Burt Wolf

Wolf was the founder of the Double Elephant Press. For the past forty years, Double Elephant has been publishing signed numbered portfolios containing the work of some of the world's greatest photographers including Walker Evans, Lee Friedlander, Garry Winogrand and Helmut Newton. In 2000, Wolf completed a project in which he worked with curators at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art on a PBS television program and companion book examining the relationship between photography and gastronomy and titled What Are They Eating In The Photograph?

In 1989, Wolf designed a limited partnership investment vehicle that was used to develop a branch restaurant in Memphis for the Brennan Restaurant group of New Orleans. He was responsible for raising over $2 million for the restaurant, as well as its physical plan, menu and operating systems. The restaurant is still profitable and has had two expansions.

Wolf began making programs about cultural history when Ted Turner invited him to report for CNN. Since 1982, Wolf has produced over 4,000 segments for Cable News Network (CNN), 800 segments for ABC (the American Broadcasting Company), 125 half-hour programs for the travel division of The Discovery Channel, and 350 half hours for Public Broadcasting. The New York Times described his programs as “the best food, travel, and cultural history shows on television.”

During his 35 years as a journalist, Wolf has written or edited more than 60 books including The Cooks' Catalogue, which Time described as "the definitive book on cooking equipment." From 1979 to 1982, he wrote a weekly column syndicated by The Washington Post and in 2000 was a regular contributor to the online publication Salon.com.

In 1975, in partnership with Federated Department Stores, he designed and managed a group of 276 food and cooking equipment shops called "Cook's Kitchen" that were installed in Federated stores throughout the United States. The franchise was eventually extended to May Company, Marshall Field, Ives and Macy's outlets.

Wolf attended The High School of Music & Art in New York City, and New York University where he earned a BA degree in English Literature. Although he grew up thinking he would become a lawyer, Wolf supported himself by working in restaurants. He left New York University Law School to become the writer-publisher of a series of self-help books. He later sold the publishing house in 1968.

Burt Wolf (Burton Wolf), born 1938, is an American journalist, writer, entrepreneur, chef, and TV producer. He is the host and author of nine internationally syndicated television series that deal with cultural history, travel and gastronomy, including Travels & Traditions.

Burt Wolf was born in New York City, in 1938, and as a boy helped out at his grandmother's housewares store in the Bronx. In a 1993 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Wolf stated, "My grandmother owned a cooking equipment store," he said. "I literally grew up in the cooking business. So all the time I was training myself for food."