Rachel Wharton is an accomplished freelance reporter and food writer with a focus on enterprise journalism and creative storytelling. A graduate of the NYU food studies master's program, she covers food from a 360 viewpoint -- culture, identity, agriculture, the environment, business, cooking, recipes, and related issues.
In 2010, she won a James Beard Foundation journalism award for a series of stories spent observing a shift in the restaurant kitchens of the then-brand-new Brooklyn food scene. In 2019, she published her first reported food book, "American Food: A Not-So-Serious History," designed to tackle the creation myths and misconceptions around iconic foods in the United States -- like hot wings, the invention of the hole in the doughnut, and shrimp and grits.
She has also written several award-winning food narratives and cookbooks with chefs, artists, and other food professionals. These have included the illustrated book "Food Anatomy" (now in its second printing); the NY Times best-selling food and dieting memoir "I'll Start Tomorrow;" the James Beard Foundation-nominated “I am a Filipino and This is How I Cook,” and “I like Pig,” an e-book nominated for an International Association of Culinary Professionals cookbook award.