J. Kenji López-Alt

James Kenji López-Alt is an American chef, food writer, author, and culinary columnist best known for applying scientific principles to home cooking. He gained national prominent attention as a writer and Chief Culinary Advisor for the food blog Serious Eats, where he created "The Food Lab" column. His work focuses on explaining the chemistry and physics behind cooking techniques to help home cooks produce consistent culinary results.

López-Alt studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before transitioning to the restaurant industry, where he worked as a cook and test cook for Cook's Illustrated magazine. In 2015, he published his debut cookbook, The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science, which became a New York Times bestseller and won the James Beard Foundation Award for General Cooking in 2016. He later co-founded Wursthall, a German-inspired beer hall in San Mateo, California. He has also authored the bestselling children's book Every Night Is Pizza Night (2020) and the James Beard Award-winning cookbook The Wok: Recipes and Techniques (2022).

In addition to writing books, López-Alt is a food columnist for The New York Times and hosts a popular point-of-view cooking channel on YouTube. He also co-hosts a culinary podcast, produces instructional digital media content, and collaborates on cookware and culinary tool development.