Emma Straub and Emily Murphy

Emily Murphy of Baldor Specialty Food grew up infatuated with the cooking world, watching episodes of Two Fat Ladies and Julia Child’s The French Chef religiously at a young age. After studying baking at the Institute of Culinary Education in 2006, Emily made the move away from the kitchen into buying and selling specialty foods for her family business, Baldor Specialty Foods. She worked with Baldor founder Kevin Murphy, who evolved the company from a warehouse full of fruits and vegetables into a produce powerhouse. She may have traded in her apron for a desk, but there is still plenty of excitement in her day, from scouring Europe for the best cheese or running around Manhattan with truffles for the world’s top chefs. Her love for food came full circle after marrying chef David Malbequi and opening David’s Café, a new spot St. Mark’s Place. Emily lives in the East Village.

Emma Straub is The New York Times­-bestselling author of The Vacationers, Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures, and the short story collection Other People We Married. Her fiction and nonfiction have been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, Elle, and Conde Nast Traveler, and she is a contributing writer for Rookie. Emma’s work has been published in 15 countries. Her newest book, Modern Lovers, is a Brooklyn­based love story that Vogue named one of the best books of the summer. Emma lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons—all of whom she’ll be taking along on her next book tour.