Jarrett Melendez

Jarrett Melendez is a GLAAD Media Award- and Eisner Award-nominated comic and graphic novel writer, cookbook author, and food journalist. He’s best known for the award-winning graphic novel Chef’s Kiss, a queer romance set in a restaurant, which he co-created with Danica Brine. The sequel, Chef’s Kiss Again, will be released in 2026. Jarrett has also contributed to award-winning and nominated anthologies, including Young Men in Love, All We Ever Wanted, and Young Men in Love 2: New Romances. Jarrett is currently working on Tales of the Fungo: The Legend of Cep, to be published by Andrews McMeel, Fujoshi Warriors, an action comedy graphic novel, and love letter to both fujoshis and magical girl anime and manga, and an upcoming licensed Webtoon.

As a cookbook author and food journalist, Jarrett has written countless articles and developed hundreds of original recipes that have appeared on Bon Appetit, Epicurious, Saveur and Food52. He’s written numerous cookbooks, including My Pokémon Baking Book, RuneScape: The Official Cookbook, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Official Cookbook, The Official Wednesday Cookbook, The Official Borderlands Cookbook, Persona: The Official Cookbook, and The White Lotus Official Cookbook.

Jarrett grew up on the mean, deer-infested streets of Bucksport, Maine, but currently resides in Watertown, Massachusetts, with his partner Theo and a collection of Monokuro Boo plush pigs.