Deborah Madison
Encyclopedia
Deborah Madison is an American
chef
, writer and cooking teacher. She has been called an expert on vegetarian cooking and her gourmet repertoire showcases fresh garden produce. Her work also highlights Slow Food
, local food
s and farmers' market
s.
A food columnist for The New York Times
, who found he had packed away his cookbooks before moving, joked, "Rather than making me a more natural cook, living so closely with my favorite recipe books brought about what my wife would call learned helplessness. At 46, I ought to be able to make pancakes without running to Deborah Madison for advice. Now, with her inspirational “Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone” boxed up, I’ve taken the opportunity to cut some apron strings."
, and earned a bachelor's degree with high honors in sociology/city planning in 1968 from Cowell College
at the University of California, Santa Cruz
. She then cooked at Chez Panisse
and was a student for eighteen years at the San Francisco Zen Center
. She was the founding chef at Greens Restaurant
in San Francisco which opened in 1979. She then cooked for a year at the American Academy
in Rome
, Italy
.
s and farmers' market
s, returned to the Bay Area to write The Greens Cookbook with co-author :Edward Espe Brown, and then wrote another 10 books on food and cooking, including Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, This Can't Be Tofu, Local Flavors, Cooking and Eating From America's Farmers' Market and Seasonal Fruit Desserts from Orchard, Farm and Market.
, Saveur
, Food and Wine, Kitchen Gardener, Fine Cooking, Orion
, Organic Gardening and Eating Well, and for the Time-Life Cookbook Series. She has also written for Martha Stewart Living
, Bon Appetite, Diversions, Kiplingers, Garden Design, Kitchen Garden, Cooks, Vegetarian Times, Metropolitan Home
, East-West Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Home and Garden, and the International Slow Food Journal.
Madison has been active in the Slow Food
movement, founded the Santa Fe Chapter, was active on the ARK committee and served on the scientific committee of the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity.
She is on the board of the Seed Savers Exchange
and the Southwest Grassfed Livestock Association, and is the co-director of the Edible Kitchen garden at Monte del Sol Charter School in Santa Fe, New Mexico
. She lives in New Mexico with her husband, artist Patrick McFarlin, who co-authored and illustrated their book What We Eat When We Eat Alone. She is the founding chef at Café Escalara in Santa Fe.
's "Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America" in 2005 and has received at least three James Beard Foundation Award
s. Madison's books have received awards from the International Association of Culinary Professionals
(IACP) and Les Dames d'Escoffie. Her first two both were named the Julia Child Cookbook of the Year by the IACP.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
chef
Chef
A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...
, writer and cooking teacher. She has been called an expert on vegetarian cooking and her gourmet repertoire showcases fresh garden produce. Her work also highlights Slow Food
Slow Food
Slow Food is an international movement founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986. Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourages farming of plants, seeds and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem. It was the first established part of...
, local food
Local food
Local food or the local food movement is a "collaborative effort to build more locally based, self-reliant food economies - one in which sustainable food production, processing, distribution, and consumption is integrated to enhance the economic, environmental and social health of a particular...
s and farmers' market
Farmers' market
A farmers' market consists of individual vendors—mostly farmers—who set up booths, tables or stands, outdoors or indoors, to sell produce, meat products, fruits and sometimes prepared foods and beverages...
s.
A food columnist for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, who found he had packed away his cookbooks before moving, joked, "Rather than making me a more natural cook, living so closely with my favorite recipe books brought about what my wife would call learned helplessness. At 46, I ought to be able to make pancakes without running to Deborah Madison for advice. Now, with her inspirational “Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone” boxed up, I’ve taken the opportunity to cut some apron strings."
Early years
Madison grew up in Davis, CaliforniaDavis, California
Davis is a city in Yolo County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, and earned a bachelor's degree with high honors in sociology/city planning in 1968 from Cowell College
Cowell College
The first of the ten residential colleges of the University of California, Santa Cruz, established in 1965, Cowell College sits on the edge of a redwood forest with a remarkable view of Monterey Bay...
at the University of California, Santa Cruz
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university; one of ten campuses in the University of California...
. She then cooked at Chez Panisse
Chez Panisse
Chez Panisse is a Berkeley, California restaurant known for using local, organic foods and credited as the inspiration for the style of cooking known as California cuisine. Well-known restauranteur, author, and food activist Alice Waters co-founded Chez Panisse in 1971 with film producer Paul...
and was a student for eighteen years at the San Francisco Zen Center
San Francisco Zen Center
San Francisco Zen Center , is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising the City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu...
. She was the founding chef at Greens Restaurant
Greens Restaurant
Greens Restaurant is a landmark vegetarian restaurant in the Fort Mason Center in the Marina District, San Francisco, California, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge....
in San Francisco which opened in 1979. She then cooked for a year at the American Academy
American Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome.- History :In 1893, a group of American architects, painters and sculptors met regularly while planning the fine arts section of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Cookbooks
Madison, whose work concentrates on local foodLocal food
Local food or the local food movement is a "collaborative effort to build more locally based, self-reliant food economies - one in which sustainable food production, processing, distribution, and consumption is integrated to enhance the economic, environmental and social health of a particular...
s and farmers' market
Farmers' market
A farmers' market consists of individual vendors—mostly farmers—who set up booths, tables or stands, outdoors or indoors, to sell produce, meat products, fruits and sometimes prepared foods and beverages...
s, returned to the Bay Area to write The Greens Cookbook with co-author :Edward Espe Brown, and then wrote another 10 books on food and cooking, including Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, This Can't Be Tofu, Local Flavors, Cooking and Eating From America's Farmers' Market and Seasonal Fruit Desserts from Orchard, Farm and Market.
Other writing
She has written for the magazines GourmetGourmet (magazine)
Gourmet magazine was a monthly publication of Condé Nast and the first U.S. magazine devoted to food and wine. Founded by Earle R. MacAusland and first published in 1941, Gourmet also covered "good living" on a wider scale....
, Saveur
Saveur
Saveur is a gourmet, food, wine, and travel magazine that specializes in essays about various world cuisines. The publication was co-founded by Dorothy Kalins, Michael Grossman, Christopher Hirsheimer, and Colman Andrews, who was also the editor-in-chief from 1996 to 2001...
, Food and Wine, Kitchen Gardener, Fine Cooking, Orion
Orion (magazine)
Orion is a bimonthly, advertisement-free, magazine focused on nature, the environment, and culture, addressing environmental and societal issues....
, Organic Gardening and Eating Well, and for the Time-Life Cookbook Series. She has also written for Martha Stewart Living
Martha Stewart Living
Martha Stewart Living is a magazine and a television show featuring entertaining and home decorating guru Martha Stewart. Both the magazine and the television program focus on the domestic arts. Martha Stewart Living began as a quarterly magazine in 1990, published by Time Inc..and is currently...
, Bon Appetite, Diversions, Kiplingers, Garden Design, Kitchen Garden, Cooks, Vegetarian Times, Metropolitan Home
Metropolitan Home
Metropolitan Home was a magazine published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. The magazine focused on "high-end modern design and interiors, blended with intelligent reporting, to connect with a progressive reader mindset." It was originally published from 1974 through 1981 as Apartment Life,...
, East-West Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Home and Garden, and the International Slow Food Journal.
New Mexico
When she first moved to New Mexico, Madison managed the Santa Fe Farmers' Market and served on its board for a number of years.Madison has been active in the Slow Food
Slow Food
Slow Food is an international movement founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986. Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourages farming of plants, seeds and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem. It was the first established part of...
movement, founded the Santa Fe Chapter, was active on the ARK committee and served on the scientific committee of the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity.
She is on the board of the Seed Savers Exchange
Seed Savers Exchange
Seed Savers Exchange, or SSE, founded by Kent Whealy and Diane Ott Whealy, is a non-profit organization based in Decorah, Iowa, that preserves heirloom plant varieties through regeneration, distribution and seed exchange...
and the Southwest Grassfed Livestock Association, and is the co-director of the Edible Kitchen garden at Monte del Sol Charter School in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
. She lives in New Mexico with her husband, artist Patrick McFarlin, who co-authored and illustrated their book What We Eat When We Eat Alone. She is the founding chef at Café Escalara in Santa Fe.
Awards and honors
In 1987, Madison received the André Simon Memorial Prize. Madison was awarded the 1994 M. F. K. Fisher Mid-Career Award. She was inducted into the James Beard FoundationJames Beard Foundation
The James Beard Foundation is a New York-based national professional non-profit organization named in honor of James Beard that serves to promote the culinary arts by honoring chefs, wine professionals, journalists, and cookbook authors at annual award ceremonies and providing scholarships and...
's "Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America" in 2005 and has received at least three James Beard Foundation Award
James Beard Foundation Award
The James Beard Foundation Awards were established in 1990 and are often called "The Oscars of Food." Held on the first weekend in May, the Awards honor the finest chefs, restaurants, wine professionals, journalists, cookbook authors, restaurant designers, and other food professionals in the...
s. Madison's books have received awards from the International Association of Culinary Professionals
International Association of Culinary Professionals
The International Association of Culinary Professionals is a United States based not-for-profit professional association whose members work in culinary education, communication, or the preparation of food and beverage....
(IACP) and Les Dames d'Escoffie. Her first two both were named the Julia Child Cookbook of the Year by the IACP.
External links
- Deborah Madison (deborahmadison.com)