Ryan McPhee

• Ryan was one of the first contestants to compete on "Money Hungry," Food Network's palate-testing series. Among his challenges: identify a seasoning blend on crickets, dissect tahdig, and suss out (while blindfolded) that it was, in fact, uni that Kal Penn was spoon-feeding him.
• Through his travels, Ryan has learned from chefs from across five continents. This has led to preparing tagine in Morocco's Atlas Mountains, harvesting coffee in the Guatemalan highlands, foraging for wild yams in Cambodia's Cardamom rainforest, and, strangely enough, making risotto with Andy Reid in Venice.
• While working as a reporter on Broadway, Ryan found ways to let his love for cooking take center stage, including baking pies with stars from "Waitress" and developing recipes inspired by the musical "Beetlejuice."

Experience

Ryan officially joined Static Media in 2022 as senior lead recipe editor. He cut his teeth on the New York theatre beat before pivoting to food writing, tapping into a passion that started when he was a college student whose favorite method of procrastination was watching the Food Network. Since then, he's had the chance to compete on said network, played both student and instructor in cooking demos, and turned his spare bedroom into an artisanal bitters and fermentation lab. In addition to his work as an editor, Ryan has also written several features and recipes for Static Media's multiple food brands.

Education

Ryan received his bachelor's degree from Boston University, where he studied advertising and theatre production. In 2024, he attended the multi-week "Evolution of Italian Cuisine" intensive at the Italian Culinary Institute, located in Calabria, Italy.