Chats with Creatives (Part 5)
(The one with food writer Adam Roberts)
Twenty years ago, Adam Roberts started the mega-popular food blog, Amateur Gourmet. Since then, he’s written several books, including his uproarious debut fiction novel, Food Person (out now!) He lives in Brooklyn with his husband, Craig, and their adorable pup, Winston.
Why did you decide to start a food blog twenty years ago?
I was in my third year of law school (this was back in 2004), and I was totally miserable. I came from a family where nobody cooked, but to soothe myself after a long day of contracts classes, I started watching the Food Network. This was in the early days, where most of the shows were stand-and-stir shows, so Sara Moulton was on there, really teaching people how to cook. One day, I wandered into the kitchen, made tomato sauce for the first time, and I became so obsessed with cooking my friends told me to start a blog. “What’s a blog?” I asked. (Again, this was in 2004.) They showed me, and I started one and called it “The Amateur Gourmet” because I was just beginning to learn how to cook. The rest is history!
Storytelling is a huge part of your popular Substack, Amateur Gourmet. Can you walk us through your process for each issue?
Sure! I take pictures throughout my week, edit them the morning I write my newsletter, and in going over the images, I decide what I’m going to write about and what I’m going to leave out. For example, this past weekend my friend Diana made the best Salad Nicoise I’ve ever tasted, and I’m texting with her now to get the recipe. I don’t formally plan anything; it’s more like a diary from my life.
I'd love to learn more about how you put your spin on recipes. What's a recent favorite that you can describe?
My secret is to have a lot of great ingredients around and then just to grab what I see and make something. For example: my CSA delivery came yesterday, and for lunch today I have a ton of tomatoes (heirloom ones, cherry ones, sun gold ones), peaches, and basil. I also have fresh mozzarella, and that salad basically makes itself. The key is to think about what you’re craving and to make that. On a hot day, I want something refreshing, so a juicy salad will totally hit the spot.
Your newsletter also features dinners with friends. Who would be your ideal dinner guests (dead or alive)? Any dream restaurants?
Nora Ephron, Laurie Colwin, and Wendy Wasserstein. What a dinner that would be! Dream restaurant: Rochelle Canteen in London. I have the chef’s cookbook (Margot Henderson) and it’s one of my all-time favorites but I’ve never eaten at her restaurant. (I’ve eaten at her husband, Fergus Henderson’s, St. John and that was pretty memorable.)
What is one ingredient that you think deserves more love in the kitchen? Which ingredient is overrated?
Sun-dried tomatoes are seen as passé but they really pack a punch and are featured prominently in my favorite pasta dish (with cannellini beans). The most overrated ingredient has to be truffle oil.
You recently released your debut fiction novel, Food Person. Can you tell us a bit about your publishing story?
I’ve written several cookbooks and books of essays, but my secret dream was to write a work of fiction. At the same time that I started my food blog, I applied to NYU’s graduate program in Dramatic Writing, and to my surprise, I was accepted. There I learned all about structure and storytelling, and in all my years of food writing, I was secretly working on plays, screenplays, and most ambitiously, novels. In L.A., I spent time working in the writer’s room of the ABC sitcom The Real O’Neals. That really taught me about structure and joke-writing, and when that show ended, I had an experience ghostwriting a celebrity’s cookbook. Then it all kind of clicked into place: what if I wrote a fun, quick-moving novel about that using all of my TV-writing and NYU-dramatic-writing skills? Thus, Food Person was born.
In Food Person, Isabella has to make a soufflé live on camera (with disastrous results). What dish would make you most nervous to make in front of a live audience?
Lobster risotto. It’s hard to execute a lobster live on TV.
Vintage cookbooks play a prominent role in Food Person, and you also enjoy collecting cookbooks. If you could only save three in a fire, which ones would they be and why?
You’re All Invited by Margot Henderson (as mentioned, it’s a personal favorite and kind of rare); Toasts and After-Dinner Stories (it’s from the early 1900s and was a gift from my husband from Omnivore Books in San Francisco); and A Treasury of Great Recipes by Mary and Vincent Price because it’s a total gem, with gorgeous pictures and menus from their travels around the world.
If you could be a special guest star on a reality show, which one would it be and why?
A judge on Top Chef! Actually, I take that back. The judges always come across looking like dicks.
What are you currently working on?
The next novel! It’s about a recent law school graduate who decides she wants to become a chef. Wonder where I got that idea?
Anything else you'd like to share? Where can readers find you?
You can find me anywhere and everywhere as @amateurgourmet. Thanks for the great questions!
Thank you, Adam!