Here’s a Little Bit About Her:

Francesca Zani is the Food Editor at Delish, where she develops recipes, writes for digital and print, and helps leads strategy for short-form video, including producing, directing, and hosting social media recipe reels. She styles hands-in-pans content and appears regularly on camera, including live segments like PIX11 News, WLKY, and Delish’s own recicpe and edutainment (education & entertainment) videos.

Outside of Delish, Francesca is the founder of The Garnished Palate, a content and product brand that blends her passion for storytelling, Italian cuisine, and lifestyle design. Through this platform, she shares original recipes, engaging video content, and her newly launched Francesca’s Ciao Boxes — Pasta Programming curated boxes filled with Italian-inspired pantry goods, vintage finds, and lifestyle favorites. She is known for her deep love of pasta, approachable yet elevated cooking, and eye for design-driven content. She is also a former board member of the New York Women’s Culinary Alliance.

Francesca holds an Associate’s degree in Culinary Arts and a Bachelor’s in Applied Food Studies with a concentration in Italian cuisine from the Culinary Institute of America, where she was awarded the Dean’s Award at graduation. During her time at the CIA, she cooked at Castle Hill Inn (Relais & Châteaux), assisted cookbook author Sarah Copeland on Every Day Is Saturday, and worked on-set for Cooking Channel’s Patti’s Place.

She began her career as a private chef and food styling assistant later joining Powerhouse Productions as a culinary producer, where she worked for nearly four years on award-winning food and lifestyle television. Her credits include collaborations with Patti LaBelle, Marcus Samuelsson, JJ Johnson, Kwame Onwuachi, Bren Herrera, and Jake & Jazz Smollett. She was a supporting producer on the James Beard–nominated series EatUp! New York and lead food stylist for Jernard Wells’ cookbook Southern Inspired. Her work has taken her around the globe, from Ghana to Puerto Rico and across the U.S.