Amy Thielen

Food Writer & Recipe Developer

Amy Thielen is a two-time James Beard award-winning writer and chef. She’s the author of three books: The New Midwestern Table, Give a Girl a Knife (a memoir), and her latest cookbook, Company: The Radical Art of Cooking for Others.

Born and raised in northern Minnesota, she graduated from Macalester College with a degree in English and then spent two years living in an off-grid cabin near her hometown, gardening and short-order cooking at a diner on Main Street (naturally.) In 1999, she moved to New York City to go to culinary school and cook professionally. After completing what can only be described as a culinary tour of duty through Manhattan’s top fine dining kitchens, she moved back home to Minnesota in 2009 and began writing. Her cooking show, Heartland Table, co-produced by Random House Television and Lidia Bastianich’s Tavola Productions, premiered on Food Network in 2013 and ran for two seasons.