Founded in 1946, THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA is an independent, not-for-profit college offering bachelor's and associate degrees in culinary arts and baking and pastry arts. Courses for foodservice professionals are offered at the college's main campus in Hyde Park, New York, and at its branch campus, The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, in St. Helena, California.

Darra Goldstein is the Editor of Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, as well as Food Editor at Russian Life magazine. She is the author of several Russian cookbooks, including the 1993 Julia Child Award–winning The Georgian Feast, and in 1997, she received the Sophie Coe Subsidiary Prize in Food History. Goldstein is a Professor of Russian at Williams College in Massachusetts.