About
Amanda Freitag (born May 11, 1972) is an American celebrity chef and cookbook author. She is known for her frequent appearances on Food Network television programs and her work as a judge on television cooking competitions. She is based in New York City.
Freitag was raised in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. She attended Cedar Grove High School, then known as Memorial High School, where her home economics teacher, Joan Levine, suggested that Freitag might be interested in attending the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). Freitag attended CIA at the Hyde Park location, graduating in 1989.
Following graduation in 1989, Freitag took a position at Vong New York working under chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. In 1994, she left Vong to cook at Verbena, under chef Diane Forley. Freitag has stated that her time at Verbena was meaningful and she built important relationships, and where she first learned to focus on using local, organic ingredients. After Verbena, Freitag traveled to France and Italy, working for a short while at L’Arpège restaurant under chef Alain Passard in 1999.
In 2003, Freitag and restaurateur Godfrey Polistina opened the Upper…
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