Ruth Reichl

Ruth Reichl joined Gourmet as Editor in Chief in April 1999. She came to the magazine from The New York Times, where she had been the restaurant critic since 1993. As chef and co-owner of The Swallow Restaurant from 1974 to 1977, she played a part in the culinary revolution that took place in Berkeley, California. In the years that followed, she served as restaurant critic for New West and California magazines. In 1984, she became restaurant critic of the Los Angeles Times, where she was also named food editor.

Reichl began writing about food in 1972, when she published Mmmmm: A Feastiary. Since then, she has authored the critically acclaimed, best-selling memoirs Tender at the Bone, Comfort Me With Apples, and Garlic and Sapphires, which have been translated into fourteen languages. She is the editor of The Modern Library Food Series, which currently includes ten books. She has also written the introductions for Nancy Silverton´s Breads from the La Brea Bakery: Recipes for the Connoisseur (1996) and Measure of Her Powers: An M.F.K. Fisher Reader (2000). She is featured on the cover of Dining Out: Secrets from America´s Leading Critics, Chefs and Restaurants, by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (1998).