Who is Jackie Alpers? 

Jackie Alpers is an award-winning professional food photographer, food content creator and cookbook author. She experiments with regional culinary influences while exploring food history, symbolism and cultural significance. She is a noted expert on the Sonoran cuisine of southern Arizona and the author of four cookbooks including Taste of Tucson: Sonoran-Style Recipes Inspired by the Rich Culture of Southern Arizona and Sprinkles!: Recipes and Ideas for Rainbowlicous Desserts. Taste of Tucson is an official selection of UNESCO’s Tucson City of Gastronomy, and a RUSA and Eating the West Award winner.

Jackie Alpers was named the world’s most famous food photographer by Shotkit and Art in Context, and the #7 best food photographer in the world by Great Big Photography World. She cooks, styles and photographs food and recipes in her natural-light studio, and documents food, chefs and restaurants on location.

She was inducted into the 2025 Taste Awards Hall of Fame for food and beverage photography. She is shortlisted for the 2025 World Food Photography Awards in two categories – Food Influencer and Cream of the Crop. She has won the prestigious American Photography award 10 times and she has multiple gold Muse Photography Awards in the food photography category, dozens of awards from The Lucie Foundation’s International Photography Awards, The London Photography Awards, The Color Awards and The American Advertising Federation’s ADDY awards including the 2024 Best in Show for the cover of Tucson Guide Magazine. Her Unofficial Yellowstone Cookbook is shortlisted for the 2024 Communication Arts Photography Award. It is the only cookbook nominated in the books category.

Jackie Alpers began contributing a monthly food column, food photography and additional illustrated articles to the FoodNetwork.com and Refinery29 in 2013.

She has been featured in Food Network Magazine,  National Geographic, Real Simple, Taste Cooking, The Kitchn, TodayFood and Edible Baja Arizona Magazine, among others. She has been featured in articles for Reader’s Digest, CNN, Good Morning America, The New York Times & NPR. Jackie’s Happy Plate has been featured in numerous online publications including Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Glamour, Better Homes and Gardens, MSN, Brit + Co. and BuzzFeedFood. 

Her book project, Angry Birds; Bad Piggies’ Egg Recipes, won Best First Cookbook in the World at the 2011 Gourmand Cookbook Awards. The Bad Piggies Best Egg Recipes app, released in October, 2012, which she photographed and edited, was the best selling cookbook app in the USA, China and numerous other countries.

She is the recipient of numerous awards from American Photography, The Photographer’s Master Cup, ASMP and the International Photography Awards (Lucies). In 2004 she received the the Black & White Spider Award’s, Merit of Excellence, and in 2001 was awarded a bronze medal from the London Photographic Awards. She is also an experienced educator who speaks on industry related topics at workshops and universities.

How to Contact Jackie Alpers

To contact Jackie for commercial assignment bookings, please email: Jackie@jackiealpers.com or call 520-465-5214. View her editorial, advertising and fine art photography portfolio at her official website. Find Jackie Alpers on Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram.