WIth almost 500,000 books and posters in print, Jennifer Trainer Thompson has written more than fifteen books, including BEYOND EINSTEIN: THE COSMIC QUEST FOR THE THEORY OF THE UNIVERSE, which has been published in ten languages, JUMP UP AND KISS ME: SPICY VEGETARIAN COOKING, FEASTS AFLOAT, as well as a trilogy of books on ingredients native to her New England home: cranberries, blueberies, and maple syrup). Nominated for 3 James Beard awards and dubbed the "Queen of Hot" by Associated Press, she's recognized as a leader in the spicy foods movement for her cookbooks and the hot sauce posters that she hascreated for Celestial Arts. (Her first hot sauce poster -- which was featured everywhere from Playboy Magazine to Good Morning America -- has sold over 60,000 copies.)
Interested in food and food trends, she has also created posters for Celestial Arts on single varietal olive oils, microbrewed beers, and single malt scotches. Her books have drawn acclaim in the national press, and she's been on hundreds of talk shows, including Live with Regis, CNN, and Good Morning America. The chef and creator of Jump Up and Kiss Me, an authentic, all-natural line of spicy food products available nationwide in boutique stores and online, she is
passionate about spicy foods, and has followed her own personal "Trail of Flame," speaking at conventions and in the media about hot foods, serving as guest chef at Hot Nights at restaurants in Boston, Philadelphia, and the Berkshires, and even going so far as to try Armageddon Sauce at a bar in the Adirondacks that's accessible only by snowmobile in the winter. A journalist for 20 years, she writes about topics that interest her – science, food, travel, art, and lifestyle - for Omni, Discover, Harvard Magazine among others, and has garnered a reputation for having a knack for sniffing out trends. She wrote the first objective book on the commercial nuclear power controversy in 1982 (NUCLEAR POWER: BOTH SIDES), and co-authored a popular book about scientists' quest for the unified field theory (BEYOND EINSTEIN) when the superstring theory was proposed in 1987. She wrote the first national story about MASS MoCA for The New York Times in 1987, and was so taken by the idea of establishing a contemporary art museum in an abandoned mill complex in a small New England city that she applied for a job at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. For the article, she interviewed Joseph Thompson, who would become the first director. She was so taken with the idea of the museum that she applied for a job. Mr. Thompson hired her to become founding development director, and several years later married her. She and her husband Joe have worked at MASS MoCA ever since (she's raised over $40 million for the museum since its inception), and live in western Massachusetts with their two children, ages 10 and 5. Family and family traditions have always been important to her, and when she and Joe started a family ten years ago she began jotting down ideas, which eventually became her most recent book: THE JOY OF FAMILY TRADITIONS.
What the Critcs say
“When the Smithsonian does an exhibition on hot sauces in America, let’s hope the curator is Jennifer Trainer Thompson. She’s the author, traveler, chef, shiitake-farmer and hot sauce creator who set it all in motion….she brought popularity and polish to an otherwise obscure hobby practiced by culinary eccentrics across the country.” Chile Pepper
“We’re having a heat wave, and the weather has nothing to do with it. It’s because Jennifer Thompson wants to take us ‘mouth surfing’ through the world of hot sauces.” Minneapolis Star Tribune
“If you want your food to have color and rhythm and your flavors to sing out – HOT LICKS is for you…some of the best hot sauce recipes in print.” Mark Miller
“This (cook)book was more important on our bus than the owner’s manual.” Willie Nelson
“Jennifer Thompson is what Martha Stewart could have been.” Chile Pepper Magazine
“(Her book’s) written with wit and searing acumen” – Suzanne Hamlin, The New York Times
Books by Jennifer Trainer Thompson
THE JOY OF FAMILY TRADITIONS (Ten Speed Press, 2008) *
NUCLEAR POWER: BOTH SIDES (W.W. Norton, 1982)
BEYOND EINSTEIN: THE COSMIC QUEST FOR THE THEORY OF THE UNIVERSE (Bantam, 1987)*
THE YACHTING COOKBOOK (Crown Publishers, 1990)
HOT LICKS (out of print; Chronicle Books)
THE GREAT HOT SAUCE BOOK (Ten Speed Press)*
THE GREAT MICROBREWERY BEER BOOK (Ten Speed Press) *
THE HOT SAUCE COLLECTOR’S GUIDE (Ten Speed Press)
FEASTS AFLOAT (Ten Speed Press)*
TRAIL OF FLAME: THE RED HOT GUIDE TO SPICY RESTAURANTS ACROSS AMERICA (Ten Speed Press)
JUMP UP AND KISS ME: SPICY VEGETARIAN COOKING (Ten Speed Press) *
of books on ingredients native to her New England home: cranberries, blueberies, and maple syrup). Nominated for 3 James Beard awards and dubbed the "Queen of Hot" by Associated Press, she's recognized as a leader in the spicy foods movement for her cookbooks and the hot sauce posters that she hascreated for Celestial Arts. (Her first hot sauce poster -- which was featured everywhere from Playboy Magazine to Good Morning America -- has sold over 60,000 copies.)
