Marie Simmons

Marie Simmons is an award-winning cookbook author, cooking teacher, and food writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

She has written or co-written 20 cookbooks, including the most recent, Things Cooks Love, for Sur La Table, which has been nominated for an IACP award this year; Fig Heaven; The Amazing World of Rice; the best-selling Fresh & Fast; and Lighter, Quicker, Better, with Richard Sax. The last book listed won both  the Julia Child IACP book award and a James Beard Award. Her other James Beard award-winning book is The Good Egg.  

Marie began her career in the test kitchens of Woman's Day Magazine and then moved on to become the food editor for Cuisine magazine. During these years, she never thought about writing a cookbook, she says. An editor she had worked with asked her to write a book on pasta -- a subject close to her heart -- and she discovered her true calling. That book was 365 Ways to Cook Pasta and went on to sell more than half a million copies.

She loves the process of writing a cookbook, and says each book takes at least six months, and usually about a year. Because of the time commitment, she advises would-be cookbook authors to be passionate about their subject!

Marie has written for dozens of magazines and newspapers including a monthly column called “Cooking for Health” for Bon Appetit magazine, which she wrote for 18 years. She currently writes a column called “Simmons Sez” for the Contra Costa Times.

Marie has appeared on numerous televison and radio programs such as View from the Bay on CBS, CBS This Morning, Good Morning America, CNN Cooking 101, Live with Sara Moulton on the Food Network, Home Matters on Discovery, The Main Ingredient, and At Home on Lifetime

Her website is www.mariesimmons.com.