The granddaughter of an Italian cheesemaker, Linda Carucci has dedicated the last 30 years to teaching cooking, both in professional chef training schools and to home cooks across the United States and beyond.

Linda is the author of Cooking School Secrets for Real World Cooks (Chronicle Books, 2005), honored as a finalist for both James Beard and IACP Julia Child First Book awards. An updated, larger-format, second edition of Cooking School Secrets (also available as an eBook) was named a Washington Post Best Cookbook of 2016.

Linda is the former dean of the California Culinary Academy (also her alma mater) and was the inaugural Julia Child Curator of Food Arts at COPIA in Napa Valley. She has worked as a live-in private chef for a prominent San Francisco family, and has cooked at and managed restaurants and culinary operations in several San Francisco Bay Area kitchens including Greens restaurant, UCSF Medical Center’s Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, and Paula LeDuc Fine Catering.

Prior to graduating from culinary school, Linda earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology at Stonehill College in her home state of Massachusetts, then a Master’s degree in education at Colorado State University. She was serving as Associate Dean of Students at Occidental College in Los Angeles when the urge to work in the hospitality industry led her to enroll in the professional chef training program at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco.

The French Laundry’s Thomas Keller calls Linda “the consummate teacher, cook, and coach all rolled into one.” She has been honored with several awards including Educator of the Year from Women Chefs & Restaurateurs and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Francisco Professional Food Society. Linda’s peers in the International Association of Culinary Professionals voted her Cooking Teacher of the Year. She looks forward to sharing her craft with you.