In college, while majoring in English Lit, Christopher Behr saw a “cook wanted” sign posted at his favorite bar. He offered to work for beer money, and without any formal training, ended up running the kitchen for the next two years, often skipping classes because he’d rather be cooking. He then went to culinary school, and was eventually hired to cook at the esteemed A16 in San Francisco, a restaurant pioneering Southern Italian farm-to-table cooking. He next was named chef de cuisine at SPQR, and in that capacity was sent twice to Rome to study the food there. After working in New York City at the Balthazar Bakery at Pulino’s, he went on the BKLYN Larder where he propitiously met Mona Talbott, who eventually proposed him as sous chef for the Rome Sustainable Food Project. In 2014, he became the program’s executive chef.
 
Annie Schlechter has been working as a photographer since 1998. She spent from September 2009 to June 2010 living at the American Academy in Rome. Her clients include New York Magazine, Veranda, Country Living, Condé Nast Traveler, Better Homes and Gardens, Coastal Living, House Beautiful, Travel and Leisure, and The World of Interiors. 

Tamar Adler is the author of An Everlasting Meal. She has cooked at Chez Panisse, is a columnist for the New York Times Magazine, and a contributor to Vogue.