Growing up, I loved nothing more than cooking with my Mother, but as a young adult, cooking wasn’t that interesting to me. That is until, after a 15-year career as an occupational therapist, I moved to Paris, lived there for 3 years and discovered food in a whole new way. I developed an appreciation for great ingredients, grown by farmers whose names I came to know. I fell in love with food through the lens of French cuisine, and I stayed in love with it because I recognized for the first time in my life, food’s ability to bring people together. The connections I’ve made around the table have been deep and abiding. Living and eating in Paris led me to enroll and graduate from The New England Culinary Institute. I rounded out my culinary education back in France as a stagiaire for Anne Willan at the acclaimed Ecole de Cuisine LaVarenne School. Shortly after France, I took on a job working on the Food Network show Good Eats, where I later became the Culinary Director and worked for 11 years to make it one of the most beloved cooking shows on television. In 2013 I started Tamie Cook Culinary Productions with the intention of continuing to connect people and food and am grateful that I get to do this on a daily basis, as my life’s work.