The Harvard Common Press

Julie Kaufmann, a native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has lived in California since 1979. She is the food editor of the San Jose Mercury News, which has twice been nominated for a James Beard Award in newspaper journalism. Before becoming the food editor, she wrote “Kids in the Kitchen,” a twice-monthly food column for kids, and worked on West, which was the paper’s Sunday magazine. She spent a decade on the paper’s business section prior to her roles with the food section. Kaufmann is an avid home cook who has co-authored several books with Beth Hensperger. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her husband and two children.