Kelly Alexander

Kelly Alexander is a writer and an anthropologist of food based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. For many years she was a senior editor at Saveur magazine, during which she became the youngest writer to win a James Beard Journalism Award for reporting. Prior to joining Saveur, Alexander worked as an editor at Food & Wine magazine. Her essays and articles on food have appeared in the New York Times, the New York Times Magazine, Gourmet, The Oxford American, The New Republic, O: The Oprah Magazine, Newsweek, and many other publications. She has written and co-written a number of cookbooks, including the New York Times bestseller Smokin' with the barbecue pit master Myron Mixon, now in its twelfth printing, and the critically acclaimed culinary biography Hometown Appetites: The Story of Clementine Paddleford, the Forgotten Food Writer. Alexander has been a regular contributor on the subject of food for NPR programs across the country. She is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, and PhD candidate in cultural anthropology at Duke University. Her dissertation fieldwork focuses on a network of activists, cooks, and volunteers working to recirculate food waste in Brussels, Belgium.

Posts by This Author

The Cast-Off Kitchens of Brussels

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The Cast-Off Kitchens of Brussels

“Chef Nena,” as she is known, is a lifelong Bruxelloise and the head trainer at a restaurant in Brussels called Bel Mundo. One late afternoon during dinner prep... More

Europe in the Balance: An Introduction

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Europe in the Balance: An Introduction

Soon, nostalgia will be another name for Europe.—Angela Carter, British novelist, in her review of John Berger’s Once Upon a Time in Europe, the Washington Post... More

Europe in the Balance

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Europe in the Balance

Europe seems to be plunging into crises of demographic and economic displacements, heightened nationalism, and general unrest. Wealthy countries that have enjoy... More