About Leticia

Teacher and cookbook author Leticia Moreinos Schwartz has built a career on the passion for her native Brazilian cuisine. Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Leticia's passion for food began at a very early age. Languages were another passion since childhood. She studied French, English, and Spanish as after-school programs and started to translate recipes into Portuguese as a hobby, so that when cooking, the language would not be an issue above the recipes. Her love for other languages and cultures sent her to Switzerland, where she spent a semester exploring and discovering the wonders of all things culinary in Europe.

Returning to Brazil, Leticia received a BA in economics and worked briefly in finances. She then chose to change courses and followed her dreams to pursue a career in the culinary industry.

She moved to New York in 1997, and enrolled and the French Culinary Institute where she graduated with degrees in both Culinary and Pastry Arts. She continued her training cooking at legendary New York restaurants such as Le Cirque 2000, La Grenouille, La Caravelle and Payard Patisserie and Bistro.

Marriage and kids brought on a move to the suburbs of CT, where she created "Chef Leticia", a boutique culinary company offering a wide range of services, from cooking classes to food writing to recipe development to food styling. It's all about the love of cooking - for pleasure, and for a living.

Her first cookbook The Brazilian Kitchen: 100 Classic and Contemporary Recipes for the Home Cook was published in February 2010 by Kyle Books and quickly became the number one reference on the subject.

Other published articles includes restaurant reviews for the popular web site CTbites.com, and her essay It all Ends in Samba is part of a book project called Creating a Meal You'll Love (edited by Mark Chimsky-Lustig, Sellers Publishing 2010), featuring other chefs and food writers as acclaimed as Mimi Sheraton, Nick Malgieri, and Marcus Samuelson.

Leticia has made numerous TV and radio appearances including Martha Stewart Living Radio Program, Better Homes and Gardens Better.TV, and NBC's LX TV. She is a regular guest chef on WTNH-TV, and her work has been featured in many web and printed media such as The New York Times, Fine Cooking Magazine, CT Cottages and Gardens, and many others.

A student of her craft, Leticia often attends culinary conferences, workshops, and seminars, including Food Journalism with Alan Richman, and Food Blogging with Steven Shaw, both at The French Culinary Institute. She is a proud member of IACP and NYWCA.