Aliza Green, the Philadelphia-based cookbook author, journalist and pioneering chef, is the author of eight highly successful cookbooks and two more on the way.
With a flurry of new releases, Green has appeared twice on NBC’s Today Show to promote her books. Her Field Guide to Meat: How to Identify, Select, and Prepare Virtually Every Meat, Poultry, and Game Cut (Quirk Books 2005) has earned top praises from Food & Wine and Real Simple. Her Field Guide to Produce: How to Identify, Select, and Prepare Virtually Every Fruit and Vegetable at the Market (Quirk Books 2004), was highly regarded by the New York Times, Newsday, Men’s Health, Shape and Houston Chronicle, which selected Field Guide to Produce as an Editor’s Pick.
With the growing success of the series, her Field Guide to Herbs & Spices (Quirk Books 2006) and Field Guide to Seafood (Quirk Books 2007) are the latest entries in this popular series. Her masterly Starting with Ingredients: Quintessential Recipes for the Way We Really Cook was published to outstanding reviews in the fall of 2006. With over 550 recipes and detailed, practical, information about the background, culture, history, and uses of 100 important ingredients, this book has been flying off the shelves in the United States and Canada.
As one of the pioneer chefs who helped make the city of Philadelphia a dining destination, Green began her career in the mid-1970’s as Executive Chef at the renowned Ristorante DiLullo, where her culinary achievements landed the restaurant a prestigious four-star rating. In 1988, The Philadelphia Inquirer inducted Chef Green into its Culinary Hall of Fame, citing her as one of the ten most influential people in the city’s food industry for her uncompromising efforts at Ristorante DiLullo, Apropos, an influential Mediterranean bistro, and the White Dog Café, where she developed the ever-popular restaurant’s deliciously regional menu by working with local farmers.
Green cites her childhood, which she spent traveling and living abroad, as the inspiration for her culinary pursuits. She has been reading about, writing about and preparing and perfecting food for most of her life. In 1975 she opened a catering business, which served as her professional start. She worked as a chef for twelve years, and began exploring other culinary options after the births of her two children. While raising a family, Green refocused her interests, and created a new career of writing, editing, television, food styling, and culinary consulting to restaurants, hotels, caterers and food companies. Her dream is to continue cooking, traveling, and learning while writing cookbooks and working on her own radio and television shows.
Find out more at her website, alizagreen.com.
