Jeffrey Steingarten attended Harvard College, Harvard Law School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Harvard Lampoon to become a culinary writer. He has been the internationally feared and recognized food critic of Vogue magazine for the past eight years. He has worked as a food correspondent for Slate, an online publication. Steingarten has received numerous prizes from the James Beard Foundation and the International Association of Culinary Professionals for pieces in this book. For his articles on French food, the French Republic appointed him a Knight in the Order of Merit on Bastille Day, 1994.

Chevalier Steingarten has no favorite meal, color, or song as a man who ate everything. Memphis, Paris, Alba, Chengdu--and his New York City loft--are his favored dining locations.