I have a chapter that is really about my essential tools and ingredients. How do we start that dialogue with ourselves? Thinking in terms of the love language for food feels like an important starting point in identifying what we want to cook, by identifying what flavors we like. I'm not just going to go into the kitchen and make eggs, I'm going to make fluffy eggs. You build these ideas of thinking about what our dishes are. That is the big goal for me, is for people to go one step further with the recipes.Īll of us have a different idea of that concept of being "the cook you want to be." I don't know how intentional this was in the book, but every recipe, the name of it sounds so good. If you've learned about an ingredient or a technique or about a regional dish, then I feel like I have succeeded. It is important for people in this book to not just fall in love with the recipes and make them and have it be a part of the repertoire, but really go the extra step. You don't want to add a recipe that has 10, 12, 13 steps. I realized that if you're trying to push someone to try a new ingredient, that's probably the one thing they're going to get from the recipe. "I really wanted to write the recipes in a way where it didn't come from this authoritative place, but more of a place where I'm right there with you."
Growing up Iranian-American, working in restaurants around the country, working in food media, I try to distill these lessons and try to put it in the book for the reader. I really thought about the lessons I've learned throughout my life, working in this kind of funny, beautiful, delicious food space I refer to.
How do you incorporate that into what you're doing for this wider audience, including foods and techniques that maybe some people have never seen before? You make your family influences and your cultural influences as a Californian, as a New Yorker, as a Persian American, first generation. It's about challenging us to rethink, what is American food? What is home cooking? It's not just one particular thing. This book is also about, as you say, context. That's why I decided to pursue it as a profession and then go into restaurants. It was a way for me to really expand, not just my palate, but my mind. Techniques, regional cuisines, different cultures. It was beyond flavor at that point, it was about how many other things it touched. Probably around the age of 11, 12, I really became more curious beyond just eating, but also cooking and experimenting in my parents' kitchen. Then it evolved into something that clearly became a passion. And how it just made me smile and how it was all about taste. I think at that age, when I was very, very young and adolescent, what drew me to it was just the act of eating and the pleasure you got. There's a photo of me with a Fisher-Price kitchen. I think it was very early that I loved food. What sucked you in, what made you come back to this thing that you love? You start out this book by saying you didn't want to be a cook at all. Let's talk about what it means to be the cook you want to be. The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.