Other
Cheryl Forberg
James Beard Award winner
- Discipline
- Other
i. Biography
Cheryl Forberg writes from Naples, Florida, with a practice built around nutrition, balance, and the day-to-day work of helping people eat well in the real world. As a Contributing Writer for EatingWell, her voice comes out of a career that has moved through kitchens, clinical settings, publishing, and weight-loss programming. The range matters here: chef, researcher, editor, and communicator are not separate identities so much as linked forms of the same discipline, each one sharpening the others.
The Path
Formal training gave the work its base in both technique and inquiry. From there, she worked as chef at Several Bay Area restaurants, including Wolfgang Puck’s Postrio Restaurant in Bay Area, California / San Francisco, California. In that setting, precision and pace were part of the job, and the standard was immediate: the plate had to hold up in service. The next stages of her career moved food into settings where it had to answer to health, daily routine, and institutional needs. Cheryl Forberg worked as private chef at George Lucas and his family, a position that brought cooking into a more personal domestic frame. She also served as research dietitian at USDA Center for Human Nutrition in San Francisco, California, and as research dietitian at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, California. In those roles, the work sat closer to nutrition science and clinical care, where food is judged not only by taste, but by how it supports people who need it to function. Editorial and development work extended that same practical lens into media and publishing. Cheryl Forberg served as health editor at Cooking.com, where nutritional judgment had to be translated into clear, usable content. As recipe developer at UCLA Department of Clinical Nutrition, she turned nutritional goals into recipes designed to be cooked and used, not just discussed. Later, as chef and nutritionist at NBC's The Biggest Loser, she worked inside a highly visible weight-loss format that required culinary skill and direct communication about health. Across those posts, the constant was translation: science into meals, restaurant discipline into everyday cooking, and technical knowledge into language readers can use. Cheryl Forberg’s work has been shaped by that ability to move between systems without losing the underlying craft.
The Work Today
Today, Cheryl Forberg writes as a Contributing Writer for EatingWell in Naples, Florida, United States, bringing the same combination of rigor and plainspoken utility to food and nutrition coverage. Her current work carries forward the habits formed across kitchens, research spaces, and editorial rooms. She also serves as brand ambassador for American Pistachio Growers, a role that aligns with her long-standing focus on health, ingredient-driven cooking, and the practical business of eating well.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Cheryl
Where did Cheryl Forberg train or study?
Cheryl Forberg trained at California Culinary Academy and University of California, Berkeley.
What recognition has Cheryl Forberg received?
James Beard Award.
