Mary Beth Albright

Mary Beth Albright is an award-winning journalist focusing on the food-mood connection: that what we eat affects emotions, and emotions affect what we eat. She is the author of Eat & Flourish: How Food Supports Emotional Well-Being (2023; WW Norton/Countryman), which has been translated into several languages. She also hosts the weekly podcast Eat You’ll Feel Better, available on Apple, Spotify, and all major podcast platforms.

Mary Beth has decades of food experience, spanning public health, government, and law. Most recently, she was an editor and correspondent at The Washington Post, where she pioneered coverage of food’s connection to mental health as a specialized beat. Prior to The Post she wrote for National Geographic, serving alongside such luminaries as José Andrés as a founding correspondent for its food initiative, The Plate. For five years Mary Beth was also the restaurant critic for DC Magazine. Many viewers remember Mary Beth as a finalist on Food Network Star, during which she competed on Iron Chef.

Before journalism, Mary Beth was an attorney at the Washington, DC law firm of Williams & Connolly, drawing on her extensive public health experience. She served as a public health expert at the U.S. Surgeon General’s office, and as chief of staff to C. Everett Koop, the legendary Surgeon General. During this time, Mary Beth created a gardening and cooking curriculum for the U.S. House of Representatives Preschool and Child Care Center.

Mary Beth earned a J.D. cum laude from Georgetown Law, a B.A. with honors from Johns Hopkins, and a certificate from L’Academie de Cuisine’s yearlong culinary basics course. She is an elected member of Les Dames d’Escoffier, an organization for women in culinary professions which counts Julia Child among its alumnae. One time she ate 2,000 foods over 5 days in a windowless room as a judge for the New Products Award. The barbecue sauces were the hardest part.