Jane and Michael Stern

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Jane and Michael Stern (both born 1947) are married American writers who specialize in books about travel, food, and popular culture. They are best known for their "Roadfood" books, website, and magazine columns, in which they seek out restaurants serving American regional specialties.

The Sterns met as graduate art students at Yale University and married in 1970. They earned graduate degrees in 1971, but neither found work in the art field. Soon afterward, they began work on the book that eventually became the first Roadfood, traveling throughout the United States and eating at small-town cafes. Roadfood was published in 1977; the most recent sixth edition was released in 2005. The Sterns also write a monthly column for Gourmet magazine, are frequent guests on CBS This Morning and Lynne Rossetto Kasper's radio program The Splendid Table, and maintain the website Roadfood.com. They have won two James Beard Foundation Awards and the James Beard Perrier-Jouet Award for lifetime achievement, all for their food journalism.

The Sterns have written numerous books on American popular culture, including Elvis World (1987) and The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste (1990). In all, they have written over 30 books. They are also book reviewers for The New York Times Book Review.

In 2003, Jane Stern published Ambulance Girl: How I Saved Myself by Becoming an EMT, discussing how she overcame clinical depression by training and working as an EMT in Connecticut. In 2005 it was made into a television movie, Ambulance Girl starring Kathy Bates.

The Sterns wrote a memoir, Two for the Road: Our Love Affair With American Food, in 2006. They live in West Redding, Connecticut.

[edit] Bibliography

Trucker: A Portrait of the Last American Cowboy (1975, Jane Stern only)
Roadfood (1977, sixth ed. 2005)
Amazing America (1978)
Auto Ads (1978)
Douglas Sirk (1978, Michael Stern only)
Horror Holiday (1981)
Goodfood (1983)
Square Meals (1985) (cookbook)
Real American Food (1986)
Elvis World (1987)
A Taste of America (1988)
The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste (1990)
Sixties People (1990)
American Gourmet (1991)
Jane & Michael Stern's Encyclopedia of Pop Culture (1992)
Way Out West (1993)
Eat Your Way Across the USA (1997)
Dog Eat Dog: A Very Human Book About Dogs and Dog Shows (1998)
Two Puppies (1998)
Chili Nation (1999)
Blue Plate Specials and Blue Ribbon Chefs: The Heart And Soul Of America's Great Roadside Restaurants (2001)
Ambulance Girl: How I Saved Myself by Becoming an EMT (2003, Jane Stern only)
Two for the Road: Our Love Affair With American Food (2006)