Christopher Kimball

Christopher Kimball
Christopher Kimball in 2016
Born (1951-06-05) June 5, 1951
Rye, New York, U.S.[1]
Education Columbia University (B.A., 1973) [1][2]
Spouse(s) Melissa Lee Baldino (m. 2013) (1 child)
Adrienne Kimball (m. 1987–2012) (4 children)[3][4][5]
Culinary career
Website https://www.177milkstreet.com/

Christopher Kimball (born June 5, 1951) is an American chef, editor, publisher, and radio/TV personality.

Early life and education

Kimball was born and raised in Westchester County, New York, the son of Mary Alice White and Edward Norris Kimball.[6] The family had a cabin in southwestern Vermont.[1]

He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and then Columbia University (1973) with a degree in Primitive Art.[1][2]

Career

Early career

After graduating from Columbia, he went to work with his stepbrother in a publishing company. Soon after, he worked for The Center for Direct Marketing in Westport, Connecticut and also started taking cooking courses.[1] After securing $100,000 in angel investments from friends and family, he started Cook’s Magazine from a tiny office in Weston, Connecticut in 1980 when he was 29 years old.[1] He sold the magazine to the Bonnier Group in 1989 and moved on to other publishing ventures.[1]

America's Test Kitchen

Kimball was a co-founder and has been editor and publisher of America's Test Kitchen, which produces television and radio shows, and publishes magazines, including Cook's Illustrated,[6] which Kimball launched in 1993. It also publishes Cook's Country magazine, which was launched in 2004,[1] and former publisher of the now-defunct Cook's Magazine. The company's revenue comes from its readers, rather than advertisers, which differentiates them from the competitors.[1]

Its cookbook publisher division is Two Pigs Farm. Boston Common Press, a private partnership between Kimball, Eliot Wadsworth II, and George P. Denny III, owned Kimball’s publishing activities.[1] Kimball also hosted the syndicated Public Television cooking shows America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country from America's Test Kitchen.

On November 16, 2015, a news release from Boston Common Press, parent company of Cooks Country/Cooks Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen, announced the departure of Christopher Kimball. The 2016 TV programs had already been filmed and Kimball appeared as host, but his direct participation in the company ended immediately.[7] He remains a minority stockholder in the closely held company.

Christopher Kimball's Milk Street

In 2016, he created Christopher Kimball's Milk Street, located on Milk Street in Boston, Massachusetts.[8]

On October 31, 2016, Boston Common Press (the parent company of America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Illustrated) filed a lawsuit against Kimball in Suffolk Superior Court, claiming that Kimball "literally and conceptually ripped off" his former employer.[9] In the lawsuit, Boston Common Press claims Kimball built his new venture while still on their payroll, using company resources in the form of recipes and databases to help shape Milk Street Kitchen into a direct competitor[10][11]. He was further sued by his ex-wife, alleging his departure from Cook's Illustrated devalued the company and affected his payments to her.[12]

Other

He is the author of The Cook's Bible, The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook, Dear Charlie, The Dessert Bible and Fannie's Last Supper, and is a columnist for the New York Daily News and the Boston-based Tab Communications.

Other television appearances include This Old House and the morning shows Weekend Today and The Early Show. He is a regular contributor on National Public Radio. On January 8, 2011, Kimball began hosting WGBH-FM's America's Test Kitchen Radio distributed by PRX.

Personal life

He has been married three times. He had a son and three daughters with his second wife, Adrienne. They divorced in December 2012.[3][4][5] On June 30, 2013, Kimball married Melissa Lee Baldino, executive producer of the America's Test Kitchen television show.[6] She is now co-founder of Christopher Kimball's Milk Street.[13]

Their son, Oliver Kimball, was born on May 4, 2017.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Frieswick, Kris, "Perfection, Inc.", The Boston Globe, August 2, 2009. (PDF version)
  2. 1 2 Lui, Claire, "Cooking 101: Chris Kimball ’73 brings recipes that work from America’s Test Kitchen to your kitchen", Columbia College Today, July/August 2010
  3. 1 2 "Country Style - Boston Magazine". Boston Magazine. 15 May 2006.
  4. 1 2 "A Down-Home Thanksgiving on the Kimball Farm". NPR.
  5. 1 2 "Thanksgiving Answers From Chris Kimball". WBUR.
  6. 1 2 3 Laskey, Margaux, "Melissa Baldino, Christopher Kimball: All the Ingredients Were There", The New York Times, June 30, 2013
  7. ↑ "Christopher Kimball to Leave America's Test Kitchen". Cook's Illustrated. November 16, 2015. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  8. ↑ Healy, Beth; Nanos, Janelle, "Chris Kimball to launch Milk Street Kitchen cooking venture", The Boston Globe, May 31, 2016
  9. ↑ "America's Test Kitchen sues Christopher Kimball over celebrity chef's new venture - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  10. ↑ Krystal, Becky (2016-11-02). "Six take-aways from America's Test Kitchen's lawsuit against Christopher Kimball". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  11. ↑ Severson, Kim (2016-11-03). "Food Fight Heats Up as America's Test Kitchen Sues a Founder". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  12. ↑ Shanahan, Mark (19 Jan 2017). "Chris Kimball sued by ex-wife after his exit from America's Test Kitchen". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2018-10-05.
  13. ↑ "A day in the life of Christopher Kimball's Milk Street - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2018-04-08.

Sources

  • Metcalf, Stephen (October 13, 2003). "Sexy Food Nerds: Cooking geeks get hot on America's Test Kitchen". Slate.
  • "In the Test Kitchen With Christopher Kimball". Powell's Books.
  • "Tour the Test Kitchen: Cast Biographies". America's Test Kitchen. americastestkitchen.com.

Further reading

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