John Birdsall is a writer working at the intersection of food and queerness. He’s the author of What is Queer Food?: How We Served a Revolution (Norton, 2025). He also wrote The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard (Norton, 2020), which looks at the iconic American celebrity chef’s complicated sexuality and public identity. It was an Amazon Top 100 Best Book of the Year, as well as a finalist for a James Beard Award, a Lambda Literary Award, and the Publishing Triangle’s Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction. Birdsall has received two James Beard Awards for food and culture writing, and is the co-author, with chef James Syhabout, of Hawker Fare (Ecco Press, 2018). His bylines include The New York Times, Food & Wine, Saveur, Bon Appétit, and more. He publishes a newsletter, Shifting the Food Narrative, and is on Instagram @john_birdsall. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.