Ruth Reichl

Having worked as a chef and restaurateur, Ruth Reichl was the editor of Gourmet magazine from 1999 to 2009, and before that she was the restaurant critic for the New York Times from 1993 to 1999. Raised by a mother who would serve a stew that included two-week-old turkey, cranberry sauce, and half an apple pie, Reichl wrote of learning at an early age that “food could be dangerous.” About her changes to the magazine, she remarked, “I wanted to bring to it all the things that interest me about food: politics, history, sociology.” She edited Gourmet Today: More Than 1000 All-New Recipes for the Contemporary Kitchen, published in 2009.