Lunch Therapy

In this very special bonus episode of Lunch Therapy, I dig into one of my favorite topics: dinner parties. I've been throwing dinner parties forever and here I walk you through my most recent, a birthday dinner for three of my closest friends. How did I plan the menu? How did I approach the grocery store? When did I start cooking? How did I deal with dishes? How did I know how much food to make? What did I listen to in the kitchen? Hear all of these questions answered, and more, in this solo session. And if you have more questions about dinner parties, feel free to ask them: shoot me an e-mail at lunchtherapist@gmail.com (it's best if you record the question as a voice memo so I can use it in an upcoming episode!). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amateurgourmet.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zach Schiffman is a 25 year-old stand-up comedian in Brooklyn who's worked for Full Frontal with Sam Bee and currently works for Tooning Out the News. In today's session, we talk about the foods that Gen Z-ers eat, Zach's fear of knives, the Jewy food that his mom makes, and his love for dessert. We also cover the courage it takes to do stand-up comedy, feeling more Jewish than gay, his dad's obsession with pocket knives, and his talk show-themed Bar Mitzvah. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amateurgourmet.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bonus episode alert! Recent Lunch Therapy patient Ben Mandelker and I went to dinner together this week at a new L.A. restaurant called Bari and, in this bonus episode, we walk through our meal course by course to render a verdict. We also cover topics such as: restaurant tops and bottoms, breaking the fast, how much to drink at dinner, how to pronounce fagiolini, digestifs, and our true feelings about wax beans. If you'd like to be featured in a future bonus episode, send me a food-related question via voice memo to lunchtherapist@gmail.com. I'd love to answer your questions! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amateurgourmet.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Food blogger and cookbook author Jenny Rosenstrach (Dinner: A Love Story, Dinner: The Playbook, How to Celebrate Everything) has a brand new cookbook out, The Weekday Vegetarians, which just hit #3 on the NYT bestseller list. In today's session, we talk about being a three-day empty nester (her youngest daughter just went off to college), how she goes about writing a cookbook, what she's been eating since her theree kids went to school, and how she and her husband negotiate who cooks what. We also get into setting boundaries in terms of how much she shares online, her Jewish and Italian roots, and how she's been taking pictures of her food since the early nineties. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amateurgourmet.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Lunch Therapy patient is my friend Ben Mandelker, the co-host of one of the most popular podcasts out there: WATCH WHAT CRAPPENS, a pod that dissects nearly every detail of every show that airs on Bravo. In today's session, we talk to Ben about Jill Zarin (my favorite Housewife), how Giada DeLaurentis got him into cooking, the link between eating crappy food and watching crappy TV, and putting pepperoni into pasta. We also cover how being gay makes you want to be the golden child, his inability to eat berries or stone fruit, the worst matzah ball soup he ever made, and where we all stand on Alison Roman. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amateurgourmet.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If there were a Mount Rushmore of food bloggers, Molly Wizenberg would definitely be on it. Her food blog, Orangette, was pioneering in the way that she fused together personal storytelling, atmospheric pictures, and recipe-writing (it won the James Beard Award in 2015 for Best Food Blog). Since then Molly's written three books -- A Homemade Life, Delancey, and her most recent, The Fixed Stars (now in paperback) -- as well as co-hosted the podcast, Spilled Milk, which is now in its eleventh years. In today's Lunch Therapy session, Molly talks about getting burned out with food writing, how she parents her daughter, June, food-wise, and what it was like to open up a restaurant without being emotionally equipped to do it. We also talk about the ethics of personal storytelling, what she considers oversharing, and what she teaches her students in her writing workshops. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amateurgourmet.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lisa Donovan is the James Beard award-winning author of "Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger," a widely celebrated memoir about her time in the restaurant industry. She's also equally acclaimed for her baking: food critic Bill Addison has called her "one of the South's best pastry chefs" for her work at City House, Margot Cafe & Bar, and Husk, where she was famous for her buttermilk chess pie. In today's session, we hear all about her writing sabbatical in New Orleans, the difference between pleasing people and taking care of them, how her two kids represent the two sides of herself, and how Austrian pastries influenced her trajectory. We also talk about her recent diagnosis of Celiac, trying to remember how to be in love with food, developing her voice in cooking, where to eat in Nashville, and how she actually doesn't like desserts that much. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amateurgourmet.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tara O'Brady is the multitalented food journalist (Saveur, Jamie Oliver, Bon Appetit) and cookbook author (Seven Spoons) who lives in Ottawa, Canada with her husband and two children. In today's session, we talk all about differentiating herself from her parents' cooking, the dish that she would make to best represent her, what she wants for her kids food-wise (it involves Pop-Tarts), and mixing work and normal life. We also get into the systematic racism she encountered after publishing her first cookbook, how that's stopped her from writing the next one, and how things have changed enough to maybe make her reconsider. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amateurgourmet.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jake Cohen is such a nice Jewish boy, my mom wishes I could be more like him! He's the author of the NYT bestselling cookbook Jew-ish, he's got hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram, and Katie Couric loves his matzoh ball soup. In today's session, we talk all about body image, being chubby as a kid, staying in shape, his Bar Mitzvah theme, and the purpose of ritual regardless of belief. We also talk coming out to himself, going to the Culinary Institute of America, marrying a Persian Jew, and how he's coined the phrase Hot Soup Summer. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amateurgourmet.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's a watershed day on Lunch Therapy: we have our first couple! Byron Lane and Steven Rowley are both published authors; Byron's the author of A Star is Bored (now in paperback) all about his time working as Carrie Fisher's assistant. (It's a great read... I just finished it.) And Steven Rowley is the author of three widely-acclaimed novels: Lily and the Octopus, The Editor, and his newest, now in bookstores, The Guncle. In today's session, we talk about being on separate food journeys as a couple, who does the dishes, moving to Palm Springs, Byron's travels with Carrie Fisher, and hiding food around the house. We also talk about Byron's recent bout with cancer, how that changed his diet, getting married during quarantine, avoiding lectins, what are lectins?, and what they'd serve each other for their dream meals. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amateurgourmet.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices