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David Leite
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief
David Leite (pronounced leet) is the author of The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe’s Western Coast, which won the 2010 IACP First Book/Julia Child Award and for which he received the 2009 National Leadership Award from the Portuguese-American Leadership Council of the United States (PALCUS). When not agonizing over his next book, he writes about everything from champagne to Welsh food to high tea to being a super taster for publications including the New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Saveur, Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Pastry Art & Design, Food Arts, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Sun-Times, The Washington Post, Charlotte Observer, epicurious.com, and Ridgefield Magazine, where he was the food editor for three years. He’s also the resident food geek at The Morning News. David is a frequent guest on the Martha Stewart Living Radio program Living Today and often reads his work on public radio’s food program The Splendid Table hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper. He’s a regular guest on WTNH-TV, appears on The Today Show, and was profiled on Radical Sabbatical on Fine Living Network.

David won the 2008 James Beard Award for Newspaper Feature Writing Without Recipes for his article, “In a ’64 T-Bird, Chasing a Date with a Clam” and was nominated in 2009 for his article “Perfection? Hint: It’s Warm and Has a Secret,” both from the New York Times. He’s also a four-time nominee for the Bert Green Award for Food Journalism, which he won in 2006. In addition, he was a 2007 and 2006 winner of an Association of Food Journalists Award. His essays have been included in the Best Food Writing series in 2001, and from 2002 to 2011. Leite’s Culinaria, which David created in 1999, won the 2007 James Beard Award for Web Site Focusing on Food, Beverage, Restaurant, or Nutrition and the 2006 James Beard Award for Best Food Web Site, a 2006 Food Blog Award, the 2005 World Food Media Award for Best Food and/or Drink Web Site, and was named Best Writer’s Web Site for 2002 by Writer’s Digest. A few of David’s fave LC recipes are Tagliatelle with Leeks and Shrimp, Julia Child’s Coq au Vin, and Pumpkin Cake With Maple–Cream Cheese Frosting.

Renee Schettler Rossi
Über Editor
Renee has spent the past 15 years as an editor and writer at national newspapers and magazines including The Washington Post food section, Real Simple, and Martha Stewart Living. She conceived, assigned, edited, and pored over every food-related article and recipe that appeared in the printed pages and also collaborated with each publication’s dot-com team to address the distinct needs of the online audience. She has worked with writers, both Pulitzer Prize-winning and previously unpublished. Her work has garnered recognition from NPR, the Association of Food Journalists, and The Best American Recipes cookbook series, and she has served as a judge for the James Beard Awards. Besides holding down the post of deputy editor,  Renee is also one of our food writing teachers. You can read more about her by visiting her at reneeschettler.com. Renee swoons over LC’s Watermelon and Ginger, Lamb Chops with Cilantro-Mint Sauce, Cantaloupe Soup and Prosciutto Sandwiches, and Salt and Sugar Pickles.

Allison Parker
Managing Editor
Since 1995, Allison has worked as an independent editor and writing coach, largely within literary and academic circles. She has held senior editorial positions at the award-winning OV Books and at Emerald Bay Books, and also has worked for Fordham University Press, Columbia Digital Knowledge Ventures, and in the marketing department of the Chicago Sun-Times. After obtaining an MFA in creative writing, Allison’s fiction, personal essays, and criticism have appeared in literary journals such as The Same, Deus Loci, and The Sun. More recently, Allison has sharpened pencils and knives side by side in the kitchen, fusing her editorial and writing life with her abiding love of things culinary. Her article, Saints, Cakes, and Redemption, was anthologized in Best Food Writing 2011, and she also writes about cross-cultural cuisine on her blog, Feeding the Saints. Having tested recipes for Leite’s Culinaria since October 2009, some of her go-to favorites include Quinoa Salad with Pistachios and Cranberries, Scallion and Feta Pie, and her very delicious Phanouropita (Saint Phanourios’s Cake), which she insisted we don’t mention here, but it’s too good not to.

Gary Allen
Food History Editor
Our food history editor, Gary Allen, cooks, eats, dreams, talks, and writes about food. After penning The Resource Guide for Food Writers (Routledge, 1999), an indispensable book for anyone interested in food, Gary edited a book on professional table service, Remarkable Service (Wiley, 2001), for The Culinary Institute of America. The Herbalist in the Kitchen, a reference work on herbs and spices, was published in 2007 by the University of Illinois Press, and his latest book, Herbs: A Global History, is forthcoming from Reaktion in April 2012. He is also at work on another title in Reaktion’s Edible Series, this time on sausage.

Gary has contributed articles to Scribner’s Encyclopedia of Food and Culture and The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America (including the forthcoming second edition), as well as serving as associate editor for the first edition. Additional encyclopedias featuring his work include Culinary Biographies (2006), The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink (2007), Greenwood’s Entertaining from Ancient Rome to the Superbowl, and They Eat That?: A Cultural Encyclopedia of Weird and Exotic Food from around the World (due in January 2012).

With historian Ken Albala, Gary also co-edited two titles: Greenwood’s The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food and Drink Industries (2007) and Human Cuisine—an anthology of essays and fiction (with a little poetry and drama) about cannibals. It’s touching, thought-provoking, and occasionally ridiculous. It even contains a number of—thankfully—untested recipes (BookSurge, 2008).

Occasionally, ‘midst chewing and swallowing, he writes for magazines, e-zines, and symposia, including the Association for the Study of Food and Society, for which he’s been vice president, newsletter editor, and Web master. You’ll find an index page of his online writings at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner, or visit his own Web site, On the Table, or his blog, Just Served. In his spare time, Gary teaches food writing, plus various courses on food history and culture, at Empire State College, part of the State University of New York. If you have any food-history questions, ask them here. When in the mood for some good ole LC loving, Gary turns to, among recipes, Scallops in Berry Glaze, Tortilla Española with Manchego, Onions, and Potatoes, and Purple Plum Torte.

Beth Price
Director of Recipe Testing
In terms of culinary work, Beth has been a foodie since before the term was coined. While friends went to Paris and came back with suitcases of clothes, she came back laden with a mandoline and copper cookware from E. Dehillerin.  Today she wears two hats in the culinary world. In addition to being the Director of Recipe Testing for Leite’s Culinaria, she’s the assistant to cookbook author and TV personality Nathalie Dupree and has styled food for her photo shoots, prepped ingredients for video clips, assisted in classes at the Culinary Institute, helped edit her newest cookbook, and been privy to discussions with a talented group of cookbook authors including Damon Lee Fowler, Virginia Willis and Shirley Corriher. Beth divides her time between Charleston, South Carolina, and Grand Cayman. Beth is fond of many recipes on LC, but her top three (for now) are Spicy Tomato and Blue Cheese Soup, Thai Basil Pork, Lemongrass-and-Cilantro-Crusted Ehu with Black Rice and Mango.

Julie Dreyfoos
Production Manager
Julie has spent the past 14 years in the Seattle area raising two boys with her husband, Rob. Living in the Pacific Northwest, Julie enjoys the different cultural influences and availability of all types of food, which allow her to explore many types of recipes. She and her husband enjoy entertaining and pairing Washington wines with the various cuisines that they prepare. Prior to family life, Julie ran a small catering company with a friend in the South Florida area while also working in a gourmet food shop. She grew up in Ohio and as a young girl spent many days with her godmother in the kitchen, baking cookies and pies while developing her love for food and cooking. She’s quite proud that she still has her very first cookbook, which is part of her collection of more than 200 volumes. Jules, who has a pernicious sweet tooth and a passion for cocktail hour, loves Strawberry Mascarpone Tart, Carrot-Zucchini Bread with Candied Ginger, and the always popular Rosemary Lemon Drop Martini.

Dan Kraan
LC Community Moderator
Since childhood, Dan has been fascinated by food and through the years has cooked everything from the simple to the sublime. He’s a meticulous, self-taught cook and baker, using cookbooks, television, and traveling as his teachers—including being one of the original recipe testers for Leite’s Culinaria and for David’s book, The New Portuguese Table. Besides his regular testing duties, which keep him in the kitchen more nights than night, Dan is also the moderator for a private group for our testers, where he works closely with Beth Price, overseeing comments, moderating discussions, and troubleshoots. Dan, who lives in Canada, is always trying LC recipes. Some of his long-time favorites are Linguine with Mixed Seafood , Tomahawk Chops with Sweet Potato Puree, and Burnt Carrots with Goat Cheese, Parsley, Arugula, and Crispy Garlic Chip.

Jenna Levy
Editorial Assistant 
Saving room for dessert since birth, Jenna has always had an abnormal appreciation for food, and after she worked at a Connecticut farm and bakeries on the East Coast and West, there was no turning back. She earned a Master’s degree in Food Studies from New York University and now brings all her knowledge to work at Leite’s Culinaria and, on the side, to her food blog, Sweet Hearth. On the rare occasion that she isn’t doing something food-related, she can be found perfecting her Bananagrams game, planning her next globe-trotting adventure, or exploring the back roads of Boston as she trains for her first marathon. Of course we do wonder whether all that running isn’t just an excuse to eat more desserts. Some of Jenna’s favorites include Thyme, Lemon, and Sea-Salt Shortbread and Cinnamon Gelato. When training demands something healthier, there’s this sweet-enough Corn and Green Tomato Salad.

Rachel Kaufman
Copy Editor
Rachel is a freelance writer and editor. This means that her office is about fifteen steps from the kitchen, and that means she spends more time making lunch, eating lunch, and even thinking about lunch than a person should. But don’t credit the home office for this obsession: when last she held down a “real” job, coworkers stood in awe of her brown-bagged or Bento-boxed midday meals. When Rachel’s not copyediting for Leite’s, she can be found writing about robots, space exploration, and spiders that give each other backrubs (seriously!). She can be found at ReadWriteRachel.com. Rachel’s favorite LC recipes include Plum-Blueberry Upside Down Cake, Cherry Clafouti, and Swiss Apple, Pear, Potato, and Bacon Braise, though she’s working up the nerve (and arteries!) to try Doughnut Bread Pudding.

Jared Atchison
WordPress Consultant
Jared Atchison, our web guru, has been developing on WordPress for more than five years and has been rockin’ the Genesis Framework since early 2010. Jared is a featured Genesis Developer  and a listed Automattic Code Poet. He maintains plugins available on WordPress.org, helpful scripts on GitHub, and contributes to the Genesis Framework. When Jared is not knee deep in code he regularly speaks at and attends WordCamps around the country each year. Oh, in all his excitement, he sometimes forget to mention he got married this year. (Sorry, Sam.) Jared loves to eat, but too often David has had conversations with him while he’s hunched over his computer, fork in hand. We are all trying to train him to take time away from the laptop and enjoy a proper meal with his wife. (It’s a work in progress.)