J. Kenji López-Alt

James Kenji López-Alt, known as Kenji, is an American chef and food writer.

López-Alt graduated from MIT, where he majored in architecture. He is the son of Harvard geneticist and immunologist Frederick Alt. At marriage he combined his surname with his wife Adrianna López, also an MIT graduate and PhD. Kenji resides in San Mateo, California after previously living in New York City.

López-Alt worked with several Boston chefs including Barbara Lynch and Ken Oringer. He went on to work as a test cook and editor at Cook's Illustrated magazine and America's Test Kitchen. He is currently the Managing Culinary Director of Serious Eats, a food blog, where he authors the James Beard Award-nominated column The Food Lab. He is also a columnist for Cooking Light.

His first book, The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science, was published in September 2015 by W. W. Norton & Company. It was a New York Times Bestseller and won the 2015 James Beard Foundation Award for General Cooking, as well as the International Association of Culinary Professionals awards for Best American Cookbook and Cookbook of the Year.