An accomplished cook and writer, Anna Watson Carl's zest for life is contagious. Raised in Nashville and residing in New York City, she effortlessly weaves Southern charm and hospitality with urban sophistication.

For Anna, cooking has always been a way of life. She grew up eating with her family around a big yellow table, every meal a celebration filled with good food, conversation, and laughter. By age ten she had planned and prepared a four-course Valentine's dinner (complete with a menu written in Italian), birthing a lifelong passion for dinner parties.

A semester in Paris later cemented Anna's love of food and led her to pursue a career in cooking and writing. After graduating from Grove City College in 2002 with B.A.'s in English and French, she completed a culinary internship in Pittsburgh, and returned to Nashville to start Fête, her own small catering company. Over the next several years, she taught cooking classes at Viking Culinary Arts Center, edited cookbooks for FRP, and wrote regular food columns for The Tennessean.

In 2006, Anna returned to France to study cooking at La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine, and served as Anne Willan's editorial assistant on The Country Cooking of France (Chronicle, 2007). She completed her culinary studies with an apprenticeship (stage) in Paris at Maceo, earning her the Grand Diplome Culinaire.

Since moving to New York City in 2007, Anna has enjoyed a successful career in food and journalism. She has worked as a personal chef, an editor at Culture+Travel, and a recipe tester and assistant food stylist for Martha Stewart's Everyday Food and Real Simple. Her food and travel pieces have appeared in Departures, Travel + Leisure, Gourmet Live, Sherman's Travel, and Tasting Table. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and two cats.