Angela and Paul Knipple are great lovers of food. From Angela’s start as an extremely picky eater and Paul’s start as a latchkey child and connoisseur of all things frozen, they have become talented cooks and devoted advocates of food issues.

Angela and Paul founded the popular Memphis food blog Squirrel Squad Squeeks as a family diary so that their son Patric would have mementos of their travels and their meals. Their wit, insight, and creative recipes drove the blog beyond being a simple journal. Their readership has made them go-to people for advice on where to dine in the Memphis area and wherever else they have traveled.

Their general food expertise has made them a frequent source for journalists as well.

In addition to the blog, Angela is a regular contributor to Edible Memphis magazine, writing pieces about urban backyard chickens and the emergence of Mexican tamales in the area as the Hispanic population has increased. Paul writes the magazine’s travel column, where he details food-based day trips out of the city.

Angela studied English and music at Rhodes College while introducing her non-Southern friends to the flavors of the South. Paul studied Spanish at the University of Memphis and first expressed his combined love of food and writing as arts and entertainment editor and food critic for The Daily Helmsman at the University of Memphis. Although both left their fields of study for more lucrative careers in information technology, they left neither their fascination with food nor a desire to write behind.

Angela has travelled extensively in England where she enjoyed studying Pakistani immigrant culture and eating a lot of curries. She has also travelled in the United States, exploring the Irish pubs of Boston, the foods of the Pennsylvania Dutch, San Francisco’s Chinatown, the Japanese cuisine of San Jose and the taquerias of southern California as well as the foods of her native South. Paul has travelled in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala where he was careful with the water but dove into the food. He has had everything from greasy-fingered meals bought through a bus window from a street vendor in Belize to cochinita pibil in fine dining restaurants in Mexico to armadillo in rural Guatemala.

More than just mavens of the meal, Angela and Paul are heavily involved with food as a social and cultural issue. In addition to supporting their local farmers markets, they are members of the Southern Foodways Alliance, the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, and Slow Food International.

In Memphis, they have been instrumental in the farm-to-chef movement, helping several local farmers place their products with restaurants ranging from neighborhood joints to four-star fine dining.

When they are not cooking or writing about food, they are seeking it out. From travels across the country to experience Michelin stars to trips to questionable neighborhoods to seek out the most authentic ceviche or biryani, Angela and Paul have a passion for discovering and sharing food.