1.   When and why did you become a food journalist?

I was 21 years old. I left college after a year (disillusioned, didn’t think I wasn’t learning anything pertinent, etc.) and went to London to attend the London Cordon Bleu School of Cookery. My mother didn’t enjoy cooking and our dinnertime was not joyous or filled with delicious foods. I discovered the beauty and creative joy of cooking when in London. I came back to NYC and decided to finish my college degree at the New School. But I wanted more. I applied for a job at a travel magazine called Diversion. I became an Editorial Assistant and finished my degree in Literature at night.

I had always wanted to be a writer. From the youngest age, I wrote in diaries (which, when I was teenager, I called “journals”) and was always reading. I remember going to talk to the Executive Editor of the magazine and asking him if I could write an article. “What do you know?” he asked. I was 21. I thought I knew everything. He understood I had just come back from culinary school. “Write about food!” he suggested. But food writing didn’t seem like real writing. I wanted to be a journalist or a great American novelist. Not a food writer. “If you want to try to write a food piece, I’ll take a look at it,” he told me.  So I wrote a piece about mustard. It was the early 1980’s when all of a sudden grocery store shelves were lined with more than French’s and Gulden’s. We were seeing mustards from all over  the world. (It was the beginning of what would soon be called “the gourmet food revolution.”) I found myself fascinated as I delved into the world of food. It was so much more interesting than I suspected. I quickly found that writing about food meant writing about history, sociology, religion, politics, and more.

That was the beginning. That article about mustard (which the editor did publish) led to my first book called Condiments. Which led to my work as a freelance food writer, cookbook author, and ultimately over 20 years as the “Resident Chef” for the NPR show, Here and Now.  

2.   What inspires you most about cooking?

For me, it all begins at the market. Like most people I go shopping with a list, but I am always looking for fresh, seasonal food that will inspire me. I try to shop at farmers markets and small, local butchers, bakeries, farm stands, etc. as much as I can. If you feel uninspired by the food you’re buying (shrink wrapped broccoli is not inspiring!) than it’s hard to get excited about cooking. So for me it’s often about sourcing. I love foraging and gardening. I love hunting for mushrooms and wild grapes in the fall and beach plums and wild blueberries in late summer. My husband and I have a large fruit, vegetable, and flower garden and there is nothing more inspiring than picking the food that you grew and lovingly cared for.

I see cooking as an opportunity to make each day better. We have to eat. And if you embrace shopping and cooking and look at it as a chance to create a healthier, more delicious life it seems well worth the time and effort.

3.   Of your cookbooks, do you have a favorite that you’ve authored and why?

Oh, that’s hard. Like picking a favorite child. I have written 16 cookbooks, but if I had to narrow it down I would pick three.

My book Roasting changed my cooking forever. I spent a year roasting vegetables, meat, fish, poultry, even fruit and found that roasting is the most effortless way to cook with a huge payoff. I love roasted vegetables and it involves nothing more than tossing fresh vegetables in a pan with some olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs and roasting them at high heat. Roast chicken is one of my most favorite meals and one that takes so little work.

Then I wrote a book called Soup Swap. The concept was this: get together with a group of friends. Everyone brings a pot of soup. You have a party. Then at the end of the night everyone fills mason jars and old yogurt containers they have brought from home and takes home all the homemade soups. You cook once and end up with 5, 10 or 12 meals. I adore soup and found that holding a soup swap –whether it’s with your book club, your family, your friend group – is a wonderful and delicious way to build community. Particularly in the winter.

But it’s my most recent book, Rage Baking, that is the one I am particularly proud of. The inception for this book began during the Kavanaugh hearings when I was so upset for our country. I started baking every afternoon as I listened to the hearings and witnessed, once again, the way women are ignored and dismissed. I would bake a cake, cookies and a tart one night just to stay centered, and then bake something different the next night. I talked on the phone to my good friend Katherine Alford almost every night and one night she said “We should write a book!”  Rage Baking became that book, filled with recipes, interviews and essays from women from all over the country. You’ll recognize some names, like singer and activist Ani DiFranco and bakers Carla Hall, Dorie Greenspan, Patti Jinich, and Ruth Reichl. But there are also powerful essays from writers Pam Houston, Hali Bey Ramdene. Von Diaz, and Kayla Stuart. During this political time when our democracy is threatened the book feels more relevant than ever. A paperback edition of Rage Baking will be released in April 2023.

4.   As a mother, how does being a mom inspire (or does it/did it) as a chef?

Feeding kids is work. Hard work. You can’t not show up. And creating a time in the day when you all sit down and share food and talk about the day and issues is so important for kids. We always tried to create a dinner time when my daughter were growing up. I always tried to cook something healthy and interesting (as well as comforting) and create dinnertime rituals and traditions. Both of my daughters (now adults) are fabulous cooks and we are constantly texting each other with photos of what we’re cooking. It feels wonderful to know that my daughters got the message that food is one of the best ways to get people together and share time.

5.   What do you wish people knew about authors of cookbooks?

Writing a cookbook generally takes between one and three years of writing, creating recipes, testing recipes and making sure everything works. I teach food writing and I’m always telling my students: if a recipe doesn’t work the book is useless. It’s like writing a travel guide and giving the wrong phone number or web link for the hotel. The problem is many cookbooks are not properly tested (editors don’t test the recipes) and it’s hard to know if recipes work or don’t. We all have our own trusted food writers, the ones we will follow to the end of the earth because their recipes always make us look like such good cooks. Those are the ones to seek out and rely on. We often get sidetracked by beautiful photography and flashy covers but the real question is: do the recipes work? If I spend my hard earned money on ingredients and spend my limited time cooking this dish will there be a pay off? The goal for good food writing is to always make it worth it for your readers. And, of course, the writing should be compelling and teach you something. And make you hungry.

6.   What do you wish you knew about cooking/writing a cookbook, etc., that you didn’t know when you first started out?

I think starting out in any career is a process where you have to go slowly and learn as you go. I don’t think anyone could have told me all the highs and lows of being a writer or a cookbook author when I was first starting out. It’s hard work. Forming sentences that inspire and shed new light on a subject is not easy. But I feel very lucky to be doing work I still love and that still inspires me. I’ve been doing this work for over 40 years and I still find it exciting and I’m still learning. I consider myself very lucky.

7.   How do food and community go hand in hand?

Food is all about community. During the pandemic when we couldn’t come to the table with family and friends in a way that we always had I felt so depressed. I really missed cooking for others and sharing food. I ended up cooking for a woman’s shelter and people in need in my community. I cooked dinners –homemade soups, roast turkey, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables—and packed them up and put a big heart on the outside of the food container and felt a connection. I felt a sense of community during a time when we were all so cut off from one another

Sharing food and telling stories around a table is one of my great joys. So many people think of cooking as a chore, something to just get through, but it’s a daily opportunity to connect with others. It becomes so much more than just food on a plate.

8.   When Obodo Serendipity Books opens, can you come and talk with us about your work, and maybe share a dish with us?

I would love it. It would be an honor.

9.   What is your all time favorite thing to make and for anyone in particular?

Another tough one to answer. I love roasting a chicken stuffed with a lemon and fresh herbs, surrounded by tiny potatoes, carrots, leeks, squash or whatever seasonal vegetables we have and throwing it all into one roasting pan and roasting it for an hour. It was kind of a traditional Sunday night meal when my girls were growing up. When they come home, I still love to make them a good roast chicken. I also love making Mapo Dofu, a kind of spicy Sichuan-style stir fry of ground pork and tofu with lots of ginger and chiles. And spaghetti and meatballs. Those three dishes were all favorites of my daughters and have deep meaning for me. Generally,  I love cooking for my husband because he is so deeply appreciative of almost everything I make. (He is quite outspoken, but he helps me become a better cook!) And I love baking Following the “rules” of baking, honoring the “science of baking” is really quite grounding. I love baking a simple, rustic crostada with seasonal fruit, or pies, or an apple and pear cake made with almond flour.

10.               Any advice for people who maybe don’t like to cook, but want you try it out?

It’s not that difficult. I promise. The more you cook the easier it becomes, the more familiar you will be with basic techniques and the more confident you will feel making substitutions and creating your own favorite dishes. And one of the great myths in this country is that it’s easier and cheaper to just get take out from a fast food restaurant. But this is just not true. By the time you order food, get in your car and drive to pick it up (or wait for some delivery ap to deliver it to you) you could have made a really nice, simple meal. When you cook your own food you can control how much sodium, fat, sugar, etc. goes into the food. There are no mystery items or surprises. You control how the food will taste. And, ultimately, cooking at home is way more economical than getting take out.

I guess I would say: look, you have to eat. Why not learn to make a few good dishes that you can rely on and enjoy. Then you can move forward from there. Break it down into easy steps. One dish at a time.

11.               Any advice for parents who want to cook for their families more often and maybe order in less?

For decades I wrote a column for Parenting magazine. I have so much to say on this subject. But I’ll be brief: keep it simple. Don’t give your kids a ton of choices. Never say “You don’t like this.” Don’t empower picky eating. Always give kids a chance to try new foods and be open to liking something they think they don’t like. I tell parents who are dealing with picky kids to say “I didn’t like this when I was your age and now it’s one of my favorite foods,” Leave the door open for a changing tastes. Also, invite kids to cook with you on the weekends. Weeknights can be challenging and cooking with kids require patience and clean up. So keep it focused on a day when you have time to be patient. Let your kid choose the menu one day a week. It empowers them and keeps things interesting. Set limits for what is “healthy” and what’s potentially off limit. I could go on….but the key is to make food and dinnertime something relaxing and enjoyable.

12.               What’s your next project?

I am working on a memoir, tentatively titled How Long does It Take to Forget? It is about four generations in my family. It involves food, but is not primarily food-focused. Ten years ago I was diagnosed with stage 3/4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I am the third generation in my family to have cancer and the only survivor. My memoir is the story of breaking family patterns and what it means to get through your worst nightmare and come out the other end with hope.

13.               Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

I’m so excited about you opening a new independent bookstore. It’s so easy to push a button and order a book from the big “A,” but it’s vitally important to support small local business and buy books from someone who cares. I wish you the best of luck with this and can’t wait to come visit and buy some books.