Award-winning, Best-Selling Author

Chef – Television Personality

Culinary and Brand Ambassador

Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy

Best-selling author, Dame Amy Riolo is also an award-winning chef, television host, and Mediterranean lifestyle ambassador. The author of 16 books (with #17 in the works), was named Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy by the President of the Italian Republic. She has also been dubbed “The Ambassador of Italian Cuisine in the US” by The Italian International Agency for Foreign Press, “Ambassador of the Italian Mediterranean Diet 2022-2024” by the International Academy of the Italian Mediterranean Diet in her ancestral homeland of Calabria, Italy, and “Ambassador of Mediterranean Cuisine in the World” by the Rome-based media agency We The Italians.

In 2019, she launched her own private label collection of premium Italian imported culinary ingredients called Amy Riolo Selections which includes extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, organic pasta, and pesto sauce from award-winning artisan companies. Amy is the brand ambassador for Marra Forni and The Pizza University and Culinary Arts Center. She is the co- founder and director of A.N.I.T.A. (Accademia Nazionale Italiana Tradizione Alimentari) and an honorary member of the Associazione Regionale Cuochi Pittagorici.

The world-renowned food historian and culinary anthropologist makes frequent appearances on numerous television and radio programs both in the United States and abroad, including Fox TV, ABC, CBS, NBC, The Hallmark Channel, Nile TV, The Travel Channel, Martha Stewart Living Radio, Calabria Uno TV, Esperia TV and Abu Dhabi Television as well as many others. She began her on screen career by creating and appearing weekly in cooking videos entitled “Culture of Cuisine” which air on nationally syndicated news shows on 28 different channels across the United States, totaling a reach of over 300 million people. Amy has also worked as an onscreen talent for many international organizations and companies.

As a respected culinary diplomat, Amy has created menus, culinary ceremonies, and educational seminars for diplomats, international chefs, and world leaders, earning her the title “The Cook to the Kings” by a Cairo 2 newspaper in 2008. Known for sharing history, culture, and nutrition through global cuisine as well as simplifying recipes for the home cook, Amy Riolo is one of the world’s foremost authorities on culinary culture. She is the Chairperson of Les Dames d’Escoffier DC’s Global Culinary Initiative and often collaborates and travels to Italy with the Italian Trade Agency.

Amy began her professional career in the world of fashion. She majored in Apparel and Textile Management at Cornell University, and worked in the clothing sector for a decade before becoming a professional chef and author. While a profile poster dedicated to her culinary achievements is on display in the department of Nutrition at Cornell, she has never abandoned her love of fashion. For this reason, she has collaborated with the Textile Museum in Washington, DC, Emcees events dedicated to fashion at the Italian Embassy, and continues to infuse both passions into her daily life and work. Since 2019, Amy has also been the Master of Ceremonies of the prestigious Italian award Premio Eccellenza Italiana, in Washington, DC which is hosted by Journalist Massimo Lucidi at a concurrent event at the Vatican in Rome.

The “Pen and Ladle Virtuoso” as she was dubbed by an Abu Dhabi newspaper, currently co-leads experiential cuisine and culture tours to Italy with Italian Sensory Experience, and to Morocco and Greece with Indigo Gazelle Tours. Her work has appeared in numerous print media including USA Today, Cooking Light magazine, Elle Magazine, The Washington Post, CNN.com, The Wall Street Journal, Parade Magazine, Gulf News, The Jerusalem Post Magazine, Popular Anthropology Magazine, Insider, Eating Well, Business Insider, Tasting Table, Authority, Medium, Ambassador, The Examiner, La Cucina Italiana, Perugia Today, The National Post, Mashed, The UAE National, Crotone OK, Il Crotonese, Crotone Informa, La Nuova Calabria, Corriere della Calabria, and Miradas, as well as hundreds of other national and international newspapers and magazines. In one of her favorite media interviews, Amy was asked by CNN.com to create a fantasy wedding menu for Prince William. She also collaborated with Martha Stewart and her team during her presentation at Metro Cooking DC.

Amy has published:

  • Diabetes Cookbook for Dummies (co-written with Dr. Simon Poole, March 2024)

  • Diabetes Nutrition and Meal Planning (co-written with Dr. Simon Poole, November 2023)

  • Quick and Easy Mediterranean Recipes (February 2023)

  • Diabetes for Dummies (co-written with Dr. Simon Poole, May 2023) #1 New Release Amazon

  • Italian Recipes for Dummies (April 2022)

  • Mediterranean Lifestyle for Dummies (October 2021)

  • Mediterranean Diabetes Cookbook 2nd edition (#1 in Mediterranean Diet Category for Diabetes patients

  • Creating a Cookbook, 2017

  • The Italian Diabetes Cookbook, 2016

  • Ultimate Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, 2015

  • The Mediterranean Diabetes Cookbook (American Diabetes Association), Nautilus Book Award 2011.

  • Nile Style; Egyptian Cuisine and Culture (Hippocrene Books) World Gourmand Award “Best Arab Cuisine Book” 2009-2013– 2nd edition

  • Arabian Delights; Recipes & Princely Entertaining Ideas from the Arabian Peninsula, 2008

  •  Amy also contributed to The Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia

  •  She co-wrote The Al Tiramisu Restaurant Cookbook: An Elevated Approach to Authentic Italian Cuisine with award-winning chef/restaurateur Luigi Diotaiuti.

Amy, an American of Calabrian descent, was awarded the Wise Women 2015 award from The National Organization of Italian American Women and the Milton F. Clogg Award for “Outstanding Achievement in the Culinary Arts”. She is a Culinary Advisor for The Mediterranean Food Alliance and Culinary Editor/Contributor for We The Italians media agency in Rome, Italy.

Many of Amy’s books, recipes, and podcasts are used by universities and corporations to promote cultural pluralism. Amy speaks English, Italian, French, Spanish, conversational Arabic, and is studying Greek. Her culinary diplomacy events include the “Exploring Italy’s Influence on Cuisine and Culture’ in July 2015 which was sponsored by the International Visitors Center of Los Angeles and the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce West. In September 2015, she presented “Culinary Diplomacy: Building Bridges through Global Cuisine” for the Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy. Amy also chairs the Global Culinary Initiative program for Les Dames d’Escoffier. She is also the author of a noted culinary/cultural blog known for promoting little known facts about global cuisine and the people who create them. Amy has worked with museum curators and events coordinators to create culturally appropriate receptions and culinary components to exhibits.

Amy is a guest speaker/subject matter on cuisine, culture, fashion, the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle, wellness, diabetes-friendly eating, and culinary diplomacy expert for:

  • Yale University Hospitality

  • James Beard House

  • The North American Olive Oil Association

  • Cornell University’s Expanding Nutrition Frontiers

  • The American Diabetes Association

  • Harvard University

  • The Mediterranean Diet Roundtable

  • The Library of Congress

  • Georgetown University

  • Johns Hopkins University

  • The US Endocrine Society (Culinary Stage at Annual Conference)

  • The Embassy of Italy (Washington, DC)

  • The National Italian American Foundation

  • National Geographic

  • The National Organization of Italian American Women

  • The International Association of Culinary Professionals

  • The Cornell University Entrepreneurial Network

  • The International Visitors Center of LA

  • The Italy America Chamber of Commerce

  • The Italian Cultural Institute

  • The World Bank

  • Casa Italiana DC

  • The Italian American Museum of LA

  • The Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy

  • Les Dames d’Escoffier

  • The Smithsonian Institution

  • The International Visitors Center of Los Angeles

  • The Fulbright Commission

  • The National Museum of African Art

  • The Textile Museum

  • The Walters Art Museum

  • The Kennedy Center

  • Montgomery College

  • Sharjah International Book Fair

  • Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival

  • Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

  • The Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt

  • The Embassy of Yemen

  • The Culinary Historians of Washington

  • The Library of Alexandria (Egypt)

  • Chautauqua Institution

  • Italian Trade Agency

  • Camera di Commercio (Crotone, Italy)

  • Giornate Diabetologiche, Ospedale di Crotone (Italy)

  • Terra Madre, Torino (Italy)

  • Museo Archeologico di Capo Colonna (Italy) as well as many other embassies, museums, and organizations.

As a successful culinary consultant, Amy enjoys developing menus, concepts, action plans, recipes, training seminars and guides for corporations, restaurants, and hotels. She has consulted international business owners on bakeries, cafes, restaurants, and culinary stores where she taught vocational baking classes for thousands of pastry chefs. Amy has taught hundreds of recreational cooking classes in the Washington, DC area. Internationally, Amy had led professional and recreational cooking classes and culinary tours in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, and the UAE, and leads culinary tours. She was also chosen to be the guest chef in the World Bank’s Executive Dining Room during Egyptian Heritage Days where she created 21 different authentic menu items for four hundred people over a course of two days.

Amy also uses her culinary expertise to represent private clients by hosting videos, satellite media tours, social media outreach, recipe development and television segments. She has also collaborated with medical organizations, associations, hospitals, and clinics to create workshops, podcasts, cooking demonstrations, panel discussions and resource guides to teach doctors, medical professionals, and consumers how to eat with pleasure and health in mind.

In addition to her professional work, Amy spends a great deal of her time supporting philanthropic efforts. She is a member of Cornell Club DC, Les Dames d’Escoffier (Global Culinary Initiative Chair), Slow Food DC, The James Beard Foundation, The National Organization of Italian American Women, and the Culinary Historians of Washington. Amy can often be found mentoring culinary students, teaching children’s cooking classes, and participating on panels for charity events. One of the highlights of her volunteering career was chairing the Baltimore - Luxor -Alexandria Sister City Committee which enabled her to obtain a grant to provide clean drinking water for a village outside of Luxor, Egypt. Amy is based in the Washington, DC area and spends a great deal of time working in the Mediterranean region – predominately Italy, Greece, and Morocco.

“By the time you finish reading one of my cookbooks, attending one of my presentations, classes, or tours, or researching one of my culinary products, you will have a complete understanding not only of the particular cuisine, but of the people, culture, and history that created it along with easy ways to incorporate it into your daily life.” ~ Amy Riolo