About

Kristen Hess, The Artful Gourmet

Welcome! I’m Kristen Hess, a NYC food photographer and stylist, writer, and author of The Artful Gourmet. I have worked in advertising and design for a majority of my career but have always loved food and cooking from my earliest days in my Mom’s and Grandmother’s kitchens. I started experimenting with cooking once I moved to Atlanta after college, and then again when I moved to Melbourne, Australia for 2 years to study my Masters degree and learned to cook different recipes and cuisines from that culture and part of the world, and also learned a lot about international cooking with the heavy Asian, Italian and Greek culinary influence in Australia.

Peach, Prosciutto & Mozzarella Salad

I got really serious about cooking when I moved to NYC and started taking a series of cooking and technique courses at The Institute of Culinary Education. I loved it so much I was hooked! French, Italian, Spanish, Tuscan, Provencal, Thai, Malaysian, Techniques of Healthy Cooking, Fine Cooking, Italian Cooking, Southern Cooking – you name it, I took it (and still do!); fell in love with food and decided this was a serious affair - and I never looked back.

Handmade Gnocchi

I moved into my food media career as a natural extension and perfect blend of my culinary training and creative background, and started freelance writing, styling and photography, and more recently, started doing freelance on-camera Chef work for a series of online culinary videos for AllRecipes.com. I’ve studied food writing at Parsons New School, Gotham Writers/NY Times Knowledge Network (with Julia Moskin and Evan Rail) and food photography and styling at the International Center of Photography, The Institute of Culinary Education, Perfect Picture School of Photography and PhotoManhattan.

Tuscan Ingredients

I’ve also studied food styling and photography intensively with many top industry culinary and styling/photography professionals: Laurie Knoop, Jamie Tiampo, James Peterson, Lisa Golden-Schroeder, Lara Ferroni and Ron Goldman and Beatrice Peltre of La Tartine Gourmande. I am a contributing food writer for Downtown Magazine in New York, and also write, develop recipes, style and photograph for KitchenAid, Nespresso, Buitoni, OpenSky.com, The National Pork Board, Good Food Ireland, Baci Perugina Chocolate, Colavita, Tavern Direct and  eDiningNews.com. My latest ventures have led me to styling and shooting two cookbooks for Gary Null Whole Foods and Harper Collins/Stonesong Press which have both been amazing projects I am proud to have been a part of. (Stay tuned for book launch dates and where you can buy them!)

Lovely Macarons

The Artful Gourmet is the product of plenty of late nights of planning and dreaming, reading and writing, cooking and eating, and styling and shooting. My purpose is to celebrate the art of food and cooking  through colorful stories, recipes, styling and photography of my food creations, culinary adventures, events, experiences and food mentors that I’ve met or want to meet – and ultimately, all about the creativity of FOOD.

Gorgeous Raspberries & Light

There’s so much beauty in a bright red raspberry or a bright green basil leaf. A dark chocolate brown cacao bean. A luscious orange tangerine. And this is what color can do – inspire, lift us up, ignite imagination and creativity, set a mood – not only in our recipes and on our plates, but in our environments, our homes, our lifestyles, and all around us. Colorful food and creative cooking is an art form, an expression, beauty.

Santorini Greece

Dining in Tribeca NYC

I’m am proud to be a part of an amazing food community and look forward to sharing my recipes, stories, discoveries and photography with you all – Bon Appetit!

Food styling + photography portfolio: www.kristenhess.com

Twitter: @artfulgourmet
Facebook: Artful Gourmet
Pinterest: artfulgourmet
Instagram: artfulgourmet

COPYRIGHT © NOTICE

All photos, recipes, styling, design and illustration on this website have been created by Kristen Hess/The Artful Gourmet unless otherwise noted. All content copyrighted © Kristen Hess/The Artful Gourmet 2010-2013, All Rights Reserved.

If you would like to share my content on your blog, website or social media please ask for my express permission first, and please credit me with a link  “Story or Photos by Kristen Hess for The Artful Gourmet”. Please send me a link when you post it, and I’d be happy to share your site with links to my content on social media.

For commercial use, print use, publication and general distribution, please inquire about licensing rates at kristen [at] theartfulgourmet [dot] com.