J. Kenji Lopez-Alt
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt
Background
López-Alt graduated from MIT in 2002, where he majored in architecture. He is the son of Harvard geneticist and immunologist Frederick Alt, and on López-Alt's mother's side, the grandson of chemist Koji Nakanishi[5]. Upon marriage, López-Alt combined his birth surname, Alt, with that of his wife Adriana López, a PhD MIT graduate. As of 2019, Kenji resides in San Mateo, California, after previously living in New York City and Boston.[6]
Career
López-Alt worked with several Boston chefs including Barbara Lynch and Ken Oringer.[7] He went on to work as a test cook and editor at Cook's Illustrated magazine and America's Test Kitchen.[4] He was the Managing Culinary Director and is the Chief Culinary Consultant of "Serious Eats", a food blog,[8] where he authors the James Beard Award-nominated column "The Food Lab".[9] He is also a columnist for Cooking Light.[10]
Publishing
His first book, The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science, was published in September 2015 by W. W. Norton & Company.[11] It was a New York Times Bestseller[12] and won the 2016 James Beard Foundation Award for General Cooking,[13] as well as the International Association of Culinary Professionals awards for Best American Cookbook and Cookbook of the Year.[14]
López-Alt is working on a follow-up to The Food Lab. He is also working with Gianna Ruggiero on a children’s picture book.[15]