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Merrill was raised not on Gerber but on vitello tonnato and coeur à la creme, made by her mother, who was an excellent cook.

Before she and Amanda started Food52, Merrill was a freelance food editor and writer, with pieces in T Magazine, Body + Soul and Edible Brooklyn, among other publications. She learned how to wield a knife at Le Cordon Bleu in London and then put her chopping skills to use in the test kitchen at Cook's Illustrated and behind the counter at Flour Bakery in Boston, at the same time running her own catering business.

Not long after, Merrill met Amanda, who tapped her to help with research and recipe testing for The Essential New York Times Cookbook. A great friendship, and the seeds of a big idea—Food52—were born.

Merrill lives with her husband and two small children in Brooklyn, where she makes it to the farmers market most weekends—except in the dead of winter.