People of The Institute       Alumni Profiles         Sara Deseran, Culinary Arts '95   When Sara Deseran enrolled in the Culinary Arts program in 1994, she had patchy experience in both the restaurant field (as a self-described "miserable prep cook") and the editorial field, but it was her experience at the Institute that solidified her interests in food and writing. Earlier this year, Deseran published her first book, the well-reviewed Asian Vegetables: From Long Beans to Lemongrass (Chronicle) and after a stint at the Williams-Sonoma magazine Taste, she is serving as food editor for 7 x 7, a new city magazine launching in San Francisco in September. She also freelances for various magazines. "I already knew I didn't want to work in a kitchen when I enrolled," says Deseran. "I just knew I wasn't any good at that. While I was at the school I did my externship at Saveur in the test kitchen, and I also worked at Food & Wine and Martha Stewart Living, and I knew I wanted to continue working with books and magazines." Deseran came to New York from San Francisco specifically to attend school, and upon graduation she returned to San Francisco, where her first job was as associate editor at San Francisco magazine. Ironically, although Deseran was not terribly interested in classic French technique when she started school, she now sees it as the most valuable part of her culinary education. "I was already interested in Asian stuff," she says, "so the best thing about school for me was that I learned the French basics, because I wouldn't have taught them to myself. In terms of taste, French food isn't my cup of tea, but you have to have that base knowledge to do anything in food."