Jarrett Melendez is a GLAAD Media Award- and Eisner Award-nominated comic and graphic novel writer, cookbook author, and food journalist. He’s best known for the award-winning graphic novel series Chef’s Kiss, a queer romance set in a restaurant, which he co-created with Danica Brine. The second volume, Chef’s Kiss Again, will be released October 2026. Jarrett has also contributed to award-winning and nominated anthologies, including Young Men in Love, All We Ever Wanted, and Young Men in Love 2: New Romances. His latest work is a 40-episode webcomic that he created with Paramount Pictures and Kisai Entertainment, Stargazers: A Star Trek Stories, now available on Webtoon with new episodes released weekly. Jarrett is currently working on Tales of the Fungo: The Legend of Cep, to be published by Andrews McMeel, Fujoshi Warriors, an action comedy comic miniseries, and a new romance graphic novel called Tasting Notes.
As a cookbook author and food journalist, Jarrett has written countless articles and developed hundreds of original recipes that have appeared on The Kitchn, Bon Appetit, Epicurious, Saveur and Food52. He’s written a total of seven cookbooks to date, including My Pokémon Baking Book, RuneScape: The Official Cookbook, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Official Cookbook, The Official Wednesday Cookbook, The Official Borderlands Cookbook, The White Lotus: The Official Cookbook, and Persona: The Official Cookbook. He currently has three new cookbooks slated for release in 2026, including Minecraft: Builder’s Feasts: Official Cookbook and The Official SpongeBob SquarePants Cookbook.
Jarrett grew up on the mean, deer-infested streets of Bucksport, Maine, but currently resides in Watertown, Massachusetts, with his fiancé Theo, a collection of Monokuro Boo plush pigs, and a carefully curated collection of nearly 300 tins of fish.