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B I O G R A P H Y

Rozanne Gold
Her visionary food ideas take many forms, but everything Gold touches turns delicious.

Rozanne Gold is one of the food world's most prominent and creative figures. A renowned chef, international consultant, and three-time James Beard Award-winning author, she has been at the leading edge of reshaping the American appetite for some 20 years.

AWARD-WINNING CHEF: Gold's meteoric career was launched at age 23 when she became executive chef at Gracie Mansion for New York Mayor Ed Koch. As Chef-Director since 1984 of the internationally lauded food and restaurant consulting firm, Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Co., her work has moved restaurants and food companies to the next level of success. She was consulting chef for two of New York's most celebrated (and highest grossing) restaurants: the magical Rainbow Room, where she was co-owner, and the "new" Windows on the World.

Business Week magazine deemed her a "Mover and Shaker" (1987), Cooking Light magazine selected her as one of America's Top Five Enlightened Chefs (1996), and Chef magazine nominated her as Innovator of the Year (1997).

BEST-SELLING AUTHOR: Gold's books have won the culinary world's most prestigious prizes - remarkably, she has won the James Beard Cookbook Award three times. She has been called the "mother of simplicity" and the "diva of culinary minimalism," based on her philosophy of minimizing ingredients to maximize taste. She introduced sophisticated cooks to her "keep it simple" cuisine in 1994, with Little Meals: A Great New Way to Eat and Cook (Villard), a Beard award winner. She won a second Beard Award (1997) with her next book, Recipes 1-2-3: Fabulous Food Using Only 3 Ingredients (Viking), now published in three languages. Her third book, Recipes 1-2-3 Menu Cookbook (Little, Brown), a Beard nominee, appeared in 1998. Her fourth, Entertaining 1-2-3 (Little, Brown, 1999), brought Gold her third Beard award. The book also was nominated for the IACP/Julia Child Cookbook Award. Her fifth book, Healthy 1-2-3, is being published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang in Spring 2001.

INNOVATIVE TASTEMAKER: Gold is known for creating new trends and inventing concepts that give restaurants and food companies a competitive advantage. An early proponent for American regional cooking, she helped create American Spoon Foods, the first specialty food company to focus on regional American ingredients. She invented Hudson River Cuisine, turning the idea into a three-star restaurant, the Hudson River Club. She also helped develop New York's first pan-Mediterranean restaurant (Café Greco), and invented "Med-Rim" cuisine, expanding the American palate for Mediterranean foods.

TELEVISION PERSONALITY: Gold is familiar to millions of viewers through regular appearances on such programs as Good Morning America, Later Today, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, the Food Network's In Food Today, and on CNN, CNBC and PBS. She is also the host/creator of Healthy 1-2-3T, an upcoming television series based on the book.

FOOD JOURNALIST: Gold also has written for such major publications as The New York Times, Gourmet, Bon Appétit, Cooking Light, Working Woman, Self, and Restaurant Business, and is advisor and featured food writer for the new Web site, anti-oxidant.com. (She has also been the subject of articles in such publications as Business Week, Newsweek, Gourmet, Redbook, Cooking Light, Mirabella, New York Magazine, and House Beautiful.) She developed the wine industry's first peel-off labels - with food pairings and a recipe on the back. For the gourmet specialty market, she created Venetian Wine Cake, a lemon-kissed pound cake with a lilt of rosemary. The Food & Beverage Association of America named her "Hospitality Professional of the Year" in 1997.

LECTURER, EDUCATOR: As one writer put it, Gold is a "food expert's expert." She is often invited to speak by major U.S. and multinational food companies about food, wine, and future consumer trends. She is Distinguished Visiting Professor for the Year 2000 at Drexel University in Philadelphia. She is a frequent guest chef and lecturer at the Culinary Institute of America; the James Beard House; New York University; and the New School for Social Research.

SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY: Gold is past president of Les Dames d'Escoffier, New York and served as first Vice-President of Les Dames International. She sits on the Board of Directors of New York City Technical College, Hospitality Department; Assaf Harofeh Medical Center in Tel Aviv; the editorial Board of Beverage Media, and Food Arts magazine. She is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals; Women Chefs & Restaurateurs; James Beard Foundation, Commanderie du Bontemps de Medoc et Graves. She has been honored by the Jewish National Fund for her enormous efforts on behalf of Israel and was named one of the 50 most important Americans influencing travel and tourism to Israel by Israel's Government in May 1999. She also was chosen one of "Four Women Chefs for Peace" on a mission to Israel.

PERSONAL: A graduate of Tufts University with honors in psychology and education, Gold lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with her husband, Michael Whiteman. She is now writing a screenplay about a woman chef with a delicious political message. Voters find it so irresistible that they sweep her into the Oval Office.

 

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