Kate Heddings

Title: Senior Editor

At Food & Wine since: 2000

Born and Raised: New York City

Background: After deciding that I wanted to work in food publishing, I attended The French Culinary Institute in Manhattan and started freelancing in various magazine test kitchens (Saveur, Martha Stewart Living). Eventually, I wound up in cookbook editing (William Morrow, Artisan).

What I Do at Food & Wine: In a typical day, I might taste a strawberry shortcake recipe in the Test Kitchen for the Last Bite column, call a chef to assign the Chef Recipes Made Easy column, and edit recipes for the Fast column. I also strategize about projects for Food & Wine books: I edit our annual recipe collection and a second cookbook we do called Best of the Best. When I'm not in the Test Kitchen trying everything from grilled sea bass to crab cakes to lemon bread pudding, I might be in the art department discussing layouts for my stories or brainstorming future story ideas with the food department.

Ideal Eating Day: Dim sum in Chinatown, lunch in Koreatown and family-style Italian for dinner. And dessert between each meal.