From the family restaurant to my own kitchen
Food has always been at the center of my life.
Long before food became my career, I cleaned booths and took orders at my grandparents’ restaurant, but the meals are what I remember most. We celebrated birthdays and Chinese New Year there, with plenty of delicious meals in between that needed no occasion at all. Watching my grandparents cook left a deeper impression on me than I understood at the time. They shaped what I love to eat, how I cook, and why feeding people means so much to me.
That love of food eventually led me into food marketing. I spent years working with brands, helping introduce new products and giving people a reason to try them. It was a way to build a career around something I had always cared about.
After a long slog in the corporate world, I decided to make a go of it in a different direction. I enrolled at the San Francisco Cooking School to learn the craft more deeply and give myself the skills to write about food and teach others to cook.
Culinary school gave me the skills and know-how to begin a cookbook collaboration with my grandmother—the same grandmother whose restaurant I grew up in. Now, we’re working together to put her cooking on the page. It’s a new chapter in a story that began long before I knew food would be my profession.
Selected food writing
A curious cook, on the page.
Heated
A publication from Medium × Mark Bittman
By Erica Lovelace Cooks
Taste Testing Lao Gan Ma’s Chile Condiments
A trip into the Chinese pantry, with tasting notes and ideas for bringing a favorite family staple to the table.
Personal essay · Medium
Humble and Historic: Community Cookbooks and Their Ability to Preserve a People and Place in Time
A family copy of Charleston Receipts opens a story about the recipes and histories preserved in community cookbooks.
Food & travel · Medium
Celebrating Cookbook Stores from Around the World
A tour of cookbook shops I’ve visited, and the pleasure of finding a place devoted to food on the page.
Personal essay · Medium
A Year of Quarantine Cooking
A look back at kitchen experiments, lessons learned, and the meals that marked a year at home.
Broadcast appearances & press
In the News
▶ Watch segment: Compound butters for grilling season
River City Live
Compound butters for grilling season
A visit to the River City Live kitchen to share compound butters for grilling.
▶ Watch segment: Valentine’s Day fondue for two
River City Live
Valentine’s Day fondue for two
Making a fondue dinner for two in the studio, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
Resident Community News
Local Folks: Erica Lovelace
Mary Wanser’s profile of my Jacksonville roots, family food traditions, and journey into cooking and writing.
Let’s make something delicious
Recipe development.
Food content.
Brand strategy.
Need a recipe, have a food story to tell, or a product people should get to know? I bring culinary training and years of food marketing experience to the table. Let’s give people something worth cooking, watching, or reaching for on the shelf.
Selected professional experience
Food brands I’ve worked for, from alternative proteins to fresh produce.
Impossible Foods
Channel marketing
2017–2018
Meati Foods
Foodservice partnerships
2022–2023
Local Bounti
Brand management
2024–2025
Mikuna
Channel marketing leadership
2021–2022
Plenty
Integrated & channel marketing
2018–2021
WILDE Chips
Brand management consulting
2025
Chef · Food writer · Brand marketer
Hi, I’m Erica.
Food is my
common thread.
I’m a trained chef, recipe writer, and food marketer. I’ve built a career helping people discover what’s worth eating—and a kitchen practice devoted to figuring out how to make it.
Here, I bring my Southern and Chinese heritage, culinary training, and experience in food together to help you feel more confident in the kitchen.
Come cook with me Explore my food career ↓
Cin Cin, Erica