Melina Hammer

Melina is the IACP award-winning author of A Year at Catbird Cottage (2022, Ten Speed Press), a love letter to foods' seduction and eating with the seasons. She is also a food stylist, recipe developer, chef, and food photographer, and the owner of Catbird Cottage in upstate New York, where she and her husband host travelers who have made their home the place to celebrate their special moments. A Year at Catbird Cottage received a 2023 IACP award for Best Food Photography & Styling, and was named an Amazon Editor's Pick upon its debut. Her previous book, Kid Chef (2016, Sonoma Press) is a best-seller, empowering young people in the kitchen, and appeared in the Disney movie Noelle (2019), starring Anna Kendrick, Bill Hader, and Shirlely MacLaine. Melina has appeared on Cookery by the Book podcast, Play Me a Recipe podcast, Of a Certain Age podcast, and Creative Live We are Photographers. She has contributed to Bon Appetit, Food52, The New York Times, Cooking Light, EatingWell, The Kitchn, Edible, Martha Stewart, and Row 7 Seeds. In 2018, Melina won an IACP award for Best Food Styling, and in 2020, was nominated as an IACP finalist for her Instagram, @melinahammer. Above all, Melina relishes in cooking delicious food for people at her cottage. She loves foraging wild foods, growing food in her kitchen garden, tending her pollinator gardens, and hanging out on her hillside deck, watching the antics of the resident wildlife.