Maria Liberati is an Italian American Chef/Entrepreneur and winner of the prestigious Gourmand World Cookbook Award for her culinary travel book series - The Basic Art of Italian Cooking. Her award-winning blog The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati tm at www.marialiberati.com was selected as culinary travel blog of the year by the NY Travel Writers' Society ,and has 300,000 worldwide followers. Maria is considered one of the foremost experts on Italian cuisine and wine. She regularly appears on TV, radio and in print and hosted/wrote her own PBS TV series based on her culinary travel book series. Maria studied the culinary arts in Italy, and founded The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati tm trademark now with its' own line of food products in the works.