Gigi Berardi
Just as soon as you attain to one ambition you see another one glittering higher up still. It does make life so interesting.
~Lucy Maud Montgomery
About Gigi
GIGI BERARDI teaches food and writing classes at Western Washington University and in Global Learning Programs. She maintains the popular food blog “FoodWISE” and has written numerous articles for general and scientific audiences alike. Her work has appeared in outlets including the LA Times, Anchorage Daily News, and BioScience, among others. She holds an MS and PhD from Cornell University in Natural Resources and an MA in World Arts & Cultures/Dance from UCLA. She has authored over 300 popular articles and reviews for print and broadcast media—much of these on the arts and in reference to her widely-read book, Finding Balance. Her newest work is historical fiction, a chilling retelling of a woman scientist’s search for a malarial cure in Renaissance Florence.
Click to Learn More About Gigi’s Passions
Food “Wise” stands for: Whole, Informed, Sustainable and Experienced-based thinking. Berardi avoids prescribing what we should and should not eat and the book does not hone in on “beneficial” foods or nutrients. Instead, she invites readers to think holistically about how we can procure and produce incredible meals, and draw deep nourishment from the foods we prepare and consume.

New Fiction: The Alchemy of Desire
Gigi’s newest work is historical fiction, tentatively titled, The “Alchemy of Desire,” a deep-dive into the Renaissance feminist character of Bianca Capello, mistress to the Medici. Alchemist and chemist, too, she works on a cure for malaria that rejects the occult practices of her aunties in Venice and the duke she marries. In a time when neither Church nor alchemy authorities allow it, can a woman do science and make medicines, much less test them, before the heat disease kills them all. Bianca might reject the occult, but Gigi takes a more inclusive view…you can read more here.
