Michele Anna Jordan

Michele Anna Jordan, a second-generation Californian who has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area her entire life, possesses a unique blend of talents. A chef as well as a writer, Jordan brings a solid culinary background to her work. During her twelve years as a working chef she received numerous awards, yet in the early 1990s, she changed her professional focus to her first love, writing.

Michele Anna Jordan has written ten books, her most recent being Polenta (Broadway Books, 1997) and Salt and Pepper (Broadway Books, 1999).

Jordan writes a weekly column, "The Jaded Palate" for the Sonoma Press Democrat and has a weekly radio show, "Mouthful with Michele Anna Jordan" on KCRB-FM. In 1995, Jordan joined San Francisco Focus magazine as restaurant critic and contributing editor. Jordan has written for numerous national publications, including Appellation, Wine Enthusiast, Kitchen Garden, Bon Appetit; Food and Wine, Asian Week, Sky, Wine & Spirits, Electronic Gourmet Guide, and au Juice, the Journal of Eatin' Drinkin' and Screwin 'Around.

For her writing, Jordan has received multiple awards, including Small Press Awards' Best Cookbook in 1998 and a James Beard Award for Magazine Feature Writing. In the fall of 1998, Jordan was a featured speaker at the annual Pepper and Spice Seminar in Kuching, capital of Sarawak, one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo.

Jordan teaches and lectures on a variety of topics including salt, olive oil, and writing. She has two daughters, Gina and Nicolle; two cats, Olive and Mario; and a 1954 Seeburg Select-o-matic-100 jukebox, and makes her home in both western Sonoma County and San Francisco.

Salt & Pepper
135 Perfectly Seasoned Recipes
By Michele Anna Jordan
Broadway Books
Hardback, $25.00, April 1999
ISBN: 0-7679-0027-8
Reprinted by permission.