-7197
P.O. Box 663
St. Helena, CA 94574
Antonia Allegra is a culinary coach dedicated to working with food professionals regarding their writing and their careers. She coaches culinary starters and stars. She is a wine/food/travel writer and international speaker/teacher. She directs the Symposium for Professional Food Writers and Symposium for Professional Wine Writers. She is co-founder of C4: Culinary Coaches and Consultants Collaborative and other culinary communities.
Allegra authored Napa Valley: The Ultimate Winery Guide, now in its fourth edition, and the Napa Valley Expedition Guide, as well as The Wine Country Deck. She was founding editor of Vine Napa Valley and Appellation, both Maggie award-winning publications, as well as award-winning food editor of the San Diego Tribune. She is Culinary Director of La Cocina que Canta, a cooking school at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico. She was member of the launch team for Culinary Institute of America/Greystone in Napa Valley. She directed her own cooking school in San Diego for eight years (1974-82). She served on IACP Board of Directors, president from 1997-98. She is a CCP, as well as member of Les Dames d'Escoffier International (LDEI), Association of Food Journalists (AFJ), San Francisco Professional Food Society (SFPFS) and International Coach Federation.
Steve Dolinsky
As ABC 7's Food Reporter, Steve Dolinsky’s “Hungry Hound” segments air on Wednesdays and Fridays on the ABC 7 News at 11 a.m. In January, 2006 his role at the station expanded and The Hungry Hound: Friday Night Special can now be seen on the station’s top rated 10 p.m. newscasts on Friday evenings as well. Steve joined the station in October 2003. Previously, he was the Executive Producer and Host of "Good Eating" on CLTV, the 24-hour news channel owned by the Tribune Co. The weekly half-hour show featured chefs, health news, wine reviews and inexpensive restaurants around Chicago. He hosted that program from 1995-2003. Steve has garnered 12 James Beard Awards for his TV and radio work over the past decade: six for best local TV cooking show in the nation, one for best TV food segment, local or national; two for best radio segment on food – long form and three for best radio segment – short format. In 1997, he created a weekly, one-hour, call-in food talk show on WCKG-FM in Chicago. The live show covered all kinds of food and drink-related topics, and usually had a few guests, in addition to taking calls from the audience. From 1997 – 2007, Steve was Food Contributor for WBEZ-FM, Chicago's public radio station. Each week, he produced and wrote long-form food stories focusing on anything from Russian food to Italian ice. His work with WBEZ garnered him a 2000 and 2002 Peter Lisagor Award for arts & entertainment reporting. (The Lisagors are awarded to Chicago-area journalists by their peers in recognition of truly superior contributions to journalism). Steve picked up the same award — for arts & entertainment reporting — for his work on "Good Eating" in 2002. He was also a Food Correspondent for "The World" — a co-production of Public Radio International, the BBC World News Service and WGBH Boston — filing reports on everything from freshly-killed sushi in Chicago to authentic Kerala-style food in India. Steve has also written articles about food and restaurants, which have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Reader and CS -Modern Luxury Magazine, as well as metromix.com. Most recently, he was a judge on the Food Network’s “Iron Chef America,” presiding over Battle: Rabbit and Battle: Pheasant. In 2002, he founded Culinary Communications, a media training business focusing on the food industry outside of Chicago. Steve is also very involved in several not-for-profit agencies in the Chicago area, including Meals on Wheels and Share Our Strength. For more information, visit www.stevedolinsky.com.
Don Fry
Don Fry, an independent writing coach, helps writers write better, editors edit better, and managers organize better. Don has had two careers, first as an English professor and then in journalism. He headed the writing and ethics faculties at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, and edited the Institute's series Best Newspaper Writing. In 1994, Don became an independent writing coach, working with newspapers and magazines, radio and television stations, and non-profit organizations. He has spread the idea of coaching throughout the world, especially in Singapore, Scandinavia, and South Africa. Don has served as a judge in the James Beard awards. He is becoming a full-time sculptor, making automata, wooden pieces with movable figures that implicate the viewer.
Martha Holmberg
Dianne Jacob
Dianne Jacob is the author of Will Write for Food: The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Restaurant Reviews, Articles, Memoir, Fiction, and More. She wrote the book after teaching food writing classes for many years, based on her experience as a journalist, newspaper editor, magazine editor and writer. Dianne has written restaurant reviews, recipes, regular columns, personal essays and chef profiles. She interviewed 75 food writers and agents for the book, including LA Times writer Russ Parsons, cookbook authors Deborah Madison and Greg Patent, and agent Doe Coover, all of whom she met at The Greenbrier in 1999. Will Write for Food won the 2005 Cordon D’Or International award for Best Literary Food Reference Book. Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas, a cookbook she co-authored with Chicago chef Craig Priebe, is her most recent published work. Her job was to test the chef’s recipes, write the book in his voice, and work with the publisher on edits and production. Dianne became a freelance food-writing coach, author, and editor in 1998. She coaches writers across the US, Canada, Europe and India on becoming published cookbook authors and successful freelance writers. She also works with agents to polish clients’ book proposals, and with writers who need a book doctor for their manuscripts. A cookbook judge for the James Beard Foundation and for the International Association of Culinary Professionals, Dianne teaches classes at Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA, The Writing Salon in Berkeley, CA, and online for UCLA Extension. For details, see her website, www.diannej.com.
Bill LeBlond, editorial director of food and drink at Chronicle Books, is responsible for the twenty cookbooks Chronicle publishes each year. The first cookbook he edited was James McNair’s Cold Pasta, which launched McNair’s best-selling and much-imitated cookbook series. Bill publishes some of the best food writers in the country and has had the privilege of working with such outstanding Symposium for Professional Food Writers alumnae as Anne Willan, Diane Morgan, Andy Schloss, Robin Asbell, Fred Thompson, Domenica Marchetti, Martha Holmberg, Jennifer Lindner McGlinn, Nancie McDermott, and Kara Newman. Bill’s books have been nominated for, and won, many IACP and James Beard Foundation cookbook awards. Bill is also a frequent speaker on publishing topics.
Amelia Saltsman is the author of the award-winning, independently published The Santa Monica Farmers’ Market Cookbook: Seasonal Foods, Simple Recipes, and Stories from the Market and Farm (Blenheim Press, 2007). Amelia founded Blenheim Press in 2006 in order to produce her first book, a regional story with universal themes. Described by Joan Nathan as a “magnificent tome” and by Deborah Madison in the book’s foreword as “a seamless work,” The Santa Monica Farmers’ Market Cookbook has won recognition for both design and content. Amelia is a writer, cooking teacher, television host and producer, and native southern Californian who focuses on family, simplicity, and the agricultural and historical contexts of food, writing, according to Antonia Allegra, “with a perfect blend of liveliness, the voice of a teacher, and a sincerity that rings true on every page.” Amelia’s work has appeared in such publications as Bon Appétit, National Geographic Traveler, Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe, and her television show, Fresh from the Farmers’ Market, airs on West Coast cable channels. She is a frequent guest on KCRW’s “Good Food,” serves on the California Certified Farmers’ Markets Advisory Committee, and is editor of The Food Journal, the publication of the Culinary Historians of Southern California. A member of Les Dames d’Escoffier International and Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, former chair of the IACP Food History Committee, and past Symposium attendee, Amelia has enjoyed teaching food writing to middle schoolers at the Young Writers’ Conference. For more information about Amelia, visit www.ameliasaltsman.com or www.blenheimpress.com. Andrew Schloss is known by his readers and students for his inventive recipes and an ability to explain technical aspects of cooking in entertaining understandable terms. His popular articles have appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Food and Wine Magazine and Family Circle. He is currently President of Culinary Generations, Inc, a product development company, creating food products for major food manufacturers, and teaches cooking and food writing classes across the country. He was nominated for Cooking Teacher of the Year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals in 2005. Andrew was president of IACP from 2002 to 2003, and was the Director of Culinary for The Restaurant School in Philadelphia from 1992-2001. His critically acclaimed restaurant, In Season, was instrumental in the creation of Philadelphia's restaurant renaissance. Andrew is the author of ten published cookbooks, including Fifty Ways to Cook Most Everything (a main selection for Book of the Month Home Style Club), Almost From Scratch, and his two latest books Homemade in a Hurry (2006) and Mastering the Grill (written with David Joachim), published spring 2007. An occasional guest on QVC, Andrew has also appeared on Good Morning America, The Home Show, Home Matters, and The Main Ingredient. He has made numerous appearances on local television and radio throughout the country, as an author and in his role as a spokesperson for the National Potato Board, Whirlpool ovens, and The Canned Food Alliance. Judith Weber is a literary agent and partner, with her husband, in the New York-based literary agency Sobel Weber Associates. The agency represents a wide range of well established authors of both fiction and non-fiction, as well as promising newcomers. Judith has established a prestigious list of food writers and cookbook authors, among them, many award winners. The list and more information about the agency may be viewed at www.sobelweber.com. Prior to joining the agency, Judith held senior editorial positions in several publishing houses and also served as director of publicity, promotion, and advertising. She has been a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and is on the Board of Les Dames d’Escoffier, A founder of the New York Literary Writers Conference, she has been a frequent speaker at conferences throughout the country. Judith holds a B.A. in English from Brooklyn College and an M.A. in English from New York University. Amelia Saltsman
Andrew Schloss
Judith Weber
Sydny Miner
Sydny Miner is a vice president and senior editor at Simon & Schuster where she publishes a wide variety of books, including cookbooks. The diverse cookbook authors she has been privileged to work with include Paula Deen, Todd English, Bill Telepan, Mary Risley, Anna Pump, Marian Burros, Bernard Clayton, The Moosewood Collective, Grace Young, and Marilyn Tausend, among others. Her authors’ books have won both IACP and James Beard awards. She is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and Les Dames d’Escoffier.
David Joachim
David Joachim has authored, edited or collaborated on more than 30 cookbooks. He holds a master’s degree in English language and literature from Binghamton University, where he taught writing classes for three years. He is the author of the IACP Award-winning reference book, The Food Substitutions Bible. He also wrote A Man, A Can, A Plan, and A Man, A Can, A Grill, a New York Times bestseller. David’s “A Man, A Can…” series of books has sold more than 1 million copies. His latest book is The New York Times bestseller Mastering the Grill, co-authored with Andrew Schloss. David has collaborated on and co-authored titles such as Lose Weight the Smart Low-Carb Way with Bettina Newman, R.D.; and Eat Up, Slim Down with Jane Kirby, R.D. He has developed and tested recipes for corporate clients as well as several books, including Patti Labelle’s Lite Cuisine, a New York Times bestseller; and Fat to Firm at Any Age. He has edited more than 15 books, including Steven Raichlen’s Healthy Latin Cooking, which won a James Beard Award and was an IACP Award finalist; and The Healthy Cook, which was an IACP Award finalist. David is former food editor of Vegetarian Gourmet magazine, and his writing and tips have appeared in numerous national magazines such as Cook’s Illustrated, Cooking Light, Cooking Pleasures, Relish, Prevention, Fitness, Self, Men’s Health, and Bicycling. As an author and spokesperson, David has made numerous national media appearances on television and radio, including “The View” on ABC, “FOX and Friends” on FOX, “Recipe for Health” on the Food Network, “Home Matters” on the Discovery Channel, “Cooking with Bob” on QVC, and “Talk of the Nation” and “A Chef’s Table” on National Public Radio, among others.
Martha Holmberg is the editor of the award-winning food section of The Oregonian newspaper as well as the editor of MIX magazine, a bi-monthly glossy on the Portland food and drink scene. Before moving to Portland in 2005, she was the publisher and editor of Fine Cooking magazine for 11 years. In 2008, Saveur magazine included her in its "Top 100" list. She has worked in London and Paris as a cookbook editor, and helped Anne Willan launch the La Varenne cooking program at The Greenbrier. She received the Grand Diplome from Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne in France.
Andrea Nguyen
Andrea Nguyen is a writer and cooking teacher based in Santa Cruz, California. She founded Vietworldkitchen.com, one of the most complete Internet resources devoted to the food and culture of Vietnam, her native country. A contributing editor to Saveur magazine, she has also written for the Los Angeles Times and San Jose Mercury News. She has led a tour of Orange County's Little Saigon for Epicurious TV, which airs on the Travel Channel. Andrea co-founded the Asian Culinary Forum, a San Francisco-based non-profit providing public education programs on Asian food culture. Andrea’s debut cookbook, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors, was published by Ten Speed Press in October 2006. A landmark publication with over 175 recipes, the work is the first comprehensive, full-color cookbook devoted to Vietnamese food in the English language. Leading food writers have praised the book for its attention to detail, accessibility, and thorough research. Andrea is well recognized for her ability to demystify the cuisine while bridging culinary traditions with contemporary practices. In 2007, her publication was among the select finalists for a James Beard Foundation Award of Excellence (best Asian cookbook) and two International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook Awards (best first book and best international cookbook). Her forthcoming book on Asian dumplings will be released by Ten Speed Press in September 2009. A culinary professional and member of IACP, Women Chefs & Restaurateurs (WCR), and San Francisco Professional Food Society (SFPFS), Andrea also has professional experience in strategic communication, event and project management, and finance.
Bill LeBlond
Russ Parsons
Russ Parsons is a food columnist of The Los Angeles Times. He has been writing about food for 25 years, including almost 20 years at The Times, where he has also been food editor, managing editor, and deputy editor. He is the author of the cookbooks How to Read a French Fry, and How to Pick a Peach, which were published by Houghton-Mifflin. He has won every major American food journalism award, including those from the International Association of Culinary Professionals the Association of Food Journalists, the James Beard Foundation, and the University of Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards. How to Read a French Fry was a finalist for two Julia Child cookbook awards. How to Pick a Peach, which was published this year, has been named one of the best 100 books of the year by both Publisher’s Weekly and Amazon. Before coming to The Times, he was food editor at the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, food editor at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and food editor at the Albuquerque Tribune. Russ has been a journalist for more than 30 years, covering everything from high school football and professional rodeo to cops and courts and country music.
Ann Taylor Pittman
Ann Taylor Pittman is the Senior Food Editor at Cooking Light magazine, where she collaborates with freelance journalists, food writers, and recipe developers every day. In this capacity, Ann helps direct food content for the world’s most successful food magazine—developing concepts, assigning stories, and overseeing story assignments from concept stage to publication. She directs a staff of food editors and coordinates the testing of recipes in the magazine’s test kitchens. She has represented the magazine on CNN and the Food Network, and has developed original content for CookingLight.com, most notably the technique video series she wrote, produced, and appeared in. Before joining the Cooking Light staff in 1998, Ann was an instructor of English at Mississippi State University. She resides in Birmingham, Alabama, with her husband and three-year-old twin boys.
Michael Ruhlman
Michael Ruhlman is a freelance journalist and writer, the author of eight books and co-author of four cookbooks. His most recent book is The Elements of Cooking: Translating the Chef’s Craft For Every Kitchen (Scribner: November 2007), an opinionated glossary of cooking terms modeled on the Strunk & White classic, Elements of Style. He is the author of The Making of a Chef, The Soul of a Chef , and The Reach of a Chef, co-author of The French Laundry Cookbook and Bouchon with Thomas Keller and Susie Heller, A Return to Cooking, with Eric Ripert, and Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing with Brian Polcyn. His other non-fiction books include Boys Themselves, about an all-boys school, Wooden Boats, about life at a New England boatyard, Walk On Water about a surgical team specializing in the repair of neonatal and infant hearts, and House: A Memoir, a story about the importance of house and home. He has been a freelance journalist and writer for nearly fifteen years, his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Gourmet, Saveur, and Food Arts, and has received several IACP awards and a James Beard Award. He lives in Cleveland Heights, OH, with his wife and two children. For more information about Michael, visit his website, www.ruhlman.com.
