Eric Kim is a New York Times staff writer born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and the author of Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home (Clarkson Potter, 2022). He now hosts regular videos on NYT Cooking’s YouTube channel and writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine. A former contributing editor at Saveur, Eric taught writing and literature at Columbia University, and his work has been featured in The Washington Post, Bon Appétit, and Food & Wine. He lives with his rescue pup, Quentin Compson, in New York City.

Sohla El-Waylly can currently be seen starring in The HISTORY® Channel’s series Ancient Recipes with Sohla. In each episode, Sohla takes the food you know and love and traces it back to its origins detailing the surprising history of fan-favorite dishes as she attempts to recreate the original version using historical cooking techniques and ingredients. Along the way, Sohla also highlights the differences between the ancient recipe and how we would prepare the modern version today. The series, now in its second season, is a digital companion for The HISTORY® Channel’s popular broadcast show, The Food That Built America.

Last year, Sohla was included in the TIME 100 Next list, highlighted as one of the emerging leaders who are shaping our future.

Sohla is also of the first-ever Resident Experts for Food52 with Off Script with Sohla, her curated monthly online column and video series. While exploring traditional dishes and techniques, Sohla shows audiences how to riff on them. The series lives on Food52’s website, YouTube and OTT channels. She is also a contributor to The New York Times Cooking vertical.

In 2020, Sohla concluded her YouTube special Stump Sohla, which was featured on the Babish Culinary Universe and had over 7.2 million views across the first 5 episodes alone. In each episode, it allowed Sohla to introduce audiences to the playful side of her culinary passions, with segments ranging from making Mac & Cheese over an open fire to curating a seven-course convenience store tasting menu.

Sohla notably rose to prominence from her integral role on the Bon Appetit “Test Kitchen” YouTube channel. She was a strategically-placed expert who appeared to offer informed opinions and suggestions about cooking and baking experiments that were on the verge of either going right or wrong. Amidst allegations of racism and unequal pay brought against Bon Appetit in 2020, Sohla spoke out about the publication’s treatment of people of color and lack of equitable pay. She ultimately parted ways with the company. Sohla’s voice sparked the movement for more diverse representation in culinary media and forged the way for other BIPOC cast members to speak out and be heard. In a recent interview with VULTURE, it was noted how Sohla became a symbol for the overqualified and underpaid. “I really didn’t think it was going to be a big deal,” she says. “It’s just what I’ve always done. This was the only time anyone listened.”

Sohla currently resides in New York with her husband Ham, their cat Lucifer and two dogs, Clementine and Vito.