Matt Lewis started his chocolate addiction at a very young age. His mother introduced him to the "Chocolate as Dinner" philosophy when he was 7 and "Chocolate as Breakfast" philosophy when he was eight years old (peanut butter was added to this regimen when he was nine to increase his protein intake). Gradually, Matt learned to eat regular meals like other children, but he just recently (and grudgingly) gave up eating brownies for lunch. After graduating from the University of Alabama, Matt moved to New York and worked in the varied worlds of theatre, advertising, and Internet production. After some long years consuming chocolate in a cubicle, Matt decided to leave the world of corporations and conference calls to open Chocolate Bar and author the Chocolate Bar cookbook. He sold Chocolate Bar in 2004 and shortly thereafter opened Baked with Renato Poliafito. Matt currently spends his days indulging in Baked's wide variety of baked goods and spreading the Baked gospel to the masses. Baked currently distributes their granola to specialty stores nationwide, and in fall 2010 will be debuting their Williams Sonoma/Baked brownie mixes across the U.S.Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito's debut cookbook, Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, was published to national critical acclaim and raved about across the blogosphere. The book received top nods from NPR, People and Amazon.com, Food and Wine, Bon Appetit and many more. Baked: New Frontiers in Baking was nominated for an IACP award.Their new book, Baked Explorations, was published in October 2010 and is a tribute to beloved American desserts - treats and baked goods that are regional gems, fading beauties, or family secrets (and a few Baked customer favorites). Some of the stellar recipes included in this volume include: Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie, Mom's Olive Oil Orange Bundt Cake, The Aunt Sassy (pistachio) Cake, Chocolate Thumb Prints, plus 75 other recipes from breakfast treats to late-night confections. Baked Explorations was named one of the top cookbooks of 2010 by the Washington Post and Amazon. Matt and Renato have been featured in the New York Times, O Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, People Magazine, and many more. In addition, they have written recipes for Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, Health Magazine and they have appeared on Food TV, MSNBC, Martha, Rachel Ray, the Today Show, and many more.