Karen Page(May 8, 1962 - )
(See also: Interview with Karen Page) Karen Page is the award-winning co-author (with her husband Andrew Dornenburg) of a number of groundbreaking books on gastronomy and professional cooking, including BECOMING A CHEF, CULINARY ARTISTRY, DINING OUT, CHEF'S NIGHT OUT, THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF, and WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT.
Their first book BECOMING A CHEF has been credited with establishing the contemporary category of literary food writing. It won the 1996 James Beard Book Award for Best Writing on Food, and has been cited as "a cult classic" by Restaurants & Institutions magazine. Their second, CULINARY ARTISTRY, is the first known reference on culinary composition and flavor compatibility, and is cited as an inspiration to top chefs around the globe. DINING OUT, for which they spent a year eating out with restaurant critics, was called "the best book on the field" by The Washington Post and named one of the world's best books on gastronomy at the World Cookbook Fair in Perigueux, France, and a Finalist for both the 1999 James Beard and IACP Cookbook Awards. CHEF'S NIGHT OUT, named the #1 culinary book of 2001 by FabulousFoods.com, was cited as "indispensible" by Bon Appetit magazine. THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF, a 2004 IACP Cookbook Award Finalist, was termed "a godsend" by Restaurant Hospitality magazine.
Long innovators at the intersection of food and technology, they co-hosted: "The Chef's Dinner Club," one of the Internet's first culinary programs on AOL in 1995; Julia Child for her first-ever online chat on AOL in 1996; the show "Chef's Night Out" airing on TaxiVu (in the backseats of NYC taxicabs) in 2002-2003; the first Live Blog from backstage at the James Beard Awards in May 2006; and the Web's first gastronomic Virtual Book Tour in October 2006.
After earning a BA degree in economics from Northwestern and an MBA from Harvard, Page served as a strategy consultant to Fortune 500 food and beverage companies, which interested her in how leading chefs were artists whose innovations and creativity greatly influenced the direction of the industry. Page was awarded the 1997 Melitta Bentz Award for Women's Achievement, given in honor of the billion-dollar coffee products company's woman founder. Since 2001, she has been an invited guest to, and has served on the Steering Committee for, Citymeals-on-Wheels' Power Lunch for Women, which brings together 300 of New York's most powerful women annually to raise nearly $1 million to feed the homebound elderly.
Page and Dornenburg were featured on the cover of the 50th anniversary issue of CHEF magazine in September 2006 for being at the forefront of American dining. They have co-delivered a number of commencement addresses at America's leading culinary schools, including the Culinary Institute of America, and spoken in venues ranging from the 92nd Street Y to the Schlesinger Library to the Smithsonian. Visit the Dornenburg/Page website:
http://www.becomingachef.com
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