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Kristen Hess, The Artful Gourmet

Welcome to The Artful Gourmet! I’m Kristen Hess, serious cook, food writer, stylist and photographer, recipe developer and on-camera Chef talent in NYC. 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 foods in those cultures and regions.

Peach, Prosciutto & Mozzarella Salad

But I didn’t really get serious about cooking until I moved to NYC and started taking a cooking and technique classes at The Institute of Culinary Education…French, Italian, Spanish, Tuscan, Provencal, Thai, Malaysian, Techniques of Fine Cooking and Italian Cooking, Healthy Cooking – you name it, I took it; fell in love with food and decided this was a serious affair and never looked back.

Handmade Gnocchi

I fell into my food media career as a natural extension 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 an ongoing 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 and The Institute of Culinary Education.

Tuscan Ingredients

I’ve also studied styling and photography with many seasoned industry professionals: Laurie Knoop, Jamie Tiampo, James Peterson, Lisa Golden-Schroeder, Lara Ferroni and Ron Goldman and soon Beatrice Peltre of La Tartine Gourmande. I do food writing for Downtown Magazine New York, and also contribute recipes and articles for eDiningNews.com, TavernDirect.com, Technorati.com, Suite101.com, Nearsay.com and Examiner.com.

Chicken Styling

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 share my passion and love for cooking and food and travel, and express it creatively through writing, styling and photography.

Gorgeous Raspberries & Light

My purpose is to celebrate the art of food and cooking  through colorful stories, recipes, styling and photography – thus the name, The Artful Gourmet. 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 and photography with you all – Bon Appetit!

Twitter: @artfulgourmet
Facebook: Artful Gourmet
Pinterest: artfulgourmet
Food styling + photography portfolio: www.kristenhess.com