Carrie Honaker is a freelance writer and pastry chef specializing in food, wine, and travel. Using her background working in and owning restaurants, she provides insight into products and practices for the home cook. She also believes strongly in empowering people to cook at home with trusted recipes and equipment that is accessible for any income. An extension of her love of food, culinary travels across the globe inspired her not-so-secret obsession with eclectic home decor and her knack for repurposing a shabby piece of furniture into something stylish.
Highlights:
- Carrie has written for The Spruce Eats and Simply Recipes since January 2021. Between the two publications, she tested hundreds of products ranging from chef knives to cheese subscriptions.
- Her work has appeared in Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Wine Enthusiast, Travel + Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, Allrecipes, HuffPost, The Local Palate, Culture Trip, The Alcohol Professor, Smarter Travel, Better Humans, P.S. I Love You, Carpe Travel, and Farmer-ish.
- Carrie has a Bachelor's and Master’s degree in English from Florida State University. She also has a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of West Florida.
Experience
Summers spent on her great-grandmother’s farm in Highgate, Vermont, Carrie tended an expansive garden, pickled and preserved all manner of produce, cared for pigs, cows and chickens, and learned the intricacies of dough and dandelion wine. Youthful summers led to a lifetime in restaurant kitchens where she honed her cooking chops, wine knowledge, and trained in the art of pastry. Following college, Carrie opened and operated a small breakfast and lunch cafe where she also catered weddings and private business dinners. The town where she opened that restaurant was filled with antique and furniture dealers who taught her everything from how to refinish a 1930s armoire to creating vignettes with decor. She also consulted for burgeoning restaurateurs on kitchen organization, wine list and food menu development, and the nuts and bolts of setting up a beautiful dining space. After selling her cafe, Carrie taught college and high school English for over a decade until it was time to pursue her childhood dream of writing professionally. She currently resides in Panama City Beach, Florida where she writes about the next addiction-worthy baked good, the perfect use for a baking stone, the little-known Florida wine scene, and finding the perfect piece of artful home decor from her travels.
Favorite Purchase:
Food film that doesn’t create a tight seal on containers or cut off in a crisp stroke is a huge problem for home cooks. Working in restaurants, I was spoiled by the heavy-duty food film in spools of 3000+ feet. When I sold my restaurant, I limped along using that last roll of commercial food film, hoping I would find an alternative for when it ran out. I did after much heartache and many unsealed containers, ChicWrap is as sturdy as that commercial stuff and comes with a super sharp sliding cutter that never fails.
Education
Carrie has a Bachelor's and Master’s degree in English from Florida State University. She also has a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of West Florida.
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