Lunch Therapy

The Washington Post calls Mary Roach "America's funniest science writer" and the fact that she's the author of six NYT bestselling books (including Stiff, Gulp, and her latest, Fuzz), pretty much confirms it. I fell in love with her voice recently when I picked up Gulp on a whim -- the book is disgusting, hilarious, and fascinating -- so imagine my delight when she agreed to come on my Lunch Thera...

Hello from New Orleans! We've been having a blast and eating ourselves silly, but one of the friends we're traveling with, Jonathan Parks-Ramage (author of Yes, Daddy), is a VEGETARIAN which is pretty challenging here. So, seeing as we're in the same hotel, I invited him on today's Lunch Therapy to talk about being a vegetarian in New Orleans, how the menu at the first restaurant where we went lit...

One of my oldest food blogging friends is Luisa Weiss of The Wednesday Chef, who went on to write the books My Berlin Kitchen and Classic German Baking, and is currently working on Classic German Cooking as well as her new Substack newsletter, A Letter from Berlin. In today's session, we talk all about the link between Luisa's food writing and her emotions (something she's always excelled at), how...

Hey, guess what? We're headed to New Orleans this Sunday to visit our friend Ryan O'Connell, who's been there for a few months filming the reboot of Queer as Folk (which he both stars in and helped write). Obviously, I've been OBSESSING over where we're going to eat, and constantly texting Ryan about it, so hear us talk about the plan, as well as what Ryan's been eating there, how he deals with al...

Whether you you know Drew Droege from his viral Chloe Sevigny parodies, his critically-acclaimed plays Bright Colors and Bold Patterns & Happy Birthday, Doug, or his numerous appearances on shows like Drunk History, Search Party, and Bob's Burgers, chances are you're a fan. In today's session, learn all about Drew's cooking habits (spoiler alert: he hasn't turned on his stove in six years), growin...

L.A. Times food critic Bill Addison recently published his list of the 101 Best Restaurants in L.A., an annual tradition that started with Pulitzer Prize-winning food writer, Jonathan Gold. So today I invited him on the pod to talk through his process, which restaurants made the cut, which ones didn't, how the pandemic influenced his decisions (how do you evaluate a restaurant if you're only eatin...

Tejal Rao is The New York Times' restaurant critic for California, a cooking columnist for The New York Times Magazine, and the author of the Times' weekly vegetarian newsletter, The Veggie. In today's session, Tejal opens up about losing her sense of taste and smell when she had Covid, what it felt like to get it back, how she's adjusted to life in Los Angeles, and being a picky eater as a child....

Bestselling cookbook author and blogger David Lebovitz swings by the pod today to talk about his recent announcement that he's shifting from his food blog to his Substack newsletter. This resonated for me because David and I started our food blogs around the same time (him in 1999, me in 2004) and I've been on a similar journey, fully embracing my newsletter which goes out twice a week (you can si...

What does a veteran Saturday Night Live writer eat? Find out on this week's Lunch Therapy when Sudi Green joins us for a session. Not only is Sudi an accomplished writer and comedian, but she also happens to be my across-the-street-neighbor! Find out how we met, what she ate when she worked at SNL, whether or not she likes her routines, being from Delaware, and how she's adjusted to living in L.A....

Lots of us (including myself) are starting the new year with a diet. The question becomes: will we stick to it? Should we stick to it? Are all diets problematic to begin with? What's the point? For today's bonus episode, I invited my friend Dr. Deanie Eichenstein (@drdeanie) to talk about all of these issues and more. We cover everything from the way we perceive ourselves vs. the way the world per...

The art world visits the food world on Lunch Therapy today with our patient, Simon Haas. Simon comes from a super talented family -- his mother's an opera singer, his father's a stone carver, and his older brother, Lucas, is an actor who you may remember from Mars Attacks and Witness -- and then there's Simon and his twin brother, Nikolai, aka: the Haas brothers, movers and shakers in the art worl...

Lukas Volger is the author of five -- that's right, FIVE -- cookbooks, including Bowl: Vegetarian Recipes for Ramen, Pho, Bibimbap, Dumplings, and Other One-Dish Meals and Start Simple: Eleven Everyday Ingredients for Countless Weeknight Meals. He's also the co-founder of the influential queer magazine Jarry, which won a James Beard award in 2016 for John Birdsall's essay, Straight-Up Passing. In...

Stand-up comedian, Cobra Kai actor, and podcast host Dan Ahdoot (@standupdan on social media) and I met each other year's ago at a coffee shop in the West Village, and now I'm a professional lunch therapist and he's the host of a brand new Food Network show called Raid the Fridge (premiering December 28th at 10 PM). In today's session we talk all about seeking out the best restaurants when he trav...

Eric Kim is so accomplished at such a young age, I need my own lunch therapist to talk about it. A former senior editor at Food52, he's now a staff writer for The New York Times food section, a monthly columnist for The NYT Magazine, and the author of the upcoming cookbook: Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home. In today's session, we talk all about Eric's indirect path into the food world,...

The first rule of lunch therapy is "never cook for your patient," but I break that rule today with director Craig Johnson (The Skeleton Twins, Alex Strangelove) for a very good reason: I'm married to him. In today's very special episode, we go deep on his submissiveness about food, his love for all things gooey, why he feels uncomfortable in formal/fusty dining rooms, and his love for apple pie. W...

My best friend Diana recently moved with her husband and kids back to New York from L.A. (I know, I need my own therapist to deal with this!). As a consequence of being back on the east coast and nearer to family, she's now cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for TWENTY people total. All of her siblings will be their with their spouses and kids, plus her parents, and to make things even more complex sev...

Today's Lunch Therapy patient, Bill Esparza, is the James Beard Award-winning author of LA Mexicano who's considered by many to be America's leading expert on Mexican food. He's also a renowned saxophonist who's traveled the world playing music with Brian Setzer, Bryan Adams, and Colin Hay. In today's session, Bill explains how to spot a good taco truck, how the pandemic impacted street food, grow...

Nervous about Thanksgiving? Lunch Therapy is here to help! NYT cooking guru (and the author of 42 cookbooks... wow) Melissa Clark was kind enough to answer a ton of cooking questions posed to me by my followers on Instagram. What's a foolproof menu for a first time Thanksgiving chef? Do you brine the turkey? Wet or dry? What about spatchcocking? How do you make things in advance and serve everythi...

If you've ever watched a YouTube cooking video, there's a good chance you've encountered Carla Lalli Music, the former Food Director for Bon Appetit, and the author of two NYT bestselling cookbooks: Where Cooking Begins (which won the James Beard Award for Best General Cookbook) and, her latest, That Sounds So Good. In today's session, Carla talks all about growing up with her journalist parents (...

Chef Jeremy Salamon has been working in restaurants for years -- Locanda Verde, Buvette, Prune, and The Eddy, to name a few -- and next week he's opening his very own restaurant in Brooklyn called Agi's Counter, named after his Hungarian grandmother. So how do you go from restaurant-as-idea to an actual restaurant that people are going to be eating in this upcoming Monday? Jeremy walks us through...

Laurie Woolever spent the past decade working as Anthony Bourdain's assistant. She's now the author of two books, one the NYT bestselling Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography and the other, co-written with Bourdain before his passing, World Travel: An Irreverent Guide. In today's session, Laurie opens up about her time working with Tony, explains how her voice is present in the biography withou...

Halloween's coming up this Sunday and as we all shop for candy to give out (and inevitably eat ourselves), the question arises: which Halloween candy is the best and which is the worst? In today's bonus episode, LA Times cooking columnist Ben Mims joins me to rank our least favorite Halloween candy and our most favorite Halloween candy. Will you agree or disagree? Only one way to find out.... See...

Hetty McKinnon is one of the most prolific food writers out there. She's the author of four bestselling cookbooks, including her most recent, TO ASIA, WITH LOVE. She also creates recipes for The New York Times, Bon Appetit, Delicious, Food52... the list goes on and on. In today's session, Hetty and I fly right out of the gate with a conversation about "authenticity" as an anachronistic word, how f...

My patient this week, Vallery Lomas, has been through a lot! The winner of the first season of The Great American Baking Show -- and the first black winner of the entire Baking Show franchise -- Vallery never had her victory air on TV because the show got cancelled after one of the judges was accused of sexual harassment. Vallery had the last laugh, though; she sold a baking book, Life Is What You...

For this week's bonus episode, I asked my Instagram followers to ask me questions that I could answer in a Q&A. How do you cook a duck breast? Does buttermilk really tenderize meat? What's the most overrated food trend right now? And what do I think of this season of The Great British Bake-Off? Find out in this week's episode and if you'd like to submit a question, give me a follow on Instagram (@...