Irish-American Margaret Johnson has always had an interest in food and a passion for Ireland. In 1992 she wrote her first cookbook Ireland: Grand Places, Glorious Food based on recipes contributed from chefs at country houses and castles. She likes to say she writes cookbooks based on “left-overs” and found she had nearly enough unused recipes to put together another book, Cooking with Irish Spirits (1995). Both were published in Dublin. She has since authored five more--The Irish Heritage Cookbook (which was nominated for a Versailles World Cookbook Award in 1999), The New Irish Table (2003), Irish Puddings, Tarts, Crumbles and Fools (2004), The Irish Pub Cookbook (2005), and The Irish Spirit (2006), a revised edition of Cooking with Irish Spirits, all from Chronicle Books, San Francisco.

Margaret has also written hundreds of food and travel pieces for newspapers and magazines in both the U.S. and Ireland, and she frequently lectures on Irish food and drink at Irish cultural events, food festivals, and on cruise ships. In July 2005, she was a special interest lecturer on Crystal Cruise lines “Celtic Embrace,” which visited England, Ireland, and Scotland, and she also gives cooking demonstrations at various cooking schools, including the Viking Culinary Center and Sur La Table. She regularly participates in events such as "The Book and the Cook" in Philadelphia (www.thebookandthecook.com) and Boston’s Gaelic Gourmet Festival (www.irishmassachusetts.com).