About Lisa

James Beard award-winning essayist, author, and chef Lisa Donovan helped redefine what it means to be a "Southern baker" as the pastry chef to some of the South's most influential kitchens. Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger, Lisa’s first book, was published in August 2020 and received the 2021 M.F.K. Fisher Prize of Excellence. 

Lisa has helmed the pastry kitchens of some of the most important restaurants in the country and was named one of The 10 Best Bakers in America in 2015. Her pastry recipes have been developed for and are featured in several acclaimed cookbooks, including both of Sean Brock’s New York Times bestselling cookbooks, Heritage and South, Ronnie Lundy’s Victuals, and Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ by Lolis Elie and Rodney Scott.

Lisa is a long-time contributor to Food&Wine Magazine, Southern Foodways Alliance’s Gravy Publication, The Washington Post, and LitHub. National publications and tv shows celebrate and feature Lisa's work, including New York Times Cooking, Splendid Table, Garden & Gun, and Mind of a Chef.

Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger was received by a warm audience and has become a multi-generational conversation piece about womanhood in the 20th and 21st centuries. Lisa’s memoir catapulted her into a space outside of food where conversations are being had about the nature of work and life and the tethers of the past in modern-day efforts. Maureen Corrigan of NPR said of Lisa’s writing, “Donovan is such a vivid writer — smart, raunchy, vulnerable and funny — that if her vaunted caramel cakes and sugar pies are half as good as her prose, well, I'd be open to even giving that signature buttermilk whipped cream she tops her desserts with a try.” 

When she's not writing, Lisa consults for restaurants, develops recipes for chef authors, and leads international food and travel retreats through her company, Reverie. She regularly participates in speaking engagements across the U.S., including panel discussions and cooking demonstrations. Lisa has been a featured speaker at René Redzepi’s globally renowned MAD Symposium. 

In 2021, Lisa co-founded Southern Restaurants for Racial Justice, a coalition of bakers, chefs, and restaurant owners collectively raising funds to support Black food-industry start-up and legacy businesses and amplify Black leadership, messaging, and progress. You can read about the growth and future of SRRJ in the New York Times. Lisa also serves as a mentor for The Edna Lewis Foundation and is an active voice in domestic violence advocacy and women’s health and reproduction right-to-choose justice work. 

Lisa lives and writes in Nashville, Tennessee, her home of over twenty years. 

Sign up for Lisa’s substack, From the Hip: One Woman's Writing on Food, to stay updated on Lisa's offerings, new recipes, and online courses.