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"It's really our mission to help make America
a better place to eat, one meal at a time."
—Karen Page, as quoted in THE NEW YORK RESIDENT's cover story "Andrew Dornenburg & Karen Page:
Making America a Better Place to Eat" (12/03)

Summary

Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page are the bestselling authors of WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT, which made history in 2007 as the first book ever to win both the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) "Cookbook of the Year" Award and the Georges Duboeuf "Wine Book of the Year" Award. They were honored with the James Beard Award for Best Writing on Food for their first book BECOMING A CHEF, which has sold more than 100,000 copies. Married since 1990, the couple also wrote the bestselling CULINARY ARTISTRY, and currently writes the weekly wine column for The Washington Post.

Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page

Since the publication of their groundbreaking 1995 book BECOMING A CHEF, Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page have altered readers' perceptions of the worlds of food and drink, not to mention the very nature of culinary books.

Described a decade ago as "the brightest young author team on the culinary scene today" (NPR) and subsequently as "culinary historians," "cultural anthropologists" and even "the Jane Goodalls of the chef world" (Food & Wine Radio Network) for chronicling the contemporary food revolution and the advent of today's era of celebrity chefs, Dornenburg and Page have been characterized as "incisive, hip" (Publishers Weekly) writers whose books are "extremely popular among, and indeed essential to, professional chefs" (WOR Radio).

Their initial trilogy of books — BECOMING A CHEF, CULINARY ARTISTRY and DINING OUT — was inspired by the systems model of creativity of author Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who has suggested that any truly creative work is the result of interaction among 1) individual creators (e.g. chefs), 2) a domain of creativity (e.g. professional cooking), and 3) the field that makes judgments about the domain (e.g. restaurant critics).

The publication of BECOMING A CHEF: With Recipes and Reflections from America's Leading Chefs (1995; 2nd ed. 2003) has been cited by the National Culinary Review as a pivotal event in the history of American culinary education for providing "the first compendium of answers to some of the most common questions an aspiring chef can ask," and is said to have "established the category of contemporary writing on food." The book has been an inspiration to readers as diverse as professional chefs, CEOs and other business leaders, a PhD candidate in biochemistry, and even a former cocaine dealer turned executive chef and author. It won the 1996 James Beard Book Award for Best Writing on Food.

Frequently cited as the #1 favorite book of professional chefs and sophisticated cooks around the globe for jump-starting their creativity in the kitchen, CULINARY ARTISTRY (1996) is the first known reference on flavor compatibility and culinary composition. By allowing readers to create their own flavors, dishes and cuisines through providing an encyclopedic listing of compatible flavors, the book has proven as innovative a resource for chefs as Roget's Thesaurus was for writers. Avid fans of the book include chefs Grant Achatz (of Chicago's Alinea), John Campbell (of The Vineyard at Stockcross in Berkshire, England), Homaro Cantu (of Chicago's Moto), and Rocco DiSpirito (author of Flavor).

DINING OUT: Secrets from America's Leading Critics, Chefs and Restaurateurs (1998) was the first book ever to bring to public focus the secretive and influential work of restaurant critics, tapping as experts not only some of America's most prominent restaurant critics but also Pulitzer Prize-winning critics of architecture, media and music. The book was named one of the world's best books on gastronomy at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards held in Perigueux, France, as well as a Finalist for both the 1999 James Beard Book Award and the 1999 Julia Child / IACP Cookbook Award.

CHEF'S NIGHT OUT (2001) provided a forum for 100 leading American chefs to explain their work, as well as to guide readers to that of other chefs each admired. The latter included chef Ferran Adria of the Michelin three-star restaurant El Bulli in Spain, in his first known appearance in an American book, which introduced a wider audience to his gastronomic innovations that have gone on to influence other chefs globally. Praised in media ranging from Business Week to Town + Country, CHEF'S NIGHT OUT was named the best culinary book of 2001 by FabulousFoods.com.

THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF: Cooking with the Best of Flavors and Techniques from Around the World (2003) provided the first characterizations of the universal lessons of and essential differences among 10 influential global cuisines. The book was a Finalist for the 2004 IACP Cookbook Award, and cited as one of the year's best culinary books in media ranging from New York magazine to the Philadelphia Inquirer to San Jose Mercury News.

WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT:  The Definitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea — Even Water — Based on Expert Advice from America's Leading Sommeliers (Bulfinch Press, 2006) is the first book to bridge the gap between the worlds of food and drink, providing a comprehensive guide to food and beverage matching based on more than a decade of research.  It won the 2006 Georges Duboeuf "Wine Book of the Year" Award, and the Gourmand World Cookbook Award as "Best Book on Matching Food and Wine — U.S."   In April 2007, it won the 2007 IACP Cookbook Award as "Best Book on Wine, Beer or Spirits" and was selected from nearly 500 cookbooks to receive the coveted 2007 IACP "Cookbook of the Year" Award, becoming the first-ever book on beverages to win this title.

Since March 2007, Page and Dornenburg have been the weekly wine columnists for The Washington Post. Going "where few wine writers have ever gone before," they have focused on not only their pet topic of food and wine compatibility but also such subjects as the secrets of America's best sommelier, offbeat wine grape varieties, the role of intuition in making and enjoying wine, and wine's potential to close the gap between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots.' Their column has been cited in media including About.com, AllBusiness.com, Intuition Center, Manhattan User's Guide, Martha Stewart Radio, The Week, Weekly Wine Digest, Wine Review Weekly, and WTOP Radio.

Long on the cutting edge of the worlds of food and technology, the couple hosted the "Chef's Dinner Club" — one of the Internet's earliest online food shows — as the flagship program of America Online's electronic Gourmet Guide (eGG) back  in 1995. They co-hosted the legendary Julia Child for her first-ever online chat on on AOL on June 5, 1996, as reported in the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. In 2002-03, they co-hosted the show "Chef's Night Out" on Taxi Vu, which aired in the backseats of New York City taxicabs and featured chefs ranging from Terrance Brennan (Artisanal, Picholine) to Diane Forley and Michael Otsuka (Verbena, Bar Demi) to Amy Scherber (Amy's Bread) to Tom Valenti (Ouest, 'Cesca) on where they like to eat on their nights off. In May 2006, they hosted the first-ever Live Blog from backstage at the James Beard Awards, and in October 2006, the world's first-ever gastronomic virtual book tour.

Dornenburg and Page were named to FoodReference.com's "Who's Who in Food" in 2006, and are members of the Authors Guild, Circle of Wine Writers, International Association of Culinary Professionals, James Beard Foundation, PEN American Center, and Slow Food. Their chapter on "Choosing a Cooking School: The Role of Education in a Cooking Career" has appeared in every annual edition of Peterson's Culinary Schools. They have served as judges for a number of food and/or wine competitions, including the Old Ebbitt Grill's annual Oyster Riot oyster wine competition (along with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia), the Association of Food Journalists' annual journalism awards competition, Fleet Week's "Best Chow" competition aboard The Intrepid, and the annual Tribeca Cook-Off at Tribeca Rooftop. In addition, they served on the Advisory Panel for the Dallas Wine and Food Festival's Rising Star Chefs' Contest for several years.

The couple has donated a percentage of the royalties from BECOMING A CHEF to award several scholarships through the James Beard Foundation to aspiring chefs seeking formal culinary education.  They have also awarded dinerships so that aspiring chefs could experience four-star dining.

Married since 1990, Dornenburg and Page live in New York City.

"The foremost experts on the secrets of success behind America's best chefs and restaurants, James Beard Award-winning authors
Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page have written several
bestselling books on America's vibrant restaurant culture."
—Amazon.com, in the authors' article The Cult of Celebrity Chefs

Karen Page & Andrew Dornenburg interview chefs Terrance Brennan
of Picholine (left) and Tom Valenti of Cesca (right) for TaxiVu

"The Bestest Ever Cookbook?...All of Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg's books. Just good reads."
—Judy Amster, cookbook specialist and consultant, with Kim Ricketts Books (Seattle) and formerly of Powell's Books for Cooks (Portland)

"[Tonight's guests] are three people who know everything there is to know about food:  Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, and [Chicago magazine's Chief Dining Critic] Dennis Ray Wheaton..."
—Milt Rosenberg, renowned host of Extension 720 on WGN (Chicago)

"WOW!! I have worked with a lot of authors over the years, but you are absolutely THE BEST! Thank you for everything you are doing to make BECOMING A CHEF a star. Your book is truly unique and is destined to make a real difference in the market."
—Marianne Russell, President, Van Nostrand Reinhold

"Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page...are very prolific writers whose...books are extremely popular among, and indeed essential to, chefs in America.”
—Arthur Schwartz, award-winning author and radio host

"Just wanted to thank you for an amazing presentation.  Jim, Gerry and I were very excited about the ideas that you came up with and we look forward to sharing them with the rest of the team."
—Jennifer Stein, brand manager, Sara Lee Corporation

"They've been called the 'Dynamic Duo of Dining'...and every time they sit down to write a new book, two things happen: First, they create a whole new genre of food writing, which started with their first book BECOMING A CHEF and which they also did with my personal favorite DINING OUT; and second, that book goes on to win at least one major cookbook award."
—Pat Tanner, host, "Dining Today" on WHWH Radio (Princeton, NJ)

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Did you know...that the restaurant industry employs an estimated 12.5 million people, making it the nation's largest employer outside of government?