“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
This week, cook and writer Alison Roman published her fourth cookbook, Something from Nothing—a collection of over one hundred simple, timeless recipes inspired by the items you may already have in your pantry.
On the heels of its release, we return to our conversation with the culinary force. We discuss her 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 walk through 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).
Original air date: April 23, 2023.
Subscribe to our new YouTube channel. Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.
Show-notes:
-
- Order Alison’s new cookbook, Something from Nothing.
- Find her previous books: Sweet Enough, Nothing Fancy, and Dining In.
- Learn more about her work and tour on her website.
- Subscribe to her newsletter.
- Watch her YouTube channel.
- Follow her on Instagram.
- For more conversations, hear our talks with Samin Nosrat and Padma Lakshmi.
- Order your Talk Easy mug in cream and navy or our vinyl record with Fran Lebowitz.
Original illustration by Krishna Shenoi. Reference image by Caroline Tompkins.
Subscribe, rate, and review: Apple Podcasts and Spotify