Catherine Jessee

Title: Test Kitchen Assistant

Location: Birmingham, Alabama

Education: B.A. in American Studies and English, University of Virginia
- M.A. in Southern Studies, University of Mississippi

Expertise: Recipe testing, recipe developing, foodways and culture, food writing, Southern foodways, Appalachian foodways, food systems and labor, foraging cultures
- Catherine's master's thesis, "The Wild Asleep: A Cultural and Environmental History of Ramps," earned a Department of English Graduate Writing Award

Experience

Catherine Jessee is a test kitchen assistant at the Dotdash Meredith Food Studios. She has tested recipes for brands including Allrecipes, EatingWell, Food & Wine, Real Simple, People and Southern Living. Prior to joining the Food Studios, she accumulated three years of experience cooking in restaurants. She is also a writer and has contributed to publications like Domino, The Knot and Wildsam.

Catherine received her M.A. in Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, where she worked as a line cook at Tarasque Cucina and served as a Nathalie Dupree Graduate Fellow with the Southern Foodways Alliance. Catherine's expertise focuses on the confluence of food and culture. Her master's thesis, "The Wild Asleep: A Cultural and Environmental History of Ramps," included a collection of oral histories and interviews with foragers, cooks and avid eaters of wild onions across Appalachia and beyond. Her go-to dish to bring to a potluck is Ritz crackers and pimiento cheese (her mom's recipe, always!).