Rachel Eats | The Dinner Special podcast

089: Naz Deravian: Persian Cuisine with a Global Twist

October 28, 2015 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Bottom of the Pot

Born in Tehran, Iran, Naz grew up in Rome, Italy and then Vancouver, Canada. She now lives in Los Angeles. And Bottom of the Pot is the result of cooking and eating a lot and the lively conversations around the kitchen table. Bottom of the Pot is Naz’s food journal where she shares her adventures in cooking Persian food and beyond. Her blog was the 2015 IACP Narrative Culinary Blog Winner and 2014 Saveur Awards Best Regional Cuisine Blog Finalist, and Best New Blog Finalist.

I am so happy to have Naz Deravian of Bottom of the Pot here with me today.

(*All photos below are Naz’s.)

On Food in Iran and Italy:

I was born in Iran. I left when I was quite young. I had just turned eight years old. And then we moved to Italy. It was right around the time of the revolution in Iran, but Italy was always our second home. It’s where we vacationed, where my parents met, so there was a close connection to Italy. I think Italians and Iranians are very, very similar in their love and appreciation of food. I always like to say food is just part of our culture, and I think, I could say it’s part of the Italian culture, too. It just is, it’s in our blood. It’s not something that we think about too much, we just do it. I grew up eating home-cooked meals, going out was for a special occasion, it was a treat, but it was always around the dinner table or the kitchen table, or in the kitchen. So I think both cultures share that love and appreciation for home-cooked meals. And putting the time, effort, and love into it.

We really don’t share that many similar ingredients. But I would say one similarity is the differences in regional cooking. Both Iran and Italy are very set in their regional cooking, if you’re from the north, from the south, from the east, from the west, and everyone’s very passionate about their way. And it breaks down even further, then it’s from city to city, town to town, neighborhood to neighborhood, the same dish will differ just because someone added a little bit of this spice or a little bit of that spice, and then home to home.

On the Food in Canada and the US:

As a proud Canadian, I feel the need to distinguish ourselves from our friendly neighbors to the south, our American friends. But yes, I would say it’s a North American style of eating, and approach to food. I moved to Canada as a child in the early 1980’s, and Vancouver in particular was not the cosmopolitan city that it is today. So, it was quite a culture shock to move from Iran, then Italy, and then to the Vancouver of the early ’80s for my family. For instance, finding plain yogurt was very difficult. It was either in health food stores, or in very small tubs. And Iranians, we consume a lot of yogurt, it’s not just a little container. So, I can’t speak for America, because I wasn’t here then, but I assume they’re rather similar.

On What She’s Learned from the Different Places She’s Lived:

These cultures and regions, countries, they define my cooking. I really couldn’t say I could cook without being influenced by them. I feel just as nostalgic for a Caprese salad as I do for an Iranian dish of rice and stew, and it brings back so many memories for me. A lot of these foods are linked to memories and stories for me.

Iran I would say is the soul of my cooking, and cooking in general. It’s the aromas that permeate the kitchen. Before moving into our current house, my husband now, then boyfriend, we lived in an apartment building, and there was a long hallway. And walking down that hallway, before we got to our door, as my mother was visiting, you would start smelling the aroma of the rice steaming. And right away you knew what was for dinner, and so that would take me back to Iran. And Italy, my brother and I always have this joke about put the hot water on for the pasta. You make the phone call, put the water on, it’s ready for the pasta. Vancouver, interestingly enough, is I think where I was introduced to salmon of course, and it fit in perfectly with our Persian cuisine because we love fish, fish and rice. We have many traditional fish dishes, and the salmon in Vancouver is legendary.

On What a Traditional Persian Meal Looks Like:

A typical traditional Persian meal on any given day, there will be rice, always rice. And Tahdig, which is the bottom of the pot. It’s the crispy rice under the bottom of the pot, which is why obviously my blog is called Bottom of the Pot. And there will be a stew of some kind, and then all the condiments that go with it. There will be pickles of some kind, which we call torshi, some sort of yogurt, either plain or it’s a dish called Maast-o khiar, which is a yogurt and cucumber dip. And there will be bread, and fresh herbs, fresh herbs are huge. And it’s all about creating balance in a meal. So if you have something warm, you temperate it with the yogurt, the fresh herbs aid in digestion, which we’re obsessed with. So it all works in harmony.

On Putting a Twist on a Traditional Persian Meal:

That’s what I do, not every night, but at least twice a week. We get a farm box, it’s like a CSA box every week, and that really helps me get creative, because it’s introduced me to so many different vegetables in particular. A traditional Persian stew that would just be fresh herbs, which would just be maybe parsley, and cilantro and mint, when my CSA box arrives and there’s this beautiful bunch of Swiss chard, or even kale, then that’s all going to go into that stew as well, so I will incorporate it.

On Pantry Items to Have for Persian Cooking:

Certain spices are key. Turmeric, you can make a Persian dish by just using turmeric, of course, I have to mention saffron, it’s the crown jewel of all spices. It’s the most expensive spice in the world, but really a Persian stew would not come to life without saffron, and on my blog I have a post about saffron and how to make it last longer, because it is very expensive. So how do you use it to be, economical, and still make your dishes tasty? So turmeric, you use turmeric and saffron, and you have the makings of a Persian stew. Herbs, fresh herbs, like I mentioned, parsley, cilantro, basil, fresh mint. Again, we use them in abundance, as in bunches and bunches, so not like little Trader Joe’s packets of four sprigs of parsley. There’s a little effort involved, because you have to clean it and wash it, but I would say it’s well worth it.

On Resources for Learning More about Persian Cuisine:

I feel very fortunate, in the past year I was introduced to quite a few other Persian food bloggers that I didn’t even know where out there, and we formed this community, and we do joint posts, either for Persian New Year, or other celebrations. So, if you go on my blog, and search for…you know what I’m going to do actually, after this conversation? I’ll go on the blog and make a link to all of their sites. They’re all doing amazing stuff out there.

There was The New Persian Kitchen, the cookbook that came out a couple of years ago, by Louisa Shafia. It’s wonderful, it’s modernized, she has modernized the way we cook, and it’s accessible I would say. Of course, there is Mrs. Batmanglij, Najmieh Batmanglij’s lovely book, Food of Life, which is more in the traditional realm, but you can get an idea of it. I believe Margaret Shada’s book is wonderful as well, Greg and Lucy Malouf have a beautiful cookbook out there.

I think Persian food is really starting to come out, out of the shadows, and becoming much more popular as it should, because anyone you speak to who has ever tried Persian food loves it. I haven’t encountered one person who has not liked it, and they all want to know about tahdig, the crispy rice. So, I’m really happy that it’s really starting to become more popular.

The Pressure Cooker:

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

Unfortunately, because I have two little girls now, and with my job, I don’t watch a lot of cooking shows anymore, except for when I’m working out at the gym.

I’m not a big fan of the cooking competition shows, but I still really enjoy Jamie Oliver, and online there is the Two Greedy Italians, I love their stuff, it’s Gennaro Contaldo with I forget the other gentleman’s name, but I love that. I love any cooking show that will take me to another place.

I know Ottolenghi did a couple of BBC series, I think it was called Ottolenghi’s Mediterranean Feast. I just love that, I love traveling, and watching what people eat around the world. So those would be it.

What are some food blogs or food websites we have to know about?

There are many, so I’m sure I’m going to miss some here, but Pamela Salzman, she is the one blogger that I would say we actually cook from in our household the most. Her recipes are family friendly, wholesome, whatever that means, and just fun to make, so Pamela Salzman.

My friend, Cheryl Sternman Rule, her Five-Second blog is just beautifully written, beautiful food, and also her new site called Team Yogurt, which I’m also a contributor to, but any site dedicated to yogurt, you’ll find me there. That to me is heaven, yogurt is life.

Dash and Bella, the writing is incredible, with really fun and interesting food as well, but her writing just stuns me.

Nik Sharma’s A Brown Table, Nik’s photography is pure poetry to me, every time he blows my mind with his photography, food photography.

The Wednesday Chef, she and Pamela Salzman were the very first bloggers that I reached out to when I started my blog. And they were so kind and generous, and they actually wrote back, which I did not expect, and were very encouraging. And I read Luisa’s book that she wrote, My Berlin Kitchen, and that was right before I started my blog too, and it just really resonated with me. She has this term she uses about being perpetually homesick, and that really resonated with me, because it captured, it put to words my emotions, perpetually homesick. And that’s exactly, I think why I started the blog, and how it’s been developing with the story telling, and the memories connected to the food.

Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook or Snapchat that make you happy?

I am so new to social media. I was a hold out for the longest time, and then I started my blog. And very slowly, I do things very slowly, I like to take my time, I got on Instagram which I think I enjoy the most.

I enjoy telling stories through pictures, and seeing and traveling with people to all these different places that I haven’t been to, or have been to and seeing what they’re eating, and what they’re cooking.

So on Instagram, there is Cucina Digitale, it’s this woman who lives in Rome, I think she’s an American who lives in Rome, I love her stuff. Sami Tamimi who is Mr. Ottolenghi’s partner, they wrote Jerusalem together, I love seeing all of his stuff. It makes my mouth water, and it makes me want to get into the kitchen, which is what you really want.

There is another feed called Palestine On A Plate, I love taking a look at her stuff. Elizabeth Minchilli, she’s in Rome, she’s based in Rome. So I think I connect to the places that I’ve been to, and the type of food that I enjoy eating. And as long as it inspires me, that’s what matters most.

What is the most unusual or treasured item in your kitchen?

It’s this little wooden spoon that I call my saffron spoon, and my saffron jar. My saffron jar and my saffron spoon that no one else is allowed to touch because it’s very precious. And the saffron jar is this little jam jar that my mom always packs for me. It has again, a lot of memory attached to it. I would say all my spice jars. I don’t have the most cohesive looking spice cabinet, they’re all random jars from probably 30 years ago, that have just been passed down from family members. So spice jars and my saffron spoon.

Name one ingredient you used to dislike but now you love.

Eggplant and zucchini, couldn’t stand it as a child. I don’t think it was until my late teens that I started enjoying eggplant, and zucchini even came later than that, and now I love them. I could eat them all the time. So, I give my kids a break on those two vegetables, but that’s it. They have to eat everything else.

I think it’s general with eggplant. I have yet to meet a child that actually enjoys eggplant. Yes, they like zucchini, sometimes raw, they like the crunch as most children do. I made a zucchini dish the other day that I sautéed, and it really melted into the spaghetti sauce, and my older daughter who’s a little more adventurous, she enjoyed that. I have to mention another blog, Rachel Eats, British girl, Rome-based, I love her writing and all her food too.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

Marcella Hazan’s, The Classic Italian Cookbook. No pictures, straight forward. When I need to cook, that’s what I need. It doesn’t have to be pretty, it doesn’t have to be all set up, it just needs to be a great recipe, and these are authentic Italian recipes. So that’s what I’m going to go to.

The Ottolenghi books, they’re all lovely, inspirational, I cook from them. What I also love about them is that we share many of the same ingredients, and I just love how it’s catapulted Middle Eastern ingredients to the masses, and I thank them for that.

We like to cook from Gwyneth Paltrow’s books. They’re convenient, they’re accessible, I like them, they work.

And then all my Persian cookbooks, another great thing has been I’ve been reading through some very old, older Persian cookbooks written in Farsi actually, and my Farsi’s, my reading and writing is not great, but this has been a great exercise, so it’s improving.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

This is a great question, because music and cooking goes hand-in-hand in this house. One would not happen without the other. So Manu Chao. If I’m working on a new recipe, if I need something for a pick-me-up to get me excited to get into the kitchen, it’s going to be Manu Chao. Other than that, we have NPR 24/7 in the background, it’s just on. And there’s a great music program on our local NPR station KCRW called Morning Becomes Eclectic. The D.J. is Jason Bentley, and he just rocks it, and I like to chop all my vegetables to whatever he’s playing. That would be it, I think.

On Keeping Posted with Naz:

Instagram, Facebook, now that I’m finally on it, and Twitter.

042: Valeria Necchio: How Following Food Seasonality Leads to Tastier Eating

May 29, 2015 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Life Love Food

Valeria grew up in the Venetian countryside, and grew up eating local seasonal food most of which was home grown. She has a Masters Degree in Food Culture and Communications, and her recipes on Life Love Food are simple, wholesome, and inspired by her Italian roots.

Currently living in London, she chooses healthier ingredients and enjoys eating a balanced diet that just so happens to be naturally plant-based, and the recipes on her blog reflect this.

I am so excited to have Valeria Necchio of Life Love Food here on the show today.

On the Food Culture in Italy When She Was Growing Up:

I was born in Venice, in the city, but really quickly, we moved in the countryside as my father found a job. He’s a teacher, so he found a job in a school in the Venetian countryside. And my grandmother happened to be there and my grandparents as well. They had a really, really beautiful vegetable garden, and that was definitely not an issue for that generation. Everybody was, to some extent – especially when living in the countryside – just growing their own food, mainly vegetables. Sometimes they would have some livestock.

So for me, that proximity to that vegetable garden, just the proximity to my grandparents, has had a really, really big influence in regards to my way of cooking and eating. And the way they were growing the vegetables, the way they were bringing the vegetables to the kitchen, how they were transforming that and creating meals out of those. Somehow, growing up, I absorbed this concept of seasonality.

Everything was really bountiful. I learned the skill of preserving from them, because they obviously embraced modernity, and indeed had refrigerators, freezers, and things like this. But still, that kind of culture of preserving was really strong. And coming from the past, it was just something that they’ve always done and they kept doing.

For example, lots of tomato preserves and really classic Italian tomato sauce. That was definitely the first food experience for me and what really had a big impact on my way of cooking and eating.

Now it’s definitely this cycle of seasons and respecting the natural growth of vegetables that are brought to the table, and are really so fresh because they have been grown in their right season. And also, this concept of trying to preserve it for the months to come simply because tomatoes, they were not available in the winter, but then they’re really not that tasty in the winter.

So try to enjoy what summer has brought to you in such abundance and just carry on with that. Definitely seasonality is a crucial point for me, and also the fact that we’ve been eating out of this vegetable garden for so long. It has brought so many cheerful meals to our family.

For me, eating mainly vegetables, having vegetables as the core of my meals is just a really natural way of eating. It comes really effortless for me.

On the Seasonality of Food:

That’s a really really important factor, the awaiting for the ripe strawberries, especially things like strawberries that you find available year-round and most of the time are so tasteless. And not only do you miss that feeling of saying, “Okay, it’s May, June, the strawberries are ripe, so great. You just go and pick them,” but also the fact that they really don’t taste very good at all. So yeah, it’s a double miss.

On How Food Culture in Italy Has Changed:

I think it has changed a lot. Not very many people grow their food anymore.

My generation doesn’t have access to their own vegetable garden. Maybe they still have relatives that do that, but more and more, that kind of skill has been lost.

And definitely, obviously, like modern life, everything is much faster.

There is the culture of the supermarket everywhere, a lot of convenient food. People still tend to have some sort of basic knowledge about food. Somehow Italians, because of osmosis or I don’t know what, they absorb some sort of skill that helps them navigate the kitchen, the food world, and try to prepare some decent meals for themselves.

At the same time, not very many people do tomato sauce from scratch anymore. You just open the bottle and just pour it on your pasta and that’s how it goes.

On When She Realized that Food is Her Passion:

I think it happened when I left home to go and study at my university and I started to cook for myself mostly. Because before, really, I was fed rather than cook, so really lucky.

I started to experiment in the kitchen more and more, and share meals with people that were not my family, so my roommates, friends, really different types of mechanisms that go beyond the classic family meal.

For me, it started to become quite interesting to see the different dynamics that happen around the table and how food really brings people together. There were people from different nationalities at that point. So anything can trigger a conversation about food memories or traditions from other countries.

I had really started to become quite passionate about how food can play a different role, yet a really, really crucial one in all different cultures, and so I wanted to dig deeper for sure.

On a Simple Dish that is Very Traditional Italian:

Risotto is, again, a really obvious answer, but it might sound very intimidating to most because they say, “Oh, it’s so complicated. I don’t know how to make it as an Italian makes it.” But in reality, you just need to nail the basic steps and then it really comes together very easily.

Starting from the onion fried in oil. Then you toast the rice and add in the wine. And then you put your ingredients, then you keep cooking it really slowly. You keep stirring it until it comes together into a smooth cream, but the rice is not mushy. And the risotto is not too solid. It needs to be really running still. That’s it.

On Food Culture in London, UK Versus Italy:

London is a really, really exciting place for food in general. In terms of the food scene, it’s extremely diverse, so it’s really hard to categorize it. But in terms of daily cooking and daily living, I think families rely a lot more than Italians on convenience and just prepared dishes.

I also think that there’s generally less of a knowledge about basic cooking skills. You just notice it from the type of offering that you find in supermarkets in general.

Other big difference is I noticed, as soon as I came here, that most of the fruit and vegetables that you buy at supermarkets is all prepackaged, which is really strange because in Italy, even supermarkets, you just pick up your lettuce or your carrots and it’s all loose. And then I think also in terms of seasonality, there is not a lot of culture related to that. And it’s just a different way of conceiving a meal.

For Italians, vegetables are very much part of a dish, whereas here, for example, vegetables are conceived as a side. You have the protein, and then it’s like a “meat and three veg” type of culture most of the time. This a huge generalization, of course. But just in terms of feeling of how meals are constructed, I think it is pretty much how it works.

On a Food She Was Introduced to in London that She Now Cannot Live Without:

It’s definitely brassicas. We don’t use them very much in Italy just because they grow better in colder climates.

Going to the markets and finding this huge variety of brassicas, for me has been really eye-opening. You can find various types of kales, a lot of different cabbages, little sprouts and all these brassic-y things that make at least the winter a bit more colorful. It’s just not potatoes and beetroots, so there is at least something else.

It’s quite nice and I really grew fond of them besides kale, obviously, which is the big thing. But also other things, as I said, like savoy cabbage, just really, really nice ingredients to cook with and quite versatile.

On Her Blog:

I started the blog in 2010 in spring time, so it’s almost five years. It was just after I knew that I was accepted for this Masters in Food Culture.

I wanted to start sharing recipes from my family, or just recipes that I really enjoyed from Venice, from the region, as well as my experience throughout the Masters of just moving to a different town, living this experience, one year with this really international group of students and the trips that I was doing. And so it just all went from there.

After the end of the Masters, I just realized that I really enjoyed doing it and I just wanted to keep doing it. And so I just kept going.

It has been good thus far. But now it’s just hard to find the time, because London is quite busy too. It’s something that there’s no way I’m going to give up. I just cut some corners and find some time for it.

The Pressure Cooker:

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

I watch No Reservations, obviously, which now became Parts Unknown.

Here in the UK, I don’t have a TV, so I don’t really watch very many shows anymore.

What are some food blogs or food websites we have to know about?

I love Orangette for the food writing. It’s absolutely stunning. And one called Rachel Eats. She’s an English woman based in Rome. Her writing is stunning. Her recipes are absolutely fantastic.

One blog I always always read is written by an amazing lady and friend – Emiko Davies.

And probably one called Hortus Cuisine, for the really, really lovely photography and also because she portrays the Italian countryside in a really romantic way, which is always nice to see.

Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook that make you happy?

On Pinterest, I follow Local Milk. She is quite an inspiration for things like interiors and things. And I think her eye is really interesting. I don’t know if she makes me happy, but she makes me inspired.

On Twitter, that makes me happy, Bruce Bourdain is quite interesting, and also whoever has created the account for Queen Elizabeth is quite hilarious as well.

And on Facebook, there’s an Italian satire website called Spinoza, who has always quite a sharp pen in regards to news and things. It’s quite fun.

What is the most unusual or treasured item in your kitchen?

Unusual, I have a really old mill that you use to mash basically anything, mash boiled vegetables and potatoes. Or you can mash grapes and make a grape pudding. I have that.

And then the most treasured, I treasure my food processor quite a lot. It helps save my arm and it just does the meringue better than I could ever do myself.

Name one ingredient you used to dislike but now you love.

Cilantro. Italians really don’t have a palate for cilantro. It’s not an ingredient that we ever, ever use or you’ll ever find in an Italian kitchen.

The first time that I was invited to dinner by my Thai friend back during Masters times, I thought everything was tasting quite soapy. But then, I definitely developed a palate for it. So much so that now I really enjoy salads that are basically made just of cilantro and something else.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

Jane Grigson’s, The Vegetable Book. It’s a bible and it’s absolutely fantastic for tips on how to choose vegetables, how to clean them, and just simple ways to prepare them.

I have been using Heidi Swanson’s book quite a lot, the blogger behind 101 Cookbooks. Her book, Super Natural Everyday, is just something that we pull out very, very often for a quick week night meal or just simply inspiration.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

Lately, I’ve been listening to The National quite a lot. I know they’re quite obscure, but I really like them. They have a good mixture of relaxing and cheerful that gives it a good rhythm in the kitchen.

Keep Posted with Valeria:

Definitely Instagram. It’s where I share things that I cook that I don’t have the time to blog about, and where definitely I spend most of my time when it comes to social media. Because it’s really visual and it’s just really fun. So Instagram, @valerianecchio.

032: Luisa Weiss: How Travel Has Shaped Her Food Journey

April 29, 2015 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

The Wednesday Chef, Food Blog

Luisa is an author, a food columnist for Harper’s Bazaar Germany, teacher of both writing and cooking and leads food tours in Berlin where she lives with her husband and son Hugo.

I am so thrilled to have Luisa Weiss of The Wednesday Chef here on the show today.

On How Her Travels Have Shaped Her Food Journey:

I grew up in an international home. My dad’s American, my mom is Italian and I was born and partially raised in Berlin.

My parents split up so I moved to Boston with my dad but kept coming back to Germany and Italy to see my mother. I’ve had lots of different food cultures in my life from the very beginning and moving to Boston for college was interesting in a way because I came from high school in Berlin and then college food, the dorm room, the freshman 15, all that was totally new to me. And then Paris…

Paris, the food education. Paris was obviously really wonderful. I don’t think I’ve had as much of an epiphany as a normal American would have just because Italy’s culture is similar in that they really revere ingredients.

Everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve definitely picked up something and taken it with me.

Italian food is what I’m really comfortable with and familiar with. I know exactly what it’s supposed to taste like and I have a lot of confidence in that.

But over the past 10 years of blogging, I’ve become so much better at cooking all kinds of different things. Now I feel like I say Italian but then I also want to say that I am really good at cooking Indian food at home now, and American food, and baking, and all kinds of other things.

So it’s still Italian but definitely there’s lots more going on now.

On How Her Blog Started:

I was working in book publishing and I had discovered food blogs a couple years before. I loved them. And it just dawned on me one day like, “I love reading food blogs. I love to cook and I love to write. Why aren’t I writing a food blog?”

At the time there were many food blogs already and I assumed if I threw my hat in the ring, that nobody would care or pay attention because I’d be the last one to the party. So I just did it on a whim and I thought it was going to be writing practice more than anything else.

I majored in English in college and I wanted to go to graduate school for writing. A professor of mine was like, “Don’t do it. If you’re going to write, you’ll do it out of your own accord.” But I didn’t and so finally the blog was meant to be a practice and then it turned into so much more.

I’ve been a passionate cook and baker my whole life really, but I got into this rut when I was living in New York, my early years in New York but also in Paris. I made the same things over and over again.

It’s not that I didn’t want to make anything else, it’s just that nothing occurred to me. What else would I cook other than these three things? But I was really obsessive about clipping recipes and so I have binders and binders full of recipes from the newspaper food sections. So when the time came to come up with a concept for the blog, like some kind of a focus, right away I was like, “Okay, well I guess I’ll just cook my way through the newspaper recipes.” Then I could never cook a recipe twice because I always had the blog to think about. So in the past 10 years the blog has been my culinary education.

On Cooking for Hugo:

When Hugo was born or when he started eating solid foods, I was coming up with silly little ideas that I thought other people might be interested in. It was also meant to be a journal of what I was feeding him, too. Like, “This was a good idea. Let me write it down so that I remember it next time,” there’s nothing in it that’s earth shattering. There’s nothing totally new in it, but I thought I would have appreciated or I do appreciate when other mothers say, “Oh, this really worked for my kid,” because even though I’m such an omnivore and my husband too, we did not give birth to an omnivore. Everybody says, “Oh just feed the kid whatever you’re eating.” When we tried that, he just wouldn’t eat. He’s a little picky.

It’s getting better and he’s weirdly adventurous in certain moments. So we have a Sichuan restaurant that we’re obsessed with. Every once in a blue moon we go. He’ll end up eating half the things that we do. His mouth’s on fire. He’s got tears streaming down his face and he’s asking for more. But then other days, he refuses to eat a meat sauce with his pasta. The pasta has to be unadorned and plain, nothing.

So whenever somebody says, “This really worked for my nine month old, or a 10 month old, or two and a half year old,” I think, “I want to pass that information on,” and the same for me. I had a couple inspiration moments and I just found recipes that he ended up liking. I thought, “Might as well share them.”

I hated hearing this when I was pregnant, the mother of a newborn and all this but now that I’m a little older I understand why people say, “Enjoy it,” because actually the stages are all so short that while you’re in them, especially for the first time, you have no idea. You’re like, “Oh my God. My kid’s going to be eating pureed carrots for the next 10 years,” but subconsciously you think that they’re not even going to be eating pureed carrots for a month. So just live in the moment and then move on. Be flexible.

On Her Book, “My Berlin Kitchen: A Love Story With Recipes”:

The book is a collection of stories in chronological order that tell the rough outline, and in some cases not that rough, of sort of the strange path from Germany to the States, back to Germany, back to the States, to France and then ultimately back to Germany again.

Each chapter has a recipe at the end so it’s a lot about food but also about family, about what it’s like to grow up in several different cultures. All the alienation and difficulty that that can present even though it’s in a sense a nice problem to have, but it does have a lot of its own emotional baggage.

Then the love story with the city of Berlin that I’ve had my whole life.

The Pressure Cooker:

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

I used to watch, like literally 13 years ago, Nigella and Jamie and Two Fat Ladies, but now I don’t watch any.

What are some food blogs or websites that we have to know about?

Dinner: A Love Story which is about cooking for your family, specifically older children once they’re three years and up, how you get family dinner on the table.

Orangette which is a beautiful food blog with lovely recipes and writing and photos and just wonderful.

Bon Appetempt, which is a humorous take on cooking recipes from magazines but it’s also about life and things.

Lottie and Doof. Tim’s writing is so amazing and his food is too but now that I think about it, I haven’t actually cooked that many things from it but I just love his take on the world and I just feel his site is a little blast of joy.

There are so many others. Those are the ones off the top of my head.

Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram or Twitter that make you happy?

Okay, Abbey Nova from Design Scouting which is the other blog I was going to say that I love, but it’s not a food blog. Follow her on Pinterest. Love her.

And on Facebook, Humans of New York. Best account ever. Literally every post is a gut punch in good and bad ways. It’s just wonderful.

Instagram. My friend, Rachel Roddy, in Rome. She always posts pictures of her sink with all of the beautiful things that she’s bought at the market that day and it’s just her sink. My mother’s from Rome and my mother lived in Rome when I was in college, and there’s just something about the light. When I look at those pictures, there’s something very deep going on inside of me. They make me happy.

Her blog is Rachel Eats and that’s the other blog I was thinking of. Beautiful, provocative, gorgeous writing about living in Italy but being English. It’s incredible and her Instagram.

What is something all home cooks should have in their pantry?

Canned tomatoes, salt, olive oil.

I feel like I can’t live without canned tomatoes. That’s breakfast, lunch and dinner right there.

Name one ingredient you cannot live without.

Yeah, canned tomatoes without a doubt.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

Fuchsia Dunlop’s Every Grain of Rice, which is Chinese home cooking demystified.

The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater. I love it. It’s more of a journal of food but it’s very inspiring for when you’re feeling like, “I don’t feel like cooking anymore. What should I do?” I go to him and he always gets me going again.

Diana Henry’s A Change of Appetite, so Diana Henry is an Irish food writer in London and she’s incredibly prolific. She publishes a book a year or something and they’re all incredible. I don’t understand how she does it. I mean really they’re all incredible and they’re all so different. Her most recent book that’s available now is called A Change of Appetite and it’s ostensively of being like a lighter eating book but it’s just great. It’s full of incredibly delicious, lush, interesting recipes.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

I actually am not really into music when I’m cooking although I guess something cheerful like Ella Fitzgerald.

Keep Posted on Luisa:

Well I’m pretty good whenever I have a blog post up, I ping the three big ones: Instagram, Facebook and Twitter so any of those is fine. I love Instagram most. It’s definitely the most fun I have while doing social media. It doesn’t feel like work.