Denise Drower Swidey is a television producer, food stylist, cooking instructor and food writer. She earned a James Beard nomination for her latest project, “The Food Flirts with the Brass Sisters,” which airs on PBS in primetime. Denise received an Emmy nomination as culinary producer of PBS's Simply Ming, and worked on the show for a dozen years. She has served as culinary producer for other TV projects, including PBS's Project Smoke with Steven Raichlen, and A Moveable Feast with America’s Favorite Chefs. Denise received her B.A. from Tufts University (majoring in International Relations and Spanish) and an A.O.S. from the Culinary Institute of America. At Tufts, she somehow missed out on the EPIIC experience, but made up for it by working at the ExCollege, and thus with Sherman the year after she graduated.
Denise got her start in TV food styling working for various Food Network shows. She is a contributing writer for The Boston Globe's food pages and travel section and has served as an on-air chef, industry consultant, and a recipe-tester for The New York Times Magazine and other publications. She and her husband have three daughters (who now wish they’d taken her up on her offer of cooking lessons). She is currently teaching a popular course on food media at Tufts University.