Bridget Lancaster Keeps Appalachian Flavor at the Heart of Cooking

Bridget Lancaster has become a trusted voice in American home kitchens, but her story begins in the hills of West Virginia. Born and raised in Cross Lanes, just outside Charleston, Lancaster grew up in a culture where food was more than sustenance — it was memory, heritage, and community.

Today, as co-host of PBS’s America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country, she translates that Appalachian food wisdom for a national audience, showing millions of viewers that good cooking doesn’t have to be complicated to be meaningful.

Appalachian food has long been overlooked or misrepresented, often dismissed as heavy, rustic, or outdated. But Lancaster embodies a different truth: it is a cuisine of resourcefulness, seasonality, and deep comfort.

She recalls growing up on meals like beans and cornbread, skillet-fried chicken, biscuits, and vegetables straight from the garden.  Those dishes, rooted in thrift and tradition, inform the way she approaches cooking on television—not flashy, not trendy, but enduring.

When Lancaster talks about the joy of a pot of pinto beans simmering all day or the ease of pulling together biscuits with a few pantry staples, she is channeling her West Virginia childhood. These are foods that stretch to feed a family, meals that emphasize flavor over fuss. Her manner on camera — warm, approachable, and never condescending — reflects how those foods were taught to her: not as culinary performances, but as skills every household needed to pass along.

After college, Lancaster cooked in restaurant kitchens in the South and Northeast, concentrating on pastry. She began working as the test cook for Cook’s Illustrated in 1998. She was also part of the launch team for Cook’s Country magazine and led the recipe development. She is now the lead instructor of America’s Test Kitchen Cooking School and has created hundreds of instructional videos.

Over the years, Bridget Lancaster has grown into her role as a cook and teacher. As Executive Editorial Director and lead instructor for America’s Test Kitchen’s online Cooking School, she focuses on helping viewers and students gain practical, usable skills in their kitchens. In interviews, she has said that her goal is for people to walk away from each episode with at least one valuable piece of cooking knowledge they can apply at home.

Her background comes through in subtle ways. Lancaster brings a refreshing groundedness in a food culture often obsessed with kale salads or avant-garde plating. “I’ve been over kale for a very long time,” she told Boston Magazine with a laugh. “I am very pro collard greens.” The comment may have been cheeky, but it’s also revealing: collards, not kale, were the greens she knew growing up. In voicing that preference, she brought Appalachian taste to the table of American food media.

Bridget Lancaster’s cooking philosophy reflects a practical sensibility, with an emphasis on helping home cooks make the most of what’s available. That outlook resonates with Appalachian traditions of resourcefulness and preserving the harvest, where stretching ingredients and finding creative uses for pantry staples are second nature.

Even as she has become a national figure, Lancaster remains rooted in a grounded sensibility. On Cook’s Country, many dishes she presents—like buttermilk biscuits—reflect a humble, home-style cooking ethos that resonates with regional traditions. In her co-authored book Cooking at Home with Bridget & Julia, she and Julia offer 150 of their favorite recipes, emphasizing accessible, family-friendly, and comforting meals—qualities often associated with Appalachian home cooking.

For Lancaster, food is more than technique; it’s about helping people feel confident in the kitchen. She emphasizes making cooking approachable and practical, guiding home cooks through recipes they can realistically prepare. This focus on accessibility reflects the grounded, home‑style sensibility she developed growing up in Cross Lanes, West Virginia.

Bridget Lancaster brings a grounded, practical sensibility to her cooking, emphasizing recipes that are simple, accessible, and family-friendly. Her approach reflects the values often associated with Appalachian cooking—resourcefulness, clarity, and heartiness—while reaching a national audience through America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country. In this way, the home-style flavors and sensible techniques she champions carry the spirit of her West Virginia roots into kitchens across the country, leaving a quiet but lasting mark on American home cooking.