Marie Simmons, an award-winning cookbook author, recognized food writer, talented cooking teacher and a lively story teller has made a love of cooking, teaching and writing into a career rich in breadth and scope. Marie is the former senior food editor at Cuisine magazine and test kitchen editor at Woman’s Day magazine. She has a degree in foods and nutrition from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.

Food Writer

An experienced cook and recipe developer Marie has helped shape America’s taste for over three decades.  Many of Marie’s readers say they consider her a trusted friend in the kitchen as her recipes are easy, but stylish, healthful, and most important, delicious.

Marie wrote a monthly column, Cooking for Health, for Bon Appetit magazine for 18 years and Fresh & Fast, a syndicated newspaper column for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, for 15 years. She currently writes a bi-monthly column, Simmons Sez, for the Bay Area Newspaper Group that appears in 14 newspapers in the greater Bay Area. Her recipes and articles have appeared in over a dozen popular consumer magazines, including Eating Well, Food & Wine, Fitness, Shape, Cooking Light, Ladies Home Journal, The Old Farmer’s Almanac, Modern Maturity, Redbook, Prevention, Cooking Pleasures, and Real Food.

Cooking School Teacher

Popular on the cooking school circuit Marie has taught throughout the US including most recently In Good Taste in Portland OR, Cooks Pots and Table Tops in Eugene, OR, Ramekins in Sonoma, CA, and Central Markets in Texas. In 2004 Simmons taught nationwide in 18 Sur La Table cooking schools to promote her latest cookbook, FIG HEAVEN. In 2008 she traveled again to 11 Sur La Table cooking schools and made dozens of radio and TV appearances to help promote THINGS COOKS LOVE: IMPLEMENTS, INGREDIENTS, RECIPES (Andrews McMeel Publishers April 2008), the first cookbook from Sur La Table, the trusted cookware retailer, From January 2005 to January 2006 Simmons took a break from writing and worked as Culinary Programs Manager at COPIA: THE AMERICAN CENTER FOR WINE, FOOD, AND THE ARTS in Napa, CA. In 2007 and 2008 Marie was a guest instructor at La Cocina que Canta the beautiful new cooking school at the renowned fitness and spa resort, Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico.  

Books

Marie has authored (and co-authored) over 20 cookbooks. 365 WAYS TO COOK PASTA (Harper & Row, 1988), still a popular favorite among many cooks, has over 500,000 copies in print. THE GOOD EGG (Houghton Mifflin, 2000) won the James Beard Award. LIGHTER, QUICKER, BETTER (co authored with Richard Sax), won both the Julia Child and James Beard cookbook awards, the culinary equivalent of two gold medals. Another cookbook, THE LIGHT TOUCH was nominated for both of these awards, as well. Marie wrote the Beans and Grains Chapter for the NEW JOY OF COOKING (Scribner 1997). She is the writer on the first cookbook from Sur La Table, THINGS COOKS LOVE: IMPLEMENTS, INGREDIENTS, RECIPES (April 2008)

Simmons is also the author of:

A to Z BAR COOKIES (Chapters, 1994)

A TO Z MUFFINS (Chapters, 1995)

A TO Z PANCAKES (Chapters, 1997)

A TO Z PUDDINGS (Chapters, 1999). 

HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS (Williams-Sonoma, 1998)

COOKIES (Williams-Sonoma, 2002)

FRESH & FAST (Chapters, 1996 and re-issued by Houghton Mifflin 2004)

ITALIAN LIGHT COOKING (Putnam Publishing, 1992)

RICE, THE AMAZING GRAIN  (Henry Holt and Company, 1991)

THE AMAZING WORLD OF RICE (William Morrow, 2003)

ESSENTIALS OF HEALTHFUL COOKING (Williams-Sonoma 2004)

FIG HEAVEN (William Morrow, May, 2004)

MASTERING SOUPS & STEWS (William-Sonoma 2005)

Spokesperson and Presenter

Marie has made hundreds of radio and TV appearances including: View from the Bay on CBS, CBS This Morning, Good Morning America, CNN Cooking 101, TV Food Network with Sara Moulton, Home Matters on Discovery, The Main Ingredient, and At Home on Lifetime. Marie receives many invitations for guest appearances and spokesperson positions. An excellent presenter and a well respected culinary expert, Simmons has been a guest speaker for the following organizations: The Rice Federation, The International Association of Cooking Professionals, The Symposium for Professional Food Writers at The Greenbrier, Bon Appetit Health Fair Seminars, The California Almond Board, and The Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.