“To invite someone into your home feels very intimate. It’s like a fast track to intimacy, in a way that nothing else really is. People’s memories, families, and traditions—almost everything is rooted in food and eating. It’s my favorite thing in the world; I’ve never found anything that makes me happier.”
-Alison Roman, episode 326 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso
Today, we’re joined by cook and food writer Alison Roman! We discuss her new dessert cookbook Sweet Enough (4:55), her early years as a restaurant pastry chef (12:24), and the chaotic conditions of working in the service industry (14:50). Then, Roman describes working at the experimental bakery Milk Bar in New York City (18:09), hosting cooking videos at Bon Appétit (22:40), and eventually working as a food columnist at The New York Times (25:18).
On the back-half, we talk about the criticism she faced in 2020 (32:20), the subsequent fallout from her remarks (38:52), the personal newsletter that emerged (47:12), the connective power of cooking (55:08), the time capsule of writing (58:30), and what she hopes for in the years to come (1:01:45).
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Show-notes:
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- Order Alison’s new dessert cookbook, Sweet Enough.
- Find her previous books, Dining In and Nothing Fancy.
- Learn more about her work on her website.
- Subscribe to her newsletter.
- Watch her YouTube channel Home Movies.
- Follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
- For more conversations, hear our talks with Michelle Williams, David Sedaris, Abbi Jacobson, Ocean Vuong, Natasha Lyonne, Brittany Packnett Cunningham, and George Saunders.
- Order your Talk Easy mug in cream and navy or our vinyl record with Fran Lebowitz.
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Original illustration by Krishna Shenoi. Reference image by Caroline Tompkins.
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