Cynthia Bertelsen

I’ve written about food and culture for years, squirreling away everything in notebooks, computer files, and brain cells. Early on, I wrote 81 weekly columns on food and cooking for the Cedar Key Beacon in Cedar Key, Florida.

I’ve cooked for years, beginning with family meals and then graduating to a little restaurant work, some catering, and many dinner parties cooked under often trying circumstances — food shortages, revolution, water-main burstings, and curfews. I’ve eaten in dives and Michelin 3-star restaurants, shaken hands with great chefs, hugged street-market women for sharing recipes with me, and cooked in more kitchens than cells in a beehive. Or almost.

My background includes more than traveling and living in many countries. A few years ago, after writing regular reviews of books on multicultural topics for The Roanoke Times, I joined the National Book Critics Circle. As a critic and freelance writer, I make full use of my educational background, which includes a BA degree in Latin American Studies, a MA in History, a MS in Human Nutrition and Foods, and a MLIS in Library and Information Science.