Hi, I am Claire Stewart

Hello and welcome to my website. I am a chef and food writer with a special interest in how foodways reflect history. I graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and worked as a professional chef for over twenty years.

I was a chef tournant at Rainbow Room, as well as executive sous chef at the Yale Club of New York City. I worked as a private chef at Gracie Mansion and was executive chef at the Continental Club. In my native California, I cooked at the Delta King hotel, and I also spent time at Gee’s Restaurant in Oxford, England. Before attending chef school, I worked as a server, and have done time as a bartender, host, and caterer. I have cooked for and served at hundreds of weddings. It was this exposure that spurred my desire to formally research wedding food, resulting in my book As Long as we Both Shall Eat: A History of Wedding Food and Feasts.

I have a bachelor’s degree in English from Caldwell University, and a master’s degree from the City University of New York. My master’s thesis was “American Cookbooks and Women’s Domestic Roles 1920-1963,” I am an associate professor at New York City College of Technology, City University of New York, where I teach hospitality management classes. Myself, my husband, and my son are all grateful to live part-time in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.