Stella Parks

Stella Parks was born in Kentucky, where she grew up in Versailles.{{Cite web|last=Craddock|first=Kat|date=2019-03-22|title=BraveTart is the Best Baking Book We've Seen in Years|url=https://inspiration.saveur.com/bravetart-is-the-best-baking-book-weve-seen-in-years/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210516153155/https://inspiration.saveur.com/bravetart-is-the-best-baking-book-weve-seen-in-years/|archive-date=May 16, 2021|access-date=2020-11-14|website=Saveur|language=en-US|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|last=Hilliard|first=Emily|date=2013-03-18|title=Give Me Some Sugar: Getting to Know Stella Parks|url=https://www.southernliving.com/chefs/give-me-some-sugar-getting-to-know-stella-parks|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820083658/https://www.southernliving.com/chefs/give-me-some-sugar-getting-to-know-stella-parks|archive-date=August 20, 2020|access-date=2020-11-14|website=Southern Living|language=EN|url-status=dead}} She began working in restaurants at the age of 14.{{Cite web|last=Hoffman|first=Maggie|date=2012-01-12|title=Get to Know Us: Stella Parks, BraveTart|url=https://sweets.seriouseats.com/2012/01/get-to-know-us-stella-parks-bravetart.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-11-14|website=Serious Eats|language=en}}

Immediately after graduating from high school, Parks left to study at the Culinary Institute of America.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Stella Parks: Pastry Wizard|url=https://www.seriouseats.com/editors/stella-parks|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-11-14|website=Serious Eats|language=en}} She graduated in 2002 from the school's baking and pastry program.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2012|title=Stella Parks|url=https://womenwriters.as.uky.edu/presenters/stella-parks|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-11-14|website=Kentucky Women Writers Conference}}

Parks worked in a variety of restaurants in the Lexington, Kentucky, area, including Wallace Station and the Holly Hill Inn.{{Cite web|last=Rosen|first=Kristina|date=2020-10-21|title=Chefpreneur Ouita Michel announces her first-ever cookbook|url=https://www.aceweekly.com/2020/10/chef-ouita-michel-announces-her-first-ever-cookbook/|access-date=2020-11-14|website=Ace Weekly|language=en-US}} She also spent time in Tokyo, moving there to study Japanese as part of a self-described "quarter-life crisis."

In 2010, she was hired to work at the new Lexington restaurant Table 310 as its pastry chef. In 2012, she was named one of America's Best New Pastry Chefs by Food & Wine magazine in recognition of her work at Table 310.{{Cite web|last=Brion|first=Raphael|date=2012-02-15|title=Food & Wine's Best New Pastry Chefs 2012 Announced|url=https://www.eater.com/2012/2/15/6613367/food-wines-best-new-pastry-chefs-2012-announced|access-date=2020-11-14|website=Eater|language=en}}

As part of a project with a photographer friend, Parks started her food blog BraveTart in 2010.{{Cite web|last=Crowley|first=Chris|date=2017-08-14|title=A Baking Book That Celebrates the Science of Junk Food|url=https://www.grubstreet.com/2017/08/bravetart-celebrates-the-science-of-junk-food.html|access-date=2020-11-14|website=Grub Street|language=en-us}} A year later, she began writing a "BraveTart" column at the food website Serious Eats. She became a longtime contributor to the publication, where she served as a senior editor and was dubbed the website's "pastry wizard," though she has continued to be based in Lexington.{{Cite web|last=Lower|first=Claire|date=2019-03-14|title=I'm Pastry Chef Stella Parks, and This Is How I Eat|url=https://skillet.lifehacker.com/im-pastry-chef-stella-parks-and-this-is-how-i-eat-1833139563|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-11-14|website=Skillet|language=en-us}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Masthead|url=https://www.seriouseats.com/masthead|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-11-14|website=Serious Eats|language=en}} After contributing to Serious Eats from 2011 to 2019, with three years as its pastry editor, Parks became editor emeritus at the site.{{Cite web|title=Stella Parks: Editor Emeritus for Serious Eats|url=https://www.seriouseats.com/stella-parks-5119004|access-date=2021-05-25|website=Serious Eats|language=en}}

Parks's work combines baking, history, and science.{{Cite news|last=Patton|first=Janet|date=2017-07-25|title=American desserts celebrated in new cookbook by Lexington baker|work=Lexington Herald-Leader|url=https://www.kentucky.com/lexgoeat/restaurants/article163457338.html|access-date=2020-11-14}}{{Cite web|last=Moussa|first=Adam|date=2020-05-28|title=I'm Baking the Hell Out of This Quarantine Thanks to 'BraveTart'|url=https://www.eater.com/21266730/im-baking-the-hell-out-of-this-quarantine-thanks-to-bravetart|access-date=2020-11-14|website=Eater|language=en}} She is known for developing precise, complex recipes that often elevate American childhood favorite desserts through copycat recipes.{{Cite web|last=Craddock|first=Kat|date=2017-09-07|title=Bravetart's Stella Parks on How Corporate Marketing Invented American Dessert|url=http://www.saveur.com/stella-parks-bravetart-dessert-interview/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-11-14|website=Saveur|language=en}}

In 2017, Parks published her debut cookbook, BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts.{{Cite book|last=Parks, Stella|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/959875767|title=BraveTart : iconic American desserts|others=Santos, Penny de los, López-Alt, J. Kenji.|year=2017|isbn=978-0-393-23986-7|edition=First |location=New York|oclc=959875767}} She spent six years working on the book, which involved archival research as well as recipe testing. The cookbook celebrates iconic American desserts and explores the history of the commercial food industry's influence on home baking.{{Cite news|last=Black|first=Jane|date=2017-07-25|title='BraveTart' is packed with clever upgrades of baking classics|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/bravetart-is-packed-with-clever-upgrades-of-baking-classics/2017/07/24/40dac182-6b38-11e7-b9e2-2056e768a7e5_story.html|access-date=2020-11-14}} The BraveTart cookbook became a New York Times bestseller and was well received by critics. It was described as "the most groundbreaking book on baking in years" by Saveur and "one of the greatest dessert books of our time" by Bon Appétit.{{Cite web|last=Beggs|first=Alex|date=2019-05-01|title=May's Cookbook Club Pick Is BraveTart, One of the Greatest Dessert Books of Our Time|url=https://www.bonappetit.com/story/may-cookbook-club-bravetart|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-11-14|website=Bon Appétit|language=en-us}} In 2018, Parks's BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts won a James Beard Foundation Award for Best Baking and Dessert Book.{{Cite web|editor=((JBF Editors))|editor-link=James Beard Foundation|date=2018-04-27|title=The 2018 James Beard Media Award Winners|url=https://www.jamesbeard.org/blog/the-2018-james-beard-media-award-winners|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-11-14|website=James Beard Foundation|language=en}}

After stepping back from Serious Eats in 2019, Parks entered what she dubbed her "hermit era," focusing on a less deadline-driven life balance.{{Cite web |last=Lower |first=Claire |date=2024-09-09 |title=The Bravetart Is Back and As Opinionated As Ever |url=https://www.177milkstreet.com/2024/09/bravetart-is-back-opinionated-as-ever |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=Christopher Kimball's Milk Street |language=en-US}}

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Category:Living people

Category:American women chefs

Category:Culinary Institute of America alumni

Category:Pastry chefs

Category:Chefs from Kentucky

Category:James Beard Foundation Award winners

Category:People from Versailles, Kentucky

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:21st-century American women