Ann Yonetani

Ann Yonetani

Founder and owner of NYrture Food

https://www.nyrture.com
Ann Yonetani is the founder/owner of NYrture Food, making natto in NYC, a microbiologist with life-long passions for both food and science.  As a professor at the New School university in New York, she teaches about the intersection of these two worlds. Before becoming a natto maker, Ann worked for over 15 years as a biomedical research scientist in labs at Columbia University, Harvard Medical School, UCSF, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the Basel Biozentrum. Along the way, she also enjoyed cooking in restaurants and soup kitchens in Philadelphia, San Francisco and Boston. She received her BA in Biology at the University of Pennsylvania, MS in Biochemistry from the University of California, San Francisco, and PhD in Microbiology from Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons.

Most popular

Ann's favorite cookbooks

Plenty

Plenty

Yotam Ottolenghi

So gorgeous, I want to eat the book itself. I love the huge range of vegetarian dishes in here, encouraging me to use and combine new plant-based ingredients in such delicious ways.

Momofuku

Momofuku

Peter Meehan and David Chang

I've been a hardcore fan of Momofuku & co. ever since being one of their very first ramen bar customers. Love his creative, casual and critical approach, a fun read as well.

The Art of Fermentation

The Art of Fermentation

Sandor Ellix Katz

This is the essential book on fermented food--so comprehensive, thorough and precise in its coverage of a huge range of ferments, including both recipes and delightfully extensive culinary/historical/medicinal information.

Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young and Maxime Bilet

This is a humungous five-volume set of art books detailing the science & applications of modernist/"molecular" techniques. Might not actually make it to or be of practical use on the desert island, but an incredible illustrated encyclopedia of knowledge in this area of cooking which interests me a lot, as you can see from these last three choices on my list.

Cooking for Geeks

Cooking for Geeks

Jeff Potter

The title is accurate; this book is much less a cookbook than an easy-to-read molecular gastronomy (as defined by Herve This) textbook on the chemistry of cooking with great interview material from experts in the field. It does, however, contain many recipes, many with an unconventional "molecular" twist and useful cooking tips. A fun book.