Kristine was Bon Appétit magazine’s Food Editor for 20 years, and it was her responsibility to fill its pages with the delicious, modern and reliable recipes the magazine is known for. She developed many recipes for Bon Appétit, wrote a monthly column, often created the cover dishes, and was the resident food trends expert. But her career in food began long before that.

She has been interested in cooking and everything about food since she was six, when her grandmother taught her to make the brown sugar thumbprint cookies they called Grandmother Cookies; she was enthralled by the magic of turning flour, sugar, and eggs into something so delicious. During her teen years, her parents opened a country inn and restaurant in southern Vermont, and to earn a ski pass, she helped out in the kitchen. She quickly discovered that she liked working with the chef, and before long she was spending more time in the kitchen than on the ski slopes. One day the chef disappeared and she was drafted as the new chef. She went on to work at other New England inns, and restaurants in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles. For four years, she ran a successful catering business in Southern California, and taught at UCLA and many Los Angeles cooking schools.

When she learned about an opening at Bon Appétit, she brushed up on her typing, wrote a résumé, memorized names on the masthead, and went to the offices for an interview. Within a week she was hired as an assistant food editor and began devising recipes for feature stories immediately. She worked with celebrity chefs and notable food writers, visited fabulous restaurants, and ate the food of some of the world’s best chefs.

She loves to come up with delicious recipes, and wrote five cookbooks for Williams-Sonoma and Time-Life Inc: Cookies and Biscotti, Gifts from the Kitchen, Risotto, Thanksgiving, and After Dinner, and contributed to another: Holiday Entertaining.

She enjoys sharing her knowledge about food and her passion for cooking with new writers and other food professionals. She has been a guest teacher at UCLA and the Art Institute of California. She has spoken at many major food conferences in the country, has appeared on TV food shows and radio programs, and has been a judge for the Julia Child Cookbook Awards. She also served on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) and Careers through Culinary Arts Programs (C-CAP).

As busy as she is, she makes time to prepare fresh meals at home almost every night for her family of 2. She is first and foremost a cook, and has fun experimenting with the latest ingredients. She shops at Los Angeles farmers’ markets every weekend, and uses local and sustainable ingredients whenever practical. She adds in yoga, Nordic walking, and hiking in the Sierra’s, to make certain she has a good appetite. She lives with her beau and soon-to-be-husband, Steve Peck. Steve is her editor, number one taster, and is responsible for the photos on her blog, KristineKidd.com.