COLLEEN ARNETT recently graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in Journalism and a certificate in International Human Rights. Two of her biggest passions in life are writing and traveling. Last year she was fortunate enough to live and study abroad in India. While there, she fell in love with the country, the people, and the cuisine. In her free time Colleen enjoys baking, photography, playing with her dog, and exploring the city. Colleen was born and raised in Columbus, and after spending the past few years away, she is thrilled to be back home living and working in the city she loves.

 

JANINE AQUINO was raised in the Hudson Valley area of New York and is a fourth generation wine professional. She recently started AQUINO BARON Rare & Fine Wines, Ltd. based in Worthington, OH, which offers many services to wineries, restaurants, cooking schools and individual collectors. She sits on the board of Edible Columbus magazine. You can contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.AQUINOBARON.com.

 

JENNIFER BARTLEY is a registered landscape architect and founder of the design firm, American Potager LLC in Granville, Ohio. She is passionate about creating outdoor garden spaces that are well designed, functional and beautiful - gardens that feed the soul as well as the stomach. She is committed to choosing the right plant for the right place and is an expert in creating seasonal, edible and sustainable gardens. She spent two years planting, growing, harvesting, creating recipes, eating and then photographing home-grown food for her latest book, The Kitchen Gardener’s Handbook. She is the author, illustrator and photographer of this and her first book, Designing the New Kitchen Garden also published by Timber Press. She can be found through her website at americanpotager.com.

 

JENNA BRUCOLI is a graphic designer and lifestyle blogger, living and working in Columbus. She spends her days as an in-house designer for The Ohio Union, and enjoys working with Edible Columbus when she's off the clock. Her work has been featured on the web by Design Ignites Change, The Living Principles Blog, and OpenIDEO. She also received an Award of Excellence from the 2010 CSCA Creative Best awards for her senior thesis project.  Check out more at her blog, Jenna Sais Quois: http://jennasaisquois.blogspot.com/

 

LUCY ENGELMAN is a recent BFA graduate and illustrator living in Northfield, IL. In addition to working with Edible Hudson Valley, Lucy has created works for several magazines and publishing houses listed on her site. To see more of her work, visit lucyengelman.com.

 

MOLLY HAYS graduated from the University of Washington with two degrees, one Mellon Fellowship, and no idea when to buy a melon.  Since moving to Ohio in early 2009, Molly and her family of five have been getting to know Columbus one ice cream scoop at a time.  Molly writes about food and life at www.remedialeating.com.

Raised in a nomadic and adventurous family, CLAIRE HOPPENS called five states home and attended three colleges before earning her degree in magazine journalism from the Scripps School at Ohio University this past spring. When she isn't tending to duties as an Edible Columbus intern, Claire works as a Snowville Creamery representative and keeps up all social media for theswankyabode.com, her boyfriend's store. Claire is inspired by the city of Columbus and hopes to put down some sturdier roots here. For a while, at least!

 

CHEF HUBERT KELLER is known best for his world-renowned restaurants Fleur de Lys (San Francisco), Fleur by Hubert Keller (Las Vegas) and Burger Bar (San Francisco, Las Vegas and St. Louis). Having delighted the palates of his peers, food writers and restaurant critics alike with his imaginative, modern French cuisine, he has received numerous awards and is regarded as one of America’s most talented chefs. His influence extends beyond his restaurant kitchens to the millions of people he reaches through his cookbooks The Cuisine of Hubert Keller (Ten Speed Press), Burger Bar: Build Your Own Ultimate Burger (Wiley) and the forthcoming Souvenirs: Memories, Stories and Recipes from My Life (Andrews McMeel, Fall 2012).

  

MARTA MADIGAN is a Polish freelance travel and food writer who, as an editor and contributor, helped begin the Polish edition of National Geographic magazine. Of her many NG stories she covered a variety of food related topics such as Spanish tapas, French cuisine, Polish Christmas traditions and Sonoma and Napa Valley wines. After she moved from Warsaw to Atlanta, she wrote a chapter on Southern cooking for a collective book on international cuisines published in 2008 in Poland. She and her husband live in German Village where, in her kitchen, she experiments with locally grown produce and wild game. Her husband claims they live in the best restaurant in town.

NANCY MCKIBBEN has been writing and eating for years, and is happy to combine those loves with the opportunity to advocate for local food in the pages of Edible Columbus. Her novel The Chaos Protocol was a finalist for the Ohioana Book Award for Fiction in 2000, and she was the winner of the Thurber House Essay Contest in 2003. She is also a lyricist and journalist, the mother of six, and the wife of one. View her work at www.leader.com/nancymckibben; contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

 

CATHERINE MURRAY, owner of Photo Kitchen, lover of food and photography—some might call her obsessed. Often spotted at the farmers market. Enjoys washing dishes. Spends her days creating photos good enough to eat. www.photokitchen.net 

 

 

 

 

 

ViICTORIA SPENCER is a freelance writer and editor focusing on food, cooking and other elemental subjects. She divided her time between New York City and Delaware County, New York.

 

JESSICA OPREMCAK is a freelance photographer and owner of Opremcak Photography in Columbus, Ohio. Jessica graduated from Ohio University with honors and a Bachelors of Science in visual communications and double minor in biological sciences and business administration. When she doesn't have a camera in hand, she can be found gardening, cooking, eating, writing, dancing, traveling, enjoying a glass of wine, reading, riding her bike, visiting farmers markets, exploring, and laughing. To see her portfolio visit www.opremcakphotography.com.

 

An entrepreneurial businessman and dairy nerd, WARREN TAYLOR started the world’s largest pure consulting company working in food processing and facility design. There his passion for high quality milk and cultured dairy products, paired with international travel and business for numerous dairy companies, taught the diverse approaches to milk production, processing, distribution, marketing, and consumption.

Warren considers the responsibility to serve the public good central to individuals and corporations in an enlightened and progressive society under sound governance.  He believes that the principles of democracy require that consumers have a primary right to know and influence how their food is produced, processed, labeled, distributed, inspected, regulated, and subsidized.

 

My name is MADELINE SCHERER and I am almost 10½ years old. I have a big family—seven of us. Mommy, Daddy, me and I have two sisters and two brothers—all younger than me. I am homeschooled—or alternatively schooled, as my mom likes to say. I take classes all over the city! My favorite things to do are practice the piano and violin, read books and go to my Uncle Tom's farm. I absolutely love to cook and started cooking as soon as I could read recipes, at least that's what I remember. I make a great guacamole and a pretty good hummus, too. Someday I want to become a farmer and cook all foods from my farm.

 

 

CAROLE TOPALIAN, co-founder and vice president of Edible Communities, Inc., travels the world with a gifted and finely tuned photographer's eye. Carole's photographs bring the Edible Communities' mission to life, telling visual narratives about what local food networks look like today. Capturing the essence and purity of a single vegetable at the peak of ripeness or a pair of weathered farmer's hands, readers immediately connect with the compelling images that fill all Edible magazines. Topalian's unique ability to bring stories to life and to communicate through her photography is what allows her to excel as the publishing group's creative director.

Earlier in her career, Carole owned a Los Angeles-based multimedia company where she produced several award-winning advertising and promotional campaigns for major corporations. In the 1990s, she decided to leave the corporate world behind and study psychology at Pacific Graduate Institute. Today, Carole enjoys life in Santa Fe, New Mexico where she is an active ceramicist and gardener. Her fine art photographs have been exhibited in over 70 shows throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Visit www.topalianphoto.com for more information. "Edible: A Celebration of Local Foods," was published by John Wiley & Sons in April 2010 and four community-based Edible Communities cookbooks are forthcoming from Sterling Publishing — all are filled with Topalian's vivid images.

TAMARA MANN TWEEL is a freelance writer and PhD candidate in American History at Columbia University. Born and raised in New York City, Tamara comes from a boisterous clan of exploratory eaters with two passions: family and food. She is excited to bring this spirit to Columbus and discover the many world traditions that are being recreated within our city. Her culinary writing has appeared in such publications as The Washington Post, Icons of American Cooking and Museum.  

 

BETH URBAN joined American Community Gardening Association as Executive Director in May 2011. For the past 12 years, Beth worked at Communities In Schools of Central Ohio as the Director of Operations. While in that position, the organization started four new school gardens in their afterschool programs. Beth says that these programs were a great way to build a sense of community and teach the students about the value of locally grown food. Beth hopes to be able to build on her past experiences in community building to help further the mission of ACGA. As a lifelong organic gardener, she still struggles with how to keep her cats from sitting on all of her plants, and welcomes challenges both big and small.

 

SUSAN WEBER, principal of Integrity Sustainable Planning and Design, has two decades of experience in sustainable design, business ownership, project development, oversight and management. Susan loves to cook with family and friends and has a special knack for preparing dishes using fresh-from-the-garden ingredients. She is known for her passion for using unique salvaged materials in projects throughout her home, and she still has a deep and abiding love affair with her hometown: Columbus, Ohio!

 

KIT YOON was born and raised in Thailand. She came to the United States in the late '80s and has since lived in Boston, Northern California, and now, Columbus, Ohio. She is a freelance photographer and writer as well as a trained acupuncturist and reflexologist. She lives in Bexley with her husband, two children, two chicks, and a bunny. You can also find her blogging at kityoon.blogspot.com.