Prior to starting Food52, Amanda was a reporter at the New York Times, and the food editor at the Times Magazine. She wrote the award-winning books Cooking for Mr. Latte and The Cook and the Gardener, and edited the essay collection Eat, Memory.
After graduating from Brown and then Le Cordon Bleu, Merrill worked at Cook's Illustrated and behind the counter at Flour Bakery in Boston's South End. In addition to her work with Amanda on The Essential New York Times Cookbook, Merrill has written for the Times' T Living, Edible Brooklyn and Body+Soul, and she was the food editor at Herb Quarterly.