Arthur Schwartz

Arthur Schwartz, also known as The Schwartz Who Ate New York, was one of the first male newspaper food editors in the country and is now a cookbook author, cooking teacher, and host of "Arthur Schwartz with Food Talk," a daily program heard on WOR radio, New York's number one talk station. On Sundays, his two-hour program is syndicated across the U.S. And Canada

Schwartz's career started 30 years ago as assistant food editor and food feature writer at Long Island's Newsday. Nine years later he created the New York Daily News "Good Living" section and became executive food editor, as well as food and restaurant critic. All four of his cookbooks were nominated for national awards: Cooking In A Small Kitchen (Little Brown, 1978), What To Cook When You Think There's Nothing In The House To Eat (HarperCollins, 1992), Soup Suppers (HarperCollins, 1994) and his latest work, Naples At Table: Cooking In Campania, which was published by HarperCollins in November 1998, immediately hit the Los Angeles Times Hot List, the nation's only cookbook bestseller list. It was nominated for a 1999 James Beard Foundation Award in the International Cookbook category.

You might say Schwartz was born with a wooden spoon in his mouth. His paternal grandfather was first a professional chef, then a food manufacturer, then a curmudgeonly waiter in a Jewish dairy restaurant. His maternal grandmother's home cooking was the envy and despair of the neighbors. His father could spend an entire day shopping for just the right ingredients for one dinner. In short, he grew up in a food-obsessed Brooklyn family that went, and still goes, to any length for a good meal.

He is the author of numerous articles for a wide range of magazines, including Saveur, Food & Wine, Cuisine, Vintage, French Vogue, German Lui, Playbill, and Great Recipes. He has been the New York restaurant critic for Travel-Holiday magazine's annual Good Value Dining Awards, and a New York restaurant critic for Food & Wine magazine.

During the summer of 1989, he was the food critic on Fox network's (WNYW-TV) local morning show, Good Day New York. He has also appeared several times on Good Morning America and Live with Kathie and Regis, and continues to make frequent TV appearances —on the Food Network, The Learning Channel, Discovery Channel, the Lifetime Network and on New York's MetroGuide.

Schwartz teaches to sold-out classes at all the major cooking schools in the metro New York area—The New School and Peter Kump in Manhattan, The Silo, The Complete Kitchen and The Good Food Store in Connecticut, and across New Jersey, at the four Kings Cookingstudios, Classic Thyme, La Cucina d'Ana and Cooktique.

He has lectured and conducted seminars at, among other institutions of higher education, New York University, Columbia University, New York City Technical College, The French Culinary Institute, and the Culinary Institute of America.

In November 1997 Arthur Schwartz was honored as Cooking Teacher of the Year by the New York Association of Cooking Teachers. He is an active member of the International Association of Cooking Professionals (IACP). In 1999 he received the IACP Award of Excellence in Electronic Media. His show was also nominated for the 1999 James Beard Foundation Broadcast Media Awards for the best radio show on food.

He is listed in Who's Who in America.

Visit Arthur Schwartz's Web site at www.foodmaven. com.

Naples at Table
Cooking in Campania
By Arthur Schwartz
HarperCollins Publishers
Hardback, $27.50, November 1998
ISBN: 0-06-018261-X
Reprinted by permission.