Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso Alison Roman’s Imperfect Approach to Cooking

Listen On:

  • Apple Podcasts
  • Spotify
  • Apple Podcasts
  • Spotify

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).

The Host

Sam Fragoso

Sam Fragoso is a writer, director and podcast host based in Los Angeles. His interviews have appeared in Vanity Fair, The New Republic, The Atlantic and NPR. In a past…