Jackie Alpers

Jackie Alpers is a professional food photographer, food writer and recipe developer. She is a noted expert on Tucson, Arizona's Sonoran-style regional cuisine and the author of four cookbooks including the award-winning Taste of Tucson: Sonoran Style Recipes Inspired by the Rich Culture of Southern Arizona.

Experience

With over 30 years of experience as a self-employed food photographer, Director of Photography and cookbook author, I have developed a distinctive portfolio of work that showcases the diverse and complex beauty, culture, and stories of food and drink. I have published four cookbooks, including the acclaimed Taste of Tucson: Sonoran-Style Recipes Inspired by the Rich Culture of Southern Arizona, which is an official selection of UNESCO’s Tucson City of Gastronomy and a winner of the RUSA and Eating the West Awards. I am a noted expert on Tucson's Sonoran style regional cuisine, which reflects the rich culinary heritage of Southern Arizona and Northern Mexico.

I have also won multiple awards for my food photography, including nine American Photography Awards, the 2022 and 2024 Taste Photography Award, The Pink Lady food photography award, and the 2024 gold Muse Photography Award. My passion is to teach creativity in the kitchen from my home in Tucson, Arizona, where I share my knowledge, skills, and inspiration with aspiring and seasoned food enthusiasts. My mission is to celebrate the art, culture, and joy of food and drink, and to empower others to express their own creativity and passion through cooking and photography.

I began contributing a monthly food column, food photography and additional illustrated articles to the Food Network and Refinery29 in 2013.

I have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, Reader’s Digest, CNN, Good Morning America, The New York Times, NPR. Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Glamour, Better Homes and Gardens, MSN, Thrillist, Brit + Co. and Buzzfeed Food.

I am an experienced educator who speaks on food photography practices, techniques & history, Sonoran & Southwestern cuisine, and other industry related topics at workshops and universities. I have been a professional photo editor for over 25 years, starting my career as the managing photo editor at Swanstock, the premier fine art photography division of Getty Images.

Education

I attended Columbus College of Art & Design in Columbus, Ohio. I received a BFA in Photography in 1991

About Serious Eats

Serious Eats, a Dotdash brand, is an award-winning food and drink website visited by over 7 million hungry readers every month. Our audience comes to us for rigorously tested recipes, science-driven cooking techniques, robust equipment reviews, and stories that offer cultural and historical context to the foods we love to eat.

Dotdash is among the largest and fastest growing publishers online, and has won over 50 awards in the last year alone, including Digiday's 2020 Publisher of the Year. Dotdash brands include Verywell, Investopedia, The Balance, The Spruce, Simply Recipes, Serious Eats, Byrdie, Brides, MyDomaine, Lifewire, TripSavvy, Liquor.com, and TreeHugger.