Mary-Frances Heck

Location: Birmingham, Alabama

Mary-Frances Heck is the executive director for lifestyle brands at Outside, Inc. She is a former senior food editor at Food & Wine and the author of the cookbook, “Sweet Potatoes: Roasted, Loaded, Fried and Made into Pie.”

Heck was the test kitchen director and a food editor at Bon Appetit and the head recipe developer at Lucky Peach. During her freelance career, her work was published in SHAPE, SELF, Saveur, Every Day With Rachael Ray, and Fitness, among other publications. Her first cookbook was published in 2017. In 2022, she won the James Beard Foundation Journalism Award for the home cooking category for her piece, “The Way of Clay,” on clay pot cooking.

Heck has a bachelor of arts in history from the University of Massachusetts, a culinary degree from The Culinary Institute of America, and a masters in business administration from Emory University's Goizueta Business School.

Food & Wine, a Dotdash Meredith Brand, is an award-winning online resource for anyone passionate about the culinary world. With rigorously tested recipes and the most trusted restaurant, drinks, culinary travel and home coverage, we inspire and empower people everywhere to discover, create, and devour the best in food and wine. Learn more about us and our editorial process.

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