Anya von Bremzen

Anya von Bremzen is a three-time James Beard Award-winning author and food writer. She frequently contributes to Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, Saveur, and AFAR. Anya has published eight acclaimed cookbooks, including Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking. She has taken readers on a culinary journey around the world through her writing.

Experience: Moscow-born Anya von Bremzen was a concert pianist sidelined by a hand injury and looking for something to do. That something turned out to be her award-winning first cookbook, Please to the Table (1990), which launched her illustrious food writing career. She has taken readers around the world through her writing in magazines and cookbooks, from Russia, Turkey, and Spain to Latin America, Cuba, and Asia. In addition to winning three James Beard Awards, Anya was nominated six more times for her work. When she is not crisscrossing the globe on her many culinary adventures, Anya divides her time between New York and Istanbul.

Education: Anya studied to be a concert pianist at The Juilliard School.