Lynn F Hoffman's Biography

Lynn Hoffman holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, where he wrote about the lives of the men and women who go to sea in the American Merchant Marine. In the course of that research, he cooked on freighters and charter boats and served champagne to first-class trans-atlantic passengers. Dr. Hoffman has crossed the Atlantic ocean by steam, by sail and by plane. He is looking forward to rowing next time.

After a stint in the restaurant and bar business, Dr. Hoffman returned to academia where he was an Scholar in Residence in Food and Culture in the Hotel and Restaurant Management Program at Drexel University for 15 years. He is also the founder of Drexel University’s Culinary Arts Major which accepted its first students in the fall of 1997. He has written restaurant reviews and wine criticism for Philadelphia Weekly and for Philadelphia Magazine. He is the author of two texts that are used in courses here: Good Food and The Beer Book.

Dr. Hoffman conducts wine and beer tastings for members of the profession and the university community. These tastings are as well-known for their outstanding wine and beer and educational value as they are for their sheer fun.

He is the author of the prize-winning novel Killers and 1997’s Christmas selection from HarperCollins, The Bachelor’s Cat. Killers has won awards from the Southwest Writer’s Workshop and the Washington Prize for Fiction. His latest novel bang BANG was published in April 2007. His wine textbook, The New Short Course in Wine, is used in wine courses for hospitality students and adult wine lovers.

He lives in South Philadelphia where he drinks homemade wine and shops in the Italian Market.