Sonya San­ford is a writer, chef, and pod­cast host liv­ing in Port­land, OR. Born in Seat­tle to Sovi­et-immi­grant par­ents, Sonya attend­ed Reed Col­lege in Port­land and spent her ear­ly pro­fes­sion­al life work­ing in the film indus­try in Los Ange­les before piv­ot­ing to a career as a chef and mov­ing back to the Pacif­ic North­west to open her own Jew­ish restau­rant, Beet­root Mar­ket & Deli. Her culi­nary expe­ri­ences include work­ing as a per­son­al chef, cater­er, food styl­ist, and food writer. Spe­cial­iz­ing in Jew­ish dias­poric cui­sine, Ukrain­ian and Sovi­et food, and Pacif­ic North­west sea­son­al cook­ing, she is a reg­u­lar con­trib­u­tor to The Nosh­er, and her writ­ing has been fea­tured in Tablet Mag­a­zine, The Jerusalem Post, JTA news, Hey Alma, and in local Jew­ish out­lets across the coun­try. She is an avid col­lec­tor of unusu­al cook­books, loves watch­ing YouTube cook­ing videos from around the world, and her favorite meals always come out of home kitchens.