One of the first questions I was asked when people found out that I am attending the Culinary Institute of America was: Are you going to be a chef? Are you going to own a restaurant?
The answer to both was always a solid “no.” As much as I love to cook, I am more passionate about being in a test kitchen rather than a restaurant kitchen. And so I pursued different culinary opportunities in the world of publishing.
My first such opportunity sent me to Des Moines, Iowa, where I worked as a Recipe Developer and Editor at Cuisine at home magazine.
For my next assignment, I went to Birmingham, Alabama to the test kitchens of Southern Living Magazine.
While in Birmingham, I worked as a free lance recipe developer for Joy Bauer, developing healthy, easy-to prepare dishes for Slim & Scrumptious Cookbook.
Another continuous recipe editing project has been with a Washington D.C. cookbook author and instructor Robyn Webb. Check out Robyn’s newest, lucky #13 The Get Healthy, Go Vegan Cookbook.
So cool! If I went to culinary school I would do the same thing! So how does it work, does the magazine give you the recipe or do you give create it and pitch it to them.
Thanks Gina! It all depends on the assignment. For Fitness, they sometimes give me the main protein to use in the recipe and then I pitch 4-5 recipes and we go from there. I'm sure there are very many non-culinary graduates out there who very successfully freelance as recipe developers.