Bettina Mueller is the author of A Taste of Heaven and Earth (Harper Perennial) which was nominated for a Julia Child Award, and The World in a Bowl of Tea (Harper Perennial).

At varous times she's been a cook on a working tugboat, a news photographer, owner and chef of a pioneering vegetarian restaurant, and executive of a cutting-edge Internet company. In addition to her interest in food and media, she's been a lifelong student of Zen, the Japanese Tea Ceremony and the natural world.