Aliza Green, the Philadelphia-based cookbook author, journalist and pioneering chef, is the author of five highly successful cookbooks. Her Field Guide to Produce: How to Identify, Select, and Prepare Virtually Every Fruit and Vegetable at the Market (Quirk Books), has taken the world by storm, and earned praise from such highly regarded publications and news sources as the New York Times, Newsday, Men's Health and Shape. The Houston Chronicle selected Field Guide to Produce as an Editor's Pick, and NBC's Today Show recently hosted Green in their Weekend Edition. Her highly regarded Field Guide to Meat (Quirk 2005) has been featured in Food & Wine, the Today Show, Real Simple and more. The next book in the series, Field Guide to Herbs & Spices will be published in spring of 2006 by Quirk Books.

The scuttlebutt surrounding Green’s book is certainly fitting; her previous work certainly entitles it. ¡Ceviche!: Seafood, Salads, and Cocktails With a Latino Twist (Running Press 2001), a book she co-authored with renowned chef Guillermo Pernot, received a James Beard Award for “Best Single Subject Cookbook” in 2001. Prior to it, she wrote The Bean Bible (Running Press 2000), which Booklist declared was a “comprehensive guide to the world of beans and bean cookery belongs in every cookbook collection.” Running Press has just released an updated version called BEANS: More than 200 Wholesome, Delicious Recipes from Around the World, with photos and lots of new recipes for which she is slated to appear on the Today Show Weekend Edition again. For Georges Perrier, Le Bec-Fin Recipes, a collection of recipes from Philadelphia’s landmark restaurant that Green co-wrote with highly regarded French chef, USA Today proclaimed: “Le Bec-Fin has long been known for fabulous food. Finally, after 27 years in operation, chef-owner Perrier has assembled his recipes in this attractive, photo-filled book.”

Before her career as a cookbook author, Green wrote popular weekly food columns for both the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News. Her writing has appeared in Fine Cooking, Prevention, Philadelphia Magazine, and The National Culinary Review and she writes regular food columns for Proud Neighbor. Green also served as Adjunct Professor in Drexel University's Culinary Arts Program. She has conducted numerous cooking classes, had many television appearances and radio interviews, and is a highly reputed television and print food stylist.
As one of the pioneer chefs who helped make the city of Philadelphia a dining destination, Green began her career in the mid-1970's as Executive Chef at the renowned Ristorante DiLullo, where her culinary achievements landed the restaurant a prestigious four-star rating. In 1988, The Philadelphia Inquirer inducted Chef Green into its Culinary Hall of Fame, citing her as one of the ten most influential people in the city's food industry for her uncompromising efforts at DiLullo, Apropos, an influential Mediterranean bistro, and the White Dog Café, where she originally developed the ever-popular restaurant’s deliciously regional menu by working with local farmers.

Green cites her childhood, which she spent traveling and living abroad, as the inspiration for her culinary pursuits. She has been reading about, writing about and preparing and perfecting food for most of her life. In 1975 she opened a catering business, which served as her professional start. She worked as a chef for twelve years, and began exploring other culinary options after the births of her two children. While raising a family, Green refocused her interests, and has created a new career of writing, editing, television, food styling, and culinary consulting to restaurants, hotels, caterers and food companies. Her dream is to continue cooking, traveling, and learning while writing cookbooks and working on her own radio and television shows. Keep up with Green on her website, http://www.alizagreen.com/. Her books are available online at Amazon.com.

Chef Green's Tips and Techniques.