Gaby Melian
Argentinian chef and cookbook author
Biography
Gaby Melian is an Argentinian chef and cookbook author, born in Buenos Aires around 1969 or 1970. Her career, shaped by family cooking and training in New York, has brought her visibility among Latin American cooks in the American food world.
As a child she spent much of her time helping her family in the kitchen. Her grandmother Porota taught her to cook, and once she mastered the crimping of empanadas she became the family's go-to expert for parties. She studied journalism in Argentina while helping her father, an artisan, sell his silver and leather goods at outdoor markets, where she often sold food to fellow vendors. After college she moved to New York City, hoping to work for a Spanish-language publication.
In 2003 she enrolled at the Institute of Culinary Education, completing programs in culinary management, culinary arts and pastry arts. She then worked as a chef assistant and instructor, both at the school and for organizations such as City Harvest and The Cooking Room. After her mother's death in 2016 she joined Bon Appétit, first in the test kitchen and later as its manager, appearing in videos for the magazine's YouTube channel until 2020.
Since then she has concentrated on her own YouTube channel and on writing. Her memoir Food-Related Stories (2022) traces her career and her relationship with food, while her children's cookbook Gaby's Latin American Kitchen was nominated for an IACP Award in 2023.
Key contributions
- Gaby's Latin American Kitchen, a children's cookbook of Latin American recipes from her childhood and her life in the United States.
- Food-Related Stories, a memoir about her culinary career written for young readers.
- Her work as manager of the Bon Appétit test kitchen, which brought her to a wide audience.
- Her YouTube channel Gaby's Kitchen, where she has published her own content since 2020.