Ruth Cowen is a social and culinary historian, multi-award winning author, journalist, broadcaster, editor and speaker.

Her journalistic work includes reporting across food, travel, theatre and radio, and has written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, The Daily Mail, The Express and Sunday Express, as well as freelance writing for other newspapers and magazines such as Radio Times. She was also a columnist for Eve magazine. 

Ruth has written many shows for BBC Radio 4 including In an English Pleasure Garden, and Cathedral of Dreams which won the CCC Gold Award for Broadcasting. She also wrote and presented The Jewish Connection series on the Westminster Hour, BBC Radio 4. Ruth has also contributed to programmes including The Long View, The Food Programme, Questions Questions, and many more. She has also contributed to programmes on RTE radio in Ireland.

Her first book Relish: The Extraordinary Story of Alexis Soyer, Victorian Celebrity Chef, was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 2007 to huge success. Ruth was awarded The Jeremy Round First Book Award and The Guild of Food Writers Book of the Year, and was a finalist for The Glenfiddich Award and The Glen Dimplex First Book Award. In 2010 a sell-out adaptation of Relish was produced by the National Youth Theatre in London. 

Ruth is also an experienced book editor and has worked on many books including the Forgotten Voices series by Max Arthur OBE. She also edited A Nurse at the Front (Simon & Schuster and the IWM) which was a Sunday Times Bestseller in March 2013. 

Ruth is an excellent public speaker and has hosted a four week lecture series on Gastronomic History at The Victoria & Albert Museum. 

As an expert commentator for television, Ruth has appeared on Market Kitchen (Good Food channel), Supersizers... Go Victorian, Hairy Bikers Everyday Gourmets: Restaurant Revelations, The Great British Bake Off (BBC2), Marco Pierre White’s Great British Feast, The Alan Titchmarsh Show (ITV), and most recently The Saturday Show on Channel 5, discussing food in Shakespearean England. 

In 2016 Ruth wrote the bestselling 8-part series Elizabeth II: Life of a Monarch, an original production for Audible starring Tim Pigott-Smith and Lindsay Duncan, which reached number 9 in the global audiobook charts.