Jillian Atkinson

Jillian Atkinson began working with Serious Eats in summer 2020, and she's been able to combine her love of food and photography in her work as a recipe developer, stylist, and food photographer. Her work draws from everything she's learned and tasted in her travels, plus all of her family's traditional recipes she's intent on rescuing before they're forgotten.

After years of travel, photography courses, and self-taught food studies it was her (now defunct) food blog where her passion for food, photography, and styling began to develop as one. Since then, she has collaborated on a yet-to-be released cookbook and on location shoots as a food stylist. She is a graduate of Temple University School of Journalism.

What's your desert island food?

A huge vat of frying oil. With that I would be able to make fried fish, which should hopefully be in abundance nearby and is fortunately one of my favorite things to eat. Is that cheating? If that's cheating than the vanilla soft serve with rainbow sprinkles in a cone from a Mister Softee truck but without the endless jingle playing in the background.

What's your favorite condiment?

Bornier Dijon Mustard. I have been chasing a high-pitched nose-clearing mustard ever since a trip to Paris over 10 years ago. Bornier is my favorite in my never ending quest; it's not as sharp as the Paris-bought version taken from me at the airport as I left the country, so it's easy to smear on sandwiches or into salad dressings and marinades.

Pickapeppa sauce is a Jamaican condiment that goes on just about anything. It's tangy, sweet, and of course, spicy. It amplifies anything you want to put it on and makes a hard-to-name but delicious addition to dressings, skirt steak marinades, or homemade barbecue sauce for summer grilling.

Temple University School of Journalism