Chef, food stylist, food writer and culinary revolutionist restoring methods of traditional cooking.

A simple fact to consider in the kitchen: if you take a little extra time the rewards will always make the effort worthwhile.

Jennifer McLagan, a food revolutionary and one of Canada's most sought-after food stylists, is on a culinary mission to bring back the bold flavours of cooking using bones and fat - two components of food that have become newly fashionable. Quite simply put, she is challenging modern eating habits and reminding us of the pleasures and nutritional benefits we deny ourselves by abandoning traditional methods of cooking.

There is no denying that meat cooked on the bone produces richer flavours, or that fat improves the taste, texture and satisfaction factor of any dish. McLagan's understanding of the cultural, historical and scientific fundamentals of food and methods of preparation make her a true leader in the field.

With more than twenty-five years of experience in the food world as chef, food stylist, and food writer, McLagan has worked in London and Paris, as well as her native Australia. Her work has appeared in many magazines, including Gourmet and Fine Cooking. McLagan's culinary-praised first cookbook, Bones: Recipes, History and Lore, won a James Beard Award, a Gourmand World Cookbook Award, and was a finalist in the International Association of Culinary Professionals' Cookbook Awards.

Her next book, Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient with Recipes, is an appealing exploration of fat in cooking with more than 100 recipes, scores of sidebars on the cultural, historical, and scientific facets of culinary fats, as well as thirty-six styled food photos. The James Beard Foundation Awards named Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient with Recipes as the 2009 Cookbook of the Year, and also awarded it the Best Single Subject Cookbook of the Year. The James Beard Foundation Awards are the highest honour given to food writers and food professionals working in North America.

Currently based in Toronto, Jennifer is a regular contributor to Food & Drink and Fine Cooking magazines. She maintains a friendly relationship with her butchers, who put aside their best bones and fat for her.

• Fat: It's not really a Four Letter Word.
  Why fat is essential in your kitchen and good, yes good, for your health.
• Bones, Skin and Fat: Don't toss them out!
  Toss them into your pot. They'll add flavour, taste and texture to everything you cook.
• Why Cook: The importance of cooking to life, health and happiness. We spend less time cooking and less time eating and we've never been less healthy.

"There are very few cookbooks published today that add something truly new and distinctive to the literature of food and cooking. Jennifer McLagan's Fat is smart and thoughtful - it ultimately asks us to understand our food better."
- Michael Ruhlman, coauthor of Charcuterie

"Pulls out food's deepest flavors…"
- The New York Times

"McLagan has an insatiable curiosity about food and its esoterica."
- Toronto Life

"Jennifer McLagan has convinced us: Anything cooked on the bone has so much more flavor."
- House Beautiful

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