Merry Graham (born August 24, 1954) is an American author and award-winning home chef. She was named the "Healthiest Cook In America" by

Bobby Flay Robert William Flay (born December 10, 1964), is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and reality television personality. Flay is the owner and executive chef of several restaurants and franchises, including Bobby's Burger Palace, Bobby's ...

and a panel of culinary expert judges, when she won the ''Healthy Food Fight'' National Cooking Contest (2015), which was sponsored by

Aetna Aetna Inc. () is an American managed health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services, such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans, ...

and held at ABC Studios in

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

, New York. Graham has appeared on several televised competitive cooking shows. In 2015, she competed on season 1 of

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

's ''Clash of the Grandmas'' making it to the final round of the Thanksgiving themed cooking competition. In 2014, she was one of five finalists to compete on the '' Rachael Ray Show's'' Great American Cookbook Competition. She has also appeared on and competed in the World Food Championships for the past five years, televised on

FYI "FYI" is a common abbreviation of "for your information" (or "for your interest"). "FYI" is commonly used in email, instant messaging and other messages to indicate an informational message, with an intent to communicate to the receiver that they ...

. And in 2014, she was selected as a finalist in the 47th Annual

Pillsbury Bake-Off The Pillsbury Bake-Off is an American cooking contest, first run by the Pillsbury Company in 1949. History The first contest was held in 1949 as the Grand National Recipe and Baking Contest and hosted in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The grand priz ...

Contest, winning the Gluten Free Award for her ''Herbs and Seeds Parmesan Crackers'' original gluten-free recipe - presented to her by ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo on March 8, 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional chef ...

'' and ''

The Chew ''The Chew'' is an American cooking-themed talk show that aired for seven seasons from September 26, 2011 to June 28, 2018, having replaced the soap opera ''All My Children'', on ABC as part of the network's weekday daytime lineup. The name was ...

'' host,

Carla Hall Carla Hall (born May 12, 1964) is an American chef, television personality and former model. She appeared in the fifth and eighth seasons of ''Top Chef'', Bravo's cooking competition show. She was a cohost on ''The Chew'', a one-hour talk sho ...

. Graham's original recipes have been featured in a variety of publications, including ''

Taste of Home ''Taste of Home'' is an American media brand centered on food. It is an example of user-generated content in magazines, publishing recipes submitted by home cooks. ''Taste of Home'' is owned by Trusted Media Brands, which also owns ''Reader's Di ...

'', and ''

Betty Crocker Betty Crocker is a brand and fictional character used in advertising campaigns for food and recipes. The character was originally created by the Washburn-Crosby Company in 1921 following a contest in the '' Saturday Evening Post''. In 1954, ...

'' Magazine,. Graham was first published as an author in 2006, when she co-authored a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Bible reference book, ''Scriptures At Your Fingertips'', published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

. In 2008, she released a follow up book, ''Scriptures At Your Fingertips for Teens'', which she co-authored with her daughter, actress and poker player

Tiffany Michelle Tiffany Michelle (born June 4, 1984) is an American professional poker player, World Series of Poker gold ring winner and TV presenter, who broke records in the WSOP Main Event as the Last Woman Standing and was named one of the Most Fascinatin ...

Personal life

Graham was born in Redding, California to Patricia and Carl Ryser. She attended

California State University, Chico California State University, Chico, or commonly, Chico State, is a public university in Chico, California. Founded in 1887, it is the second oldest campus in the California State University system. As of the fall 2020 semester, the university had ...

and

California Polytechnic State University California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, California or California State Polytechnic Univ ...

, graduating from Cal Poly with a bachelor's degree in Nutrition.

Television

Food Network

In November 2015, Graham was one of five chefs invited to compete on Food Network's inaugural ''Clash of the Grandmas''. The single episode ''Chopped'' style competition had the five chef grandmothers competing in three Thanksgiving-themed elimination rounds, for a prize of $10,000. The show was judged by culinary icons

Nancy Fuller Nancy Fuller (also known as Nancy Fuller Ginsberg or Nancy Ginsberg; born March 27, 1949) is an American chef and businesswoman from Claverack, New York. She is the co-owner of Ginsberg's Foods, and the host of the Food Network television series ...

Aarti Sequeira Aarti Lucica Sequeira (born 19 August 1978) is an Indian American cook and television personality, best known as the winner of the sixth season of Food Network's reality television show, ''The Next Food Network Star''. In 2010, after her victor ...

and 2015 Food Network Star winner Eddie Jackson.

The Rachael Ray Show

Graham was featured as a finalist on

Rachael Ray Rachael Domenica Ray (born August 25, 1968) is an American cook, television personality, businesswoman, and author. She hosts the syndicated daily talk and lifestyle program ''Rachael Ray'', and the Food Network series '' 30 Minute Meals''. ...

's ''Great American Cookbook Competition'', a segment which aired on ''

The Rachael Ray Show ''The Rachael Ray Show'' is an American television talk show hosted by Rachael Ray that debuted in Broadcast syndication, syndication in the United States and Canada on September 18, 2006 and also airs in other countries. It is taped at Chelsea St ...

'', in May 2014. She was eliminated in third place, when '' Shark Tank's''

Lori Greiner Lori Greiner is an American television personality and entrepreneur. She is an investor on the reality ABC TV series ''Shark Tank''. Greiner has hundreds of inventions and holds 120 patents. She became known as the "Queen of QVC" as a result of he ...

was a guest judge for the third challenge, involving salesmanship and the ability to pitch a dish.

World Food Championships

For five consecutive years (2012-2016) Graham has qualified for, and competed in, the World Food Championships.

Books

Graham has authored two

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

reference books: * ''Scriptures At Your Fingertips'' (

, October 31, 2006) – * ''Scriptures At Your Fingertips for Teens'' (

, September 2, 2008) –

Awards and accolades

''Clash of the Grandmas'' - 3rd Place (2015) * ''

'' Great American Cookbook Competition - 3rd Place (2014) *

Gluten Free Award - Winner (2014). *

Foster Farms Foster Farms is an American poultry company. The company has been privately owned since 1939. It was operated by the Foster family since 1939 until recently, now operated and owned by Atlas Holdings, after their purchase of the company in 2022. ...

Fresh Chicken Contest - $10,000 Winner (2012) *

Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker Scharffen Berger is an American chocolate manufacturing company, which was a subsidiary of The Hershey Company after it had been acquired in 2005. Scharffen Berger was established as an independent Berkeley, California-based chocolate maker in 19 ...

Chocolate Adventure Contest - $25,000 Winner (2012) *

Bob's Red Mill Bob's Red Mill is an American brand of whole-grain foods marketed by Employee stock ownership plans in the United States, employee-owned American company Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods of Milwaukie, Oregon, Milwaukie, Oregon. The company was establ ...

Spar For The Spurtle - Winner (2011) * Ocean Spray's Ultimate Cranberry Recipe Contest - $10,000 Winner (2010)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Merry 1954 births Living people American chefs American women writers California Polytechnic State University alumni