It was while attending Canisius College in Buffalo, that Anne Burrell, who has taught in both the professional and recreational programs at the Institute for two years, first worked in a restaurant. "I waited tables at a casual bistro/bar," she says, "and I got bitten by the restaurant bug." After graduating in 1991, she worked for a time as a physician headhunter, but found that the culinary world still called. "I moved back to my mother's house after six years away-she loved that-and got a job making salads and doing prep work. I did all the grunt work like cleaning shrimp and washing lettuce for a year, and then I went to culinary school," she reports.

Upon graduating from the CIA, Burrell studied at the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners, spending time in Piedmont, Umbria, Tuscany and Liguria. "It gave me a feeling for simplicity and seasonality," she says.

Burrell has always relished the opportunity to work in small, highly personal restaurants. In Tuscany she worked at La Bottega del '30, a 30-seat restaurant that offered one seating each night. Back in New York, after serving as sous chef at Felidia, she moved on to Savoy, where she was chef in the small prix fixe dining room. "I cooked on an open fire in the dining room and got to write a weekly menu," she recalls. "It was like being back in Tuscany."

Burrell-known around the school for her enthusiastic presence-feels fortunate to have found a field that satisfies her so completely. "I like to teach cooking because it's fun and because I get to share with lots of people things that it has taken me years to learn, and I also love talking about food all the time," she says. "I feel so lucky that I have found my true passion in life."