E. Barrie Kavasch is an herbalist, ethnobotanist, mycologist, and food historian of Cherokee, Creek, and Powhatan descent, with Scotch-Irish, English, and German heritage as well. She is the author of two books on Native American foods, Enduring Harvests (1995, Globe Pequot) and Native Harvests (1979, Random House), which was hailed by The New York Times as "the most intelligent and brilliantly researched book on the foods of the American Indians." She has studied with many acclaimed native healers--some of whom contributed to this book--and is a research associate of the Institute for American Indian Studies in Washington, Connecticut. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, and many other publications, and she has been a guest lecturer at the New York Botanical Garden, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Yale Peabody Museum.
Karen Baar has a degree in public health from the Yale University School of Medicine and writes about gardening and health for The New York Times, Self, Good Housekeeping, and Natural Health, among other publications.