CV & Published Work

Twenty+ years experience in journalism as a newspaper reporter/editor (food, local family biz, arts/culture, music), books (my own + collab writer / editor / project manager). Really, a front yard gardener with dirt-crammed fingernails. Always something to learn.

Instagram: Jenn.Garbee / jgarbee@gmail.com

Literary Agent: Janis Donnaud

BOOKS

FOCUS: Narrative (story-driven) cookbooks: lifestyle, approachable horticulture, anything else that sparks an interest (music, comedy, global and regional cuisines/food history). People and communities.

Honors

• NEW YORK TIMES Best-Selling Cookbook Collaborator
• JAMES BEARD AWARDS Cookbook Judge (multiple years)
• NPR’s SPLENDID TABLE Featured Guest

Author

• SECRET SUPPERS: Rogue Chefs & Underground Restaurants (2008) by JENN GARBEE (Narrative nonfiction/reporting, with recipes) – Sasquatch Books
  • The intimate evenings profiled and their recipes capture the spontaneity and spirit of truly homegrown dining. – Bon Appetit, Feb 2009 print issue
  • In Secret Suppers, Jenn Garbee is a smashing writer as well as a cook. – Los Angeles Times

Collaborative Writer (incl. book proposals) / Recipe Developer or Tester (chef recipes) / Project Manager

• DON’T MESS UP YOUR RICE: 70 Recipes to Impress Uncle Roger (2026) by comedian NIGEL NG with JENN GARBEE (Collaborative co-author, comedic narrative writing, and recipe developer, authentic South and South East Asian recipes) – Simon Element
• PHIL’S FAVORITES: Recipes and Stories from Friends and Family to Make at Home (2025) by PHIL ROSENTHAL and JENN GARBEE (Collaborative co-author, with narrative writing and reporting, and recipe developer/tester); part memoir, part storytelling featuring friends/family, chefs, diners, bakeries, and communities worldwide) – Simon Element
• THE PARTY SHIRT COOKBOOK: 100 Recipes for Next-Level Eats (2023) by DJs X DI PETTA & NICK IAVARONE (aka X & Ivy of @PartyShirt) and JENN GARBEE (Collaborative co-author, comedic narrative, and recipe developer) – Abrams Image
• SOMEBODY FEED PHIL THE BOOK: Untold stories and Favorite Recipes (2022, NYT Best Seller) by PHIL ROSENTHAL and JENN GARBEE (Collaborative co-author, with narrative writing and reporting, and recipe developer/tester), featuring the chefs, bakers, home cooks, and communities worldwide featured in Somebody Feed Phil) – Simon Element
• THE FIRE OF PERU: Recipes and Stories from My Peruvian Kitchen (2017) by chef RICARDO ZARATE and JENN GARBEE (Collaborative co-author, narrative writing, and recipe “fixer” (of chef recipes); part memoir, part Peruvian food history, part cookbook) – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• URBAN INGREDIENTS (2017) by beer expert CHRISTINA PEROZZI and JENN GARBEE (Collaborative co-author, narrative writing and reporting, and recipe developer; featuring beer history, education, food pairings, and modern recipes) – Prospect Park Books
• TOMATOMANIA: A Fresh Approach to Celebrating Tomatoes in the Garden and in the Kitchen (2015) by Tomatomania founder SCOTT DAIGRE and JENN GARBEE (Collaborative co-author, narrative lifestyle/garden writing, and recipe developer; a lively how-to “grow” with with modern recipes) – St. Martin’s Press
• DAS COOKBOOK: German Cooking…California Style (2014) by chefs HANS ROCKENWAGNER and WOLFGANG GUSSMACK, and JENN GARBEE (Collaborative writer and recipe tester) – Prospect Park Books
• THE THYROID SOLUTION DIET (2014) by Dr. RIDHA AREM (Recipe developer in keeping with specific Mediterranean dietary guidelines) – Atria Books

Editor (Recipes)

• LA MEXICANO: Recipes, People, and Places (2017) by Mexican food journalist/authority Bill Esparza – Prospect Park Books
• WHO WANTS SECONDS? Sociable Suppers for Vegans, Omnivores, and Everyone in Between (2013) by Jennie Cook – Prospect Park Books
• AUNTIE EM’S: A Musician’s Guide to Breakfast and Brunch (2014) by Theresa Wahl – Prospect Park Books
• EAT LOS ANGELES (2008, 2010, 2012 editions) – Prospect Park Books

Researcher (Historic recipe provenance)

• THE COOKBOOK LIBRARY: Four Centuries of the Cooks, Writers, and Recipes that Made the Modern Cookbook (2012) by Anne Willan – University of CA Press

Unpublished Books

• Untitled Memoir, Don Alias Featuring jazz artist Don Alias, the conga drummer and percussionist behind music icons incl. Miles Davis, Eartha Kitt, Jaco Pastorius, Nina Simone, Joni Mitchell, Elvis Costello, Herbie Hancock, and numerous others; unfinished due to author’s passing
  • Bake the neighbor who shares a wall “hello, neighbor!” brownies. Add a note: would love to come to a gig sometime? The neighbor puts two tickets to Lincoln Center under your door. (Oops. Not a dive bar musician banging on drums.) A part time job as a “manager” emerges with a note slipped under your door. (Neighbor: Can you “return some calls” while I’m on tour?) Sure, entry level museum pay stinks. (Wait, you want me to call *that* musician?)
• Other nonfiction books in progress: The History of Women and Beer, The Seismic Mind, surely there is a garden book somewhere in here… (What writer doesn’t have several titles of their own tucked away that they still might finish down the road?)

CLIENT PUBLISHING

GOOSE ISLAND BEER CO. (AB-InBev, 2017 – 2020) Managing Editor (all print publications), Brand Development, Consultant & Project Manager (Read: And whatever else needed to be done across multiple platforms.)

• Oversaw all aspects of Goose Island’s nascent publishing program, both full scale print books and a feature-length magazine distributed 4x year by Bon Appetit, GQ, and Wired, from concept development incl. brand narrative, editorial management incl. all contributor content (in house and contract journalists), photo shoots, recipe development, and implementation via an independent publishing house, Prospect Park Books.

Crazy idea: create multiple full-scale books *and* a feature-length magazine with a broad spectrum of print content, incl. 1000+ word reporting stories and cooking/cocktail features with no publishing or journalism staff. Zero. Instead, eager Goose Island staffers would lead the charge (well, amidst their day job), each with their obsessive knowledge of craft beer/cocktail/whiskey, artisan food (incl. one-offs like cheese), urban gardening, and the local music/indie arts scene. Add two incredibly talented in-house photographers, a stellar food stylist (worth the splurge), and it was a journey that would have been impossible in a traditional magazine or publishing setting. Goose Publications:

• INGRAIN Magazine (2017 – 2019) Feature length 120-page indie magazine for Goose Island focusing on the broader Chicago/Midwest area with quarterly distribution – via Bon Appetit, GQ & Wired
• A Cheese Book by Beer People (2019) Prospect Park Books (abandoned due to COVID)
• Urban Ingredients: The Beers, Stories, and Flavors of Goose Island Beer Co. (2018) Prospect Park Books

OTHER PRIVATE CLIENTS (multiple years): Brand Development Consultant, Writer, and Recipe Developer, as required

• Yvan Valentin Chocolate, Chilean Tourism Board, Blue Ocean Australian wine, multiple CA wineries

JOURNALISM

LOS ANGELES TIMES and LOS ANGELES TIMES MAGAZINE (2005-2008 in house; 2009-2014 freelance)

• LAT Reporter, Food, Arts/Entertainment, Travel, 2005-2012: Various food/arts beats incl. local farmers, underground restaurants, profiles (farmers, chefs, others), food history (The first “celeb chefs,” Prudence Penny and Marion Manners were, ahem, a bit….), offbeat travel (incl. Aldous Huxley’s favorite hangout), indie musicians (Old-Time musicians are back!) and artists (Knitting? Try Popsicle stick furniture.), along with a few magicians (or, what happens when circus school closes), and more (some faves here)
• LAT Artisan Columnist, Food Section (multiple years): Covering small family businesses with a longstanding and deep connection to SoCal, from mom and pop shops to Japanese noodle and German pickle factories dating to WWII (Beautiful people with important stories that otherwise would not have been told. Food can be a powerful connector.)
• LAT Craft Beer & Craft Spirits Columnist, Food Section (multiple years): Covering the rise in craft brewers and artisan spirits from LA to San Diego and Cooking, Baking, and Cocktails, Food Section (multiple years)
• LAT Editorial Assistant, Food Section, 2006; Test Kitchen Intern, 2005

Other Featured Venues (Food, Drink, Arts, multiple years)

• Columnist, LA WEEKLY, 2012-2015: Coverage includes cooking with farmers, artisan/family food businesses, and chef/food industry profiles
• Cooking & Cocktail Columnist, TRIBUNE NEWS WIRE, 2008-2010 (Nationwide distribution: Chicago Tribune, Daily Press, Orlando Sentinel, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, and others) Original stories including recipe development
• Contributor, COOKING LIGHT, BON APPETIT, ROBB REPORT, LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE, US AIRWAYS MAGAZINE, EPICURIOUS, THE TASTING PANEL General stories, from reporting to cooking, baking, cocktails, and beer

OTHER CULINARY/ARTS

Culinary Instructor (2006 – 2008): Crossroads School Santa Monica, Epicurean Culinary School West Hollywood, Chefmakers Academy Pacific Palisades; Developed curricula for both adults and kids ages 5 to 15; taught targeted skills classes with original recipes

• Creating a curriculum/developing recipes for kids of all ages that is fun *and* actually useful? The solution with elementary-age cooks: ignore the rigid school curriculum expectations. “What if we take the eggs entirely out of that cake? Pound cake anarchy! Let’s do it both ways, the ‘correct’ way and your ‘kid’ way and see what happens.” A very messy, and fun, point is made.

Pastry Chef Assistant, Lucques restaurant, 2005 (chef Suzanne Goin)

Nonprofit/Arts Administration

• Manager, Budgets and Administration, Senior Human Resources Administrator, and Retail Store Director (2004 – 2005); Manager, Budgets and Administration (2002 – 2003), UCLA Fowler Museum
  • In typical nonprofit fashion, one is sometimes handed an extra department -or two- in a sudden staffing pinch. Epic memories: the crew of volunteer “grand-ladies” who worked the store and offered 80+ years of daily advice, humor, and ahem, opinions on what to buy at the wholesale mart on those biannual trips.
• Budget and Finance Senior Coordinator, Exhibitions, J. Paul Getty Museum, 2000 – 2002
• Development and General Admin Coordinator, The New Museum of Contemporary Art
• Development Assistant/Intern, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

EDUCATION

Diplôme de Pâtisserie / Le Cordon Bleu, CA School of Culinary Arts, 2005

• Surprise of the year: the NASA engineer, there purely for fun, who made a stunning, multi-tiered *blown* sugar sculpture the very last weekend before graduation. World Pastry Cup-level sugar artistry. Who knew? Great guy, but he couldn’t bake a decent looking pastry all year.

MBA, Nonprofit Management, UTexas, Austin

• More palatable after talking my way into graduate art history classes that were somehow -!!- credited to my graduate degree in business. “Wait, hear me out!” Not surprising: many Western artists throughout history brokered trade deals, using their sketches or completed works to pay for food, lodging, and other expenses as they traversed across Europe. Consider the Northern Renaissance painter Albrecht Durer, who kept detailed sales and expense notes in his travel journals, many of which miraculously still exist 500 years later. Shouldn’t someone be studying this?

BA Philosophy, Davidson College