EMMONS, Didi 1963-

PERSONAL: Born February 13, 1963, in Stamford, CT; daughter of Harry I. (a realtor) and Rosamond (an artist; maiden name, Lehrer) Emmons. Ethnicity: "White." Education: New York University, B.S., 1985; La Varenne École de Cuisine, diploma.

ADDRESSES: Home—110 Rockview St., Boston, MA 02130.

CAREER: Center Street Café, Boston, MA, dinner chef; editor and assistant to chef and food writer Steven Raichlen, 1988-92; Blue Room, Cambridge, MA, pastry chef, 1994-95; DeLux Café, Boston, head chef, 1995-98; Pho Republique (French-Vietnamese restaurants), startup chef, co-owner, and consultant in Cambridge and Boston, 1998-2000; Veggie Planet (vegetarian restaurant), Cambridge, co-owner and chef, 2001—. La Varenne École de Cuisine, Paris, France, apprentice and translator, 1989-90; worked at Boston-area restaurants such as Hamersley's Bistro and Cambridge House Inn. Guest on television programs, including those airing on cable Food Network.

AWARDS, HONORS: Award from International Association of Culinary Professionals, 2004, for Entertaining for a Veggie Planet.

WRITINGS:

Vegetarian Planet: 350 Big-Flavor Recipes for Out-of-This-World Food Every Day, Harvard Common Press (Cambridge, MA), 1997.

Entertaining for a Veggie Planet: 250 Down-to-Earth Recipes, Houghton Mifflin (New York, NY), 2003.

Author of "On the Chef's Plate," a weekly column in Boston area newspapers, 1995.

SIDELIGHTS: Didi Emmons told CA: "I write because it lets me hone my thoughts—sculpting them for greater accuracy and amusement. That is satisfying.

"I write cookbooks because cooking is my primary passion. I grin and bear the mundane technicalities that writing two or three hundred recipes demands. But what makes up for it is in the writing the headnote—the paragraph right before the recipe that describes the dish or tells a story about it.

"I'm a pretty neurotic writer. I need my cat near, a blanket on my lap, something good to drink, like hot cocoa or cappucino, and then I can get some work done. Often I go to a coffee shop or library, and this helps my focus. I've made the mistake of writing a book with a publisher without really knowing the company well. In my last book, I saw my vision crumble because we didn't see eye to eye, especially on the title and cover. I'll be more careful next time."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 15, 1997, Mark Knoblauch, review of Vegetarian Planet: 350 Big-Flavor Recipes for Out-of-This-World Food Every Day, p. 1551.

Houston Chronicle, July 16, 1997, Ann Criswell, review of Vegetarian Planet, p. 1.

Library Journal, June 15, 1997, Judith C. Sutton, review of Vegetarian Planet, p. 90; May 15, 2003, Judith C. Sutton, review of Entertaining for a Veggie Planet: 250 Down-to-Earth Recipes, p. 118.

Publishers Weekly, May 5, 1997, review of Vegetarian Planet, p. 203; May 19, 2003, review of Entertaining for a Veggie Planet, p. 70.

San Francisco Chronicle, July 23, 1997, Angela Hwang, review of Vegetarian Planet.