About

Peter Barrett

Instagram: @cookblog 

Food writer, teacher, photographer, and editor with over a dozen years of experience. The author, photographer, and illustrator of Project 258: Making Dinner at Fish & Game, a book about James Beard Award-winning chef Zak Pelaccio’s restaurant, published by the University of Texas Press. Host of CookPod, a podcast of interviews with culinary talents, and blogger at Cookblog.

I’ve spent the last 15 years growing, preserving, and cooking as much of my own food as possible. My teaching focuses on local, seasonal ingredients and time-honored techniques, giving home cooks the skills to be creative and confident in a wide range of cooking styles. Whenever possible, I connect my students to farmers and other producers working in organic and sustainable ways. 

LANGUAGES 

Fluent French and Italian, conversational Spanish

TEACHING

2020 Blue Cashew, Kingston, NY: Regular cooking classes on a variety of subjects

2019 Dordogne, France: Led ten guests on a nine-day culinary tour, combining hands-on cooking classes with visits to markets, vineyards, and farms. Curated and organized all classes/visits.

Brussels, Belgium: Taught ten people duck cookery in a day-long class culminating in dinner

Blue Cashew, Kingston, NY: Taught two classes on fresh pasta and sourdough baking

2018 Umbertide, Italy: Led ten guests on a ten-day culinary tour of Umbria based at a fifteenth-century castle, combining hands-on cooking classes with visits to markets, vineyards, farms, and other producers 

2017 Umbertide, Italy: Led fourteen guests on a ten-day culinary tour of Umbria based at a fifteenth-century castle, combining hands-on cooking classes with visits to markets, vineyards, farms, and other producers

2009-Present Taught dozens of private classes in my home kitchen on subjects like pickling, charcuterie, fresh pasta, sourdough, fermentation, cheesemaking, pastry, and condiments

MEDIA

2018-Present Regular guest on WAMC Radio’s Food Friday, a call-in show about food and drink, with six appearances to date covering subjects from whole-animal butchery to fermentation to wine pairings

2013 Handpicked Nation: Shot a pilot for a show, Cooks & Players, about cooking with musicians

WPKN Radio: Did an hour-long live interview about local spirits for drinking and holiday gifting

PHOTO CREDITS

Food & Wine, Wine & Spirits, British GQ, Wine Enthusiast, Edible Manhattan, Edible Hudson Valley, Chronogram, Tablet, Albany Times Union, Food Republic, Upstater, Hudson Valley Magazine

WRITING

2019 Munchies: Published a photo essay and interview with Michelin-starred chef Elise Kornack about slaughtering ducks. 

Tablet: Wrote and shot two article/recipes about dill pickles and lox

Chronogram: Wrote and shot two pieces about home-fermented drinks and a natural winery

2017 Esquire: Wrote three pieces about natural wine for the May issue

Project 258: Making Dinner at Fish & Game published by University of Texas Press

2016 Food Republic: Wrote two articles about the Big Glou natural wine fair in Brooklyn

2014-2017 Editor/Writer/Photographer for Fish & Game Quarterly

2011-2018 Writer/Photographer for Edible Hudson Valley

Wrote over a dozen articles, photographed nine

2013-2015 Writer/Photographer for Edible Manhattan

Wrote and photographed two articles; article in the spring 2013 issue about Fish & Game was included in Best Food Writing 2013, edited by Holly Hughes

2009-2015 Writer/Photographer for Chronogram, a Hudson Valley arts and culture magazine

Wrote over sixty articles, photographed seven

2012 Won Charcutepalooza, a charcuterie contest for food bloggers, and received a free trip to France to study charcuterie in Gascony

2010 Wrote the entry on Basque cuisine for Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia, published by Greenwood and edited by Ken Albala

2010 A post about killing and butchering a pig appeared in the Brilliant/Highbrow quadrant in the Approval Matrix of New York magazine’s November issue.

2006-Present: Sole proprietor at www.acookblog.com

EDUCATION

1990 Rhode Island School of Design BFA, Painting

1989-90 RISD European Honors Program, Rome, Italy

1996 School of the Art Institute of Chicago MFA, Painting

OTHER RELEVANT SKILLS

Two stints as a private chef, numerous small custom catering gigs. 20-year career showing paintings nationally and internationally. Also a ceramicist, gardener, carpenter, welder, and competent guitar player.