Deborah Madison is an Americanchef, food writer and cooking teacher. She has been called an expert onvegetarian cooking,^[1][2] although she is not a strict vegetarian.^[3][4] Her gourmet repertoire showcases fresh garden produce. Her work also highlightsSlow Food,local foods andfarmers' markets.

Madison grew up inDavis, California,^[5] and earned a bachelor's degree with high honors in sociology/city planning in 1968 fromCowell College at theUniversity of California, Santa Cruz.^[6][7] She then cooked atChez Panisse^[6] and was a student for eighteen years at theSan Francisco Zen Center.^[8] She was the founding chef atGreens Restaurant in San Francisco which opened in 1979.^[9] She then cooked for a year at theAmerican Academy inRome,Italy.^[9]

Madison, whose work concentrates onlocal foods andfarmers' markets, returned to the Bay Area to writeThe Greens Cookbook with co-authorEdward Espe Brown, and then wrote another 10 books on food and cooking, includingVegetarian Cooking for Everyone,This Can't Be Tofu,Local Flavors, Cooking and Eating From America's Farmers' Market andSeasonal Fruit Desserts from Orchard, Farm and Market,^[9] andVegetable Literacy.^[10]

She has written for the magazinesGourmet,Saveur,Food and Wine,Kitchen Gardener,Fine Cooking,Orion,Organic Gardening andEating Well, and for theTime-Life Cookbook Series.^[5][9] She has also written forMartha Stewart Living,Bon Appetite,Diversions,Kiplingers,Garden Design,Kitchen Garden,Cooks,Vegetarian Times,Metropolitan Home,East-West Journal, theLos Angeles Times,Home and Garden, and theInternational Slow Food Journal.^[11]

When she first moved toNew Mexico, Madison managed theSanta Fe Farmers' Market and served on its board for a number of years.^[9]

Madison has been active in theSlow Food movement, founded the Santa Fe Chapter, was active on the ARK committee and served on the scientific committee of the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity.^[12][13]

She is on the board of theSeed Savers Exchange and the Southwest Grassfed Livestock Association,^[13] and is the co-director of the Edible Kitchen garden atMonte del Sol Charter School inSanta Fe, New Mexico.^[14] She lives in New Mexico with her husband, artistPatrick McFarlin, who co-authored and illustrated their bookWhat We Eat When We Eat Alone.^[15][16] She is the founding chef at Café Escalara in Santa Fe.^[6][17]

Madison received theAndré Simon Memorial Prize in 1987^[18] and the M. F. K. Fisher Mid-Career Award in 1994.^[19] In addition, her cookbooks have received awards from theInternational Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) and Les Dames d'Escoffie.^[9] Her first two both were named the Julia Child Cookbook of the Year by the IACP.^[20]

Madison has won fiveJames Beard Foundation Awards, including two for her 1997 cookbookVegetarian Cooking for Everyone (one in 1998 -James Beard Vegetarian Book Award,^[21] and one in 2016 -James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame).^[22] She received four additional nominations,^[23] and was inducted into theJames Beard Foundation's "Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America" in 2005.^[24]

• Madison, Deborah;Edward Espe Brown (1987).The Greens Cookbook.ISBN 978-0553051957.
• Madison, Deborah (1990).The Savory Way.ISBN 978-0553057805.
• Madison, Deborah (1996).The Vegetarian Table. Chronicle Books.ISBN 978-0811808880.
• Madison, Deborah (1997).Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.ISBN 978-0767900140.(James Beard Award Winner)
• Madison, Deborah (2000).This Can't Be Tofu!. National Geographic Books.ISBN 978-0767904193. (James Beard Award Nominee)
• Madison, Deborah (2002).Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets.ISBN 978-0767903493. (James Beard Award Winner)
• Madison, Deborah (2005).Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen.ISBN 978-0767916271. (James Beard Award Nominee)
• Madison, Deborah (2006).Vegetable Soups From Deborah Madison's Kitchen.ISBN 978-0767916288. (James Beard Award Nominee)
• Madison, Deborah; McFarlin, Patrick (2009).What We Eat When We Eat Alone. Gibbs Smith.ISBN 978-1423604969.
• Madison, Deborah (2010).Seasonal Fruit Desserts.ISBN 978-0767916295.
• Madison, Deborah (2013).Vegetable Literacy. Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed.ISBN 978-1607741916. (James Beard Award Winner)
• Madison, Deborah (2017).In My Kitchen. Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed.ISBN 978-0-399-57888-5. (James Beard Award Nominee)
• Madison, Deborah (2020).An Onion in My Pocket. Knopf Doubleday Publishing.ISBN 978-0525656029.

• Vegetarian Cooking with Deborah Madison -WNYC, May 2025

• 21st-century American women
• American cookbook writers
• American food writers
• Cuisine of the San Francisco Bay Area
• American vegetarianism activists
• American women activists
• James Beard Foundation Award winners
• Living people
• People from Davis, California
• People from Santa Fe, New Mexico
• University of California, Santa Cruz alumni
• Vegetarian cookbook writers
• American women food writers
• Chefs from Berkeley, California
• Cooking educators

• CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Year of birth missing (living people)