Marialisa Calta is the author of "Barbarians at the Plate: Taming and Feeding the Modern American Family" (Perigee Books, 2005).She began her career as a newspaper reporter, working for the now-defunct alternative weekly, The Seattle Sun. After earning a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, she worked at a number of publications, including the Associated Press and The Providence (RI) Journal.She has also taught journalism classes at the University of Vermont. For the past 10 years, she has written "Food," a weekly column syndicated by United Media to more than 500 small newspapers nationwide. Her work on food, travel and lifestyles has appeared in The New York Times, Gourmet, Eating Well, The Wall Street Journal, Food & Wine, Martha Stewart Living, Smithsonian, People and Woman's Day. In 1994, she won the Bert Greene Memorial Award for Food Journalism given by the International Association of Culinary Professionals. She is a contributing editor to Eating Well magazine and a commentator on Vermont Public Radio. Her other books include "River Run: Southern Comfort From Vermont" (HarperCollins, 2001), which she co-wrote with Jimmy and Maya Kennedy and "Fresh From Vermont," published Vermont Life Magazine 1992, with text Chef David Miles of the New England Culinary Institute. NBC "Today" show personality Al Roker tapped Marialisa to help develop and test recipes for two cookbooks, "Al Roker's Big Bad Book of Barbecue" (Scribner, 2002) and "Al Roker's Hassle-Free Holiday Cookbook" (Scribner, 2003).A proud moment in her career came in the fall of 2001, when she was one of a small group of neighbors who helped launch the 2002 Men of Maple Corner Calendar, featuring the nearly-naked (but extremely intelligent!) men of the community (see www.MapleCorner.net). This fund-raising project ' featured on NBC's "Today" show and media throughout the world - went on to garner about $500,000 for the Maple Corner Community Center and other charities. Unfortunately, the calendar models retired after the 2003 edition. She lives in Vermont with her husband and two daughters.