Sara Moulton (born February 19,[2] 1952) is an American cookbook author and television personality. In an article for The New York Times, Kim Severson described Moulton as "one of the nation’s most enduring recipe writers and cooking teachers...and a dean of food television and magazines".[3]

Sara Moulton
Born (1952-02-19) February 19, 1952 (age 72)
New York City, New York, United States
Education • University of Michigan (1981)
 • Culinary Institute of America (1977)
Occupation(s)cookbook author, television personality
SpouseBill Adler[1]
Children2
Culinary career
Websitesaramoulton.com

Moulton was the on-air food editor for Good Morning America, a morning news-and-talk show broadcast on the ABC television network, from 1997 through 2012. She was the chef of the executive dining room at Gourmet for 20 years, a stint that ended when the magazine ceased publication in 2009.[4]

Between 1996 and 2005, Moulton hosted Cooking Live (1997–2002), Cooking Live Primetime (1999), and Sara's Secrets (2002–2005) on the Food Network, becoming one of the original stars of that cable-and-satellite-television channel during its first decade. Her career in television and cooking has spanned nearly 40 years.[citation needed]

Moulton is the author of several cookbooks and videos, notably Sara Moulton Cooks at Home (2002), Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals (2005), and Sara Moulton's Everyday Family Dinners (2010).[5]

In 1982, Moulton co-founded the New York Women's Culinary Alliance.[6]

Since 2008, Moulton has been the host of Sara's Weeknight Meals, a cooking show distributed by American Public Television. From August 2012 through October 2018, Moulton was the author of a weekly cooking column for the Associated Press.[7]

In October 2016, Moulton joined Christopher Kimball's "Milk Street Radio," a weekly show broadcast by National Public Radio, as a cohost.[8]

Early life and education

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Moulton was born in New York City, and attended The Brearley School in New York City.

The idea of channeling her childhood passion for food into a career did not occur to Moulton until after she graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a major in the history of ideas.[a]

Moulton enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, in 1975 and graduated with highest honors in 1977,[9] winning a scholarship from Les Dames d'Escoffier in the process.

Career

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She began working in restaurants immediately, first in Boston, Massachusetts, and then in New York City, taking off time only for a postgraduate apprenticeship with Master Chef Maurice Cazalis of the Henri IV Restaurant in Chartres, France, in 1979. Between 1981 and 1983 she was the chef tournant at La Tulipe, a three-star restaurant in New York City.[10]

In the interest of starting a family, she left restaurant work and began devoting herself instead to recipe testing and development. Moulton worked for two years as an instructor at Peter Kump's New York Cooking School (now known as the Institute of Culinary Education), where she discovered her love of teaching.

In 1984, she took a job in the test kitchen at Gourmet.[11] Four years later she became chef of the magazine's executive dining room.[12]

Television

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In 1979, Moulton's television career began when she was hired to work behind the scenes on Julia Child & More Company, a cooking program on PBS. Her friendship with Julia Child led eventually to Moulton's job at Good Morning America,[13] where what started as another behind-the-scenes position ripened in 1997 into on-camera work.

By then, she had begun hosting the Food Network's Cooking Live. Six years and over 1,200 hour-long shows later, that show ended on March 31, 2002.[14] Sara's Secrets, which began the next day, ran until 2007.[15] “Sara Moulton is a chef, and one of the few people knowledgeable enough to field live phone-in queries, the basis of her show," wrote The New Yorker's Bill Buford.[16] "Cooking Live" was nominated as the James Beard Awards' Best National Television Cooking Show in 1999 and 2000.

The thirteenth season of "Sara's Weeknight Meals" began airing on American Public Television in October 2024.[17] The show was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2013 and 2015, while Moulton herself has been nominated three times as Outstanding Personality/Host, most recently in 2014.[18]

Cookbooks and cooking columns

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Her first cookbook, Sara Moulton Cooks at Home, was published by Broadway Books in October 2002,[19] and was meant to counter America's disastrous love affair with fast food by encouraging everyone to cook delicious and healthy food at home and to dine with family and friends.[20] "While rooted in classic French technique, the book also accommodates the American hunger for convenience, novelty and freshness," wrote Mike Dunne for The Sacramento Bee.[21]

Moulton's second cookbook, Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals, was published by Broadway Books in October 2005. It was reviewed by Michelle Green in People magazine, who wrote: "Sara has a gift for creating quick, accessible fine cuisine. Why suffer to make a gorgeous meal?"[22]

Her third cookbook, Sara Moulton's Everyday Family Dinners, was published by Simon & Schuster in April 2010.[23] Blogging for StoveTop Readings in November 2010, Greg Mowery wrote: "If there is a less pretentious, more accessible, and creative cookbook that gets great food on the table in good time with the least amount of fuss, I haven't seen it this year….This new book belongs in every family kitchen."[24]

Moulton's fourth cookbook, Home Cooking 101: How to Make Everything Taste Better, was published Oxmoor House in March 2016.[25] Diana K. Rice, in The Huffington Post, described it as "extremely useful to the home cook. [Looks] like a textbook, albeit...with fabulous food photos and enticing recipes."[26]

In August 2012 Moulton began writing a weekly column entitled "The Healthy Plate" for the Associated Press.[27] In January 2015, she replaced it with a new column called "KitchenWise," which ran through October 2018. Between November 2016 and September 2018, Moulton contributed a monthly column called "Sunday Supper" to The Washington Post Magazine.[28] From January 2018 through June 2021, Moulton contributed a quarterly column entitled "Maize Graze" to the University of Michigan's Alumnus Magazine.[29]

Awards

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Personal life

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Moulton's husband is Bill Adler, an American music journalist and critic. They have two children. Moulton and her family live in New York City, New York.[1]

Bibliography

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  • Moulton, Sara; Anderson, Jean (2000). The Good Morning America Cut the Calories Cookbook – 120 Delicious Low-Fat, Low-Calorie Recipes from Our Viewers. Hyperion Books (New York City). ISBN 978-0-7868-6163-7.
  • Moulton, Sara; Pierce, Charles (2002). Sara Moulton Cooks at Home. Broadway Books (New York City). ISBN 978-0-7679-0770-5.
  • Moulton, Sara; Hayes, Joanne Lamb (2005). Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals. Broadway Books (New York City). ISBN 978-0-7679-1659-2.
  • Moulton, Sara (2010). Sara Moulton's Everyday Family Dinners. Simon & Schuster (New York City). ISBN 1-4391-0251-1.
  • Moulton, Sara (2016). Home Cooking 101: How to Make Everything Taste Better. Oxmoor House. ISBN 978-0848744410.

Videography

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Originally admitted to the Class of ’74, she did not apply for, and receive, a diploma until 1981.

References

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  1. ^ a b Tannenbaum, Kiri (2008-09-29). "Celebrity Chefs at Home: Sara Moulton". delish.com, Hearst/MSN, 29 September 2008. Retrieved from http://www.delish.com/cooking-shows/celebrity-chefs/celeb-chef-sara-moulton.
  2. ^ Sara Moulton biography on International Movie DataBase IMDB.
  3. ^ Severson, Kim (April 4, 2016). "It's Dinner in a Box. But Are Meal Delivery Kits Cooking?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  4. ^ See masthead for the August 1988 issue of Gourmet, in which Moulton is identified as "Executive Chef."
  5. ^ "Sara Moulton's Everyday Family Dinners," https://www.amazon.com/Sara-Moultons-Everyday-Family-Dinners/dp/1439102511/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2BTIYI4C4TX2F&keywords=Sara+Moulton%27s+Everyday+Family+Dinners&qid=1682800398&s=books&sprefix=sara+moulton%27s+everyday+family+dinners+%2Cstripbooks%2C78&sr=1-1
  6. ^ "New York Women's Culinary Alliance - About". nywca.org. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  7. ^ "Food authority Sara Moulton to write column for AP". Associated Press. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  8. ^ "Milk Street Radio".
  9. ^ Sara Moulton Alumni Profile on the website of the Culinary Institute of America, http://www.foodislife.org/cia-alumni-profiles/sara-moulton-77-food-network-personality/
  10. ^ "Restaurants; La Tulipe". The New York Times. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  11. ^ See listing under Food Department on the masthead for the July 1984 issue of Gourmet, on which Moulton is identified as one of three editors.
  12. ^ See masthead for the August 1988 issue of Gourmet, in which Moulton is identified as "Executive Chef."
  13. ^ Staff (October 5, 2004). "Sara Moulton". ABC News. Retrieved January 5, 2009.
  14. ^ "Search Results". Food Network. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  15. ^ Sara's Secrets, retrieved August 19, 2022
  16. ^ Bill Buford, “TV Dinners: The Rise of Food Television,” The New Yorker, October 2, 2006, http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/10/02/061002fa_fact?currentPage=all.
  17. ^ American Public Television website, https://aptonline.org/catalog/SARA-S-WEEKNIGHT-MEALS-13
  18. ^ "The Complete 2014 JBF Award Nominees | James Beard Foundation". www.jamesbeard.org. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  19. ^ Moulton, Sara (October 15, 2002). Sara Moulton Cooks at Home. Clarkson Potter.
  20. ^ “I think it’s vital…to counter the fast-fooding of America,” from the Introduction to “Sara Moulton Cooks At Home,” p.xii.
  21. ^ Dunne, Mike. The Sacramento Bee. December 25, 2002.
  22. ^ Green, Michelle. People. November 21, 2005.
  23. ^ Depiction and description of “Sara Moulton's Everyday Family Dinners” on amazon.com, https://www.amazon.com/Sara-Moultons-Everyday-Family-Dinners/dp/1439102511/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330727900&sr=1-1
  24. ^ "StoveTop Readings". stovetopreadings.blogspot.com. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  25. ^ Home Cooking 101: How to Make Everything Taste Better,' https://www.amazon.com/Sara-Moultons-Home-Cooking-101/dp/0848744411/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1457449760&sr=1-1&keywords=home+cooking+101
  26. ^ "Sara Moulton on Home Cooking, Family Meals and Getting Your Vegetables". HuffPost. April 29, 2016. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  27. ^ "Food authority Sara Moulton to write column for AP". Associated Press. August 2012. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  28. ^ "Sara Moulton's chili will charm you - The Washington Post". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 18, 2016.
  29. ^ "Summer Primer: Tomatoes and Corn," https://alumni.umich.edu/michigan-alumnus/maize-graze-tomatoes-corn
  30. ^ Press release (January 25, 2001). "Sara Moulton Is CIA Chef of the Year". Culinary Institute of America.
  31. ^ "Home | James Beard Foundation". www.jamesbeard.org. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  32. ^ Brion, Raphael (June 3, 2011). "Winners of the IACP Cookbook Awards 2011 Announced!". Eater. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  33. ^ "NY - Beacon Award". www.internationalrestaurantny.com. Archived from the original on February 14, 2017.
  34. ^ "Alumni Stars of the Small Screen Help Raise Big Bucks for CIA Scholarships". www.ciachef.edu. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
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