ReadersMagnet Review celebrates Women’s Month with these five remarkable female food writers.
Ruth Reichl
Ruth Reichl is an American chef, food writer, editor-in-chief of Gourmet as well as co-producer of Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie, aired on PBS. She is also the culinary editor for the Modern Library, an American book publishing imprint. As an author, Reichl has published several award-winning books, including the memoirs Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table, Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table, Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise and Not Becoming My Mother. The celebrity food author also published Gourmet Today in 2009. It is a 1,008-page cookbook featuring more than a thousand recipes. She also wrote a novel, Delicious, which was released in 2014. In 2015, Reichl released another memoir, My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life. The book features recipes prepared a year after Gourmet closed down.
Anita Legsdin
Author Anita Legsdin is a Latvian-American chef and author. Anita learned to cook at a young age, and the early recipes she learned are those from her grandmother. Anita’s grandmother, who greatly influenced her, went to cooking school in France and became the head chef for the famed Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. As a Latvian, Anita Legsdin was raised on sauerkraut and sausages, and many other Eastern European dishes. In 2014, Anita Legsdin published her most celebrated work, Remembrance of Meals Past. It is a collection of novellas and short stories that feature a certain dish in every story. Using experiences of friends and acquaintances, her own experiences, and imagination, Legsdin put together a wide variety of narratives filled with wits, humor, a bit of sadness, silliness, and adventures. Remembrance of Meals Past is under the book category of culinary and fiction. When not writing, Anita spends her time cooking both Latvian and American dishes.
Ayesha Curry
Ayesha Curry is an actress, a TV host, celebrity chef, and a cookbook author. She is also famous for being the wife of NBA superstar Steph Curry. She began doing food blogs, and in 2014, she prepared her first meal as a YouTube demonstration on her channel Little Lights of Mine. The rest is history. As an author, Ayesha published The Seasoned Life: Food, Family, Faith, and the Joy of Eating Well. It was released in 2016 and featured a family-centric approach. In her book, Curry shares 100 of her favorite dishes. Aside from her book, Ayesha Curry is most busy with her cooking shows. She hosts Ayesha’s Homemade, a television cooking show that premiered last 2016 and now in its 5th year. She is also the host, judge, and executive producer of the Family Food Fight television series. She is also the author of Tastes: Breakfast with the Currys and The Full Plate, which was published just last year.
Rachael Ray
It is impossible to create this list without including Rachael Ray. The famous celebrity cook and author is the face of the Food Network series 30 Minute Meals. She is hosts Rachael Ray, a daily talk and lifestyle program. Ray is responsible for a variety of cooking shows and programs which includes Rachael Ray’s Tasty Travels, $40 a Day, Rachael Ray’s Week In A Day, and the reality format shows Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off, and Rachael Ray’s Kids Cook-Off. But the highlight of Rachael Ray’s culinary career lies in the many cookbooks she has published over the years. Since 2000, she has released over a dozen cookbooks including Comfort Foods (2000), Veggie Meals (2001), Kid Food (2005), Just in Time (2007), Make Your Own Takeout (2009), Big Orange Book (2012),
Janna Gur
Janna Gur is an Israeli celebrity chef, editor, and author of several cookbooks. She is regarded as an expert on Israeli and Jewish cuisine. As the chief editor, Janna Gur worked on over 40 Hebrew cookbooks, among them Sheshet – “The Kitchen Helper” series, which offered an innovative approach to understanding recipes and cooking techniques. Gurs also hosted the food segment for the famous show “Good Morning Israel” and continues to appear on radio and television food shows. As an author, Janna Gur published three cookbooks. In 2007, she released The Book of New Israeli Food: A Culinary Journey which features many of Israel’s colorful and historical dishes. Her second book, Jewish Soul Food: From Minsk to Marrakesh, More Than 100 Unforgettable Dishes Updated for Today’s Kitchen: A Cookbook, was released in 2014. Janna Gur’s latest work is the 2019 Israeli home cookbook titled Shuk: From Market to Table, the Heart of Israeli Home Cooking, which was released in 2019.