Bryan Washington Bryan Washington is an acclaimed writer based in Houston, Texas. His fiction, essays, and articles have appeared in such publications as The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Time, The Paris Review, Boston Review, Bon Appétit, and GQ. Bryan is the author of an award-winning collection of short stories Lot (2019) and a novel Memorial (2020). Experience As a latchkey kid growing up in Houston, Bryan Washington learned how to cook in junior high by observing and emulating the techniques of his neighbors. His cul-de-sac community introduced Bryan to a world of tastes, styles, and food traditions from the Philipines, Cuba, Japan, and Iran. These early experiences influenced how Bryan would later use food as a vehicle through which to explore such things as pleasure, comfort, conflict, intimacy, and dissonance in his fiction. The New York Times praised Bryan's debut novel Memorial for his "focused, detailed, hunger-inducing descriptions of meals and cooking." Although he wouldn't necessarily call himself a food writer per se, Bryan has been drawn to the subject ever since he read his first cookbook. Writer John Birdsall calls Bryan a "master of the culinary essay," ruminating on such topics as salt fish and ackee, omurice, sundubu-jjiae, a year of takeout orders, and Houston's grocery stores. In addition to his articles and essays, Bryan is an Eat columnist for The New York Times Magazine. Education Bryan attended the University of Houston, where he graduated with a bachelor of arts in English. He has a master of fine arts degree from the University of New Orleans. About Food & Wine Food & Wine, a Dotdash Meredith Brand, is an award-winning online resource for anyone passionate about the culinary world. With rigorously tested recipes and the most trusted restaurant, drinks, culinary travel and home coverage, we inspire and empower people everywhere to discover, create, and devour the best in food and wine. Learn more about us and our editorial process.