Called a "'culinary comet"' by the New York Times, Jonathan Waxman trained in France, then returned to the United States as chef at Chez Panisse and Michael's in California. In 1984, he brought California to the east coast, with the opening of the celebrated Jams restaurant. He has been the chef-owner of various other restaurants since then, including Buds, Hulot's, and Washington Park, all in New York City, Jams London, Table 29 in Napa, and now Barbuto. He resides in New York City, New York. A Great American Cook is his first cookbook.

Lisa Weiss trained at the California Culinary Academy and cowrote the critically acclaimed Farallon Cookbook with Mark Franz, Bruce Aidells's Complete Book of Pork, and BOULEVARD: THE COOKBOOK with Nancy Oakes and Pamela Mazzola. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Seventh Daughter is her latest book.

Laura Werlin is a James Beard and IACP Award–winning cookbook author, whose previous books for include The New American Cheese, The All American Cheese and Wine Book, Great Grilled Cheese and Laura Werlin's Cheese Essentials. Werlin’s articles on food have appeared in Food & Wine, Fine Cooking, Saveur, Cooking Light, and Country Living, and she has been a guest on numerous television and radio shows across the country. She lives in San Francisco. 

Dede Wilson has written several cookbooks including Truffles and the Baker’s Field Guide series, which includes Cupcakes, Holiday Candy & Confections, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Christmas Cookies. A contributing editor to Bon Appetit, Wilson has worked professionally for more than 20 years as a restaurant chef, bakery owner, caterer, recipe developer, spokesperson, and frequent television guest. She is a host of The Holiday Table, a PBS cooking show.

Terri Pischoff Wuerthner is an award-winning culinary writer whose work has appeared in Bon Appetit, Better Homes & Gardens, Cooking Light, Mademoiselle, Sunset Magazine, The Herb Companion, The Washington Post, San Francisco Examiner, Press Democrat, Gastronomica, and Snail. The coauthor of Food for Life: The Cancer Prevention Cookbook, and Everyday Favorites of Sonoma County and In a Cajun Kitchen, Wuerthner lives in northern California, where she teaches Cajun and southern cooking.