Terese Allen writes about the pleasures and benefits of regional foods, sustainable cooking, and culinary folklore. She is food editor and columnist for Organic Valley Family of Farm, the country’s largest organic farmers’ cooperative, and a senior contributor and food columnist for Isthmus newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin.

A former chef, Terese went from kitchen manager to cookbook author when she wrote The Ovens of Brittany Cookbook, a collection of recipes and remembrances from a groundbreaking Midwestern restaurant. Her subsequent books feature the diversity of Wisconsin food, culture, and agriculture--its farmers’ markets, food festivals, cheese factories, small-town cafes, and more. Her columns, articles, and cookbooks emphasize local ingredients, seasonal dishes and ethnic specialties--and the people and stories behind them.

Terese’s most recent book (co-authored by the late Harva Hachten) is an expanded edition of The Flavor of Wisconsin, an extensive history of food and cooking in the Badger State, with more than 450 recipes. It was published by Wisconsin Historical Society Press in Spring of 2009.

Her “Wisconsin Cuisine” column ran for ten years in Wisconsin Trails magazine and she has written for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Madison Magazine, and other publications. Terese is past president and a founding member of the Culinary History Enthusiasts of Wisconsin (CHEW) and she chairs the REAP Food Group, an active grassroots organization that advocates for sustainable food systems in southern Wisconsin.

Terese grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, earned a B.A. in philosophy at St. Norbert College, and took culinary training at the Restaurant School of Philadelphia.

Find out more about Terese in the media and at upcoming events.