Radio Atlantic: How Alison Roman Does Thanksgiving

Date: November 27, 2025
Host: Hanna Rosin (The Atlantic)
Guest: Alison Roman (chef, cookbook author)

Episode Overview

On this Thanksgiving-themed episode, Hanna Rosin sits down with acclaimed chef and cookbook author Alison Roman to discuss holiday traditions, the evolving landscape of food media, cooking inspiration, and the joys (and realities) of making “something from nothing.” Recorded live at 6th & I in Washington, D.C., Alison shares her frank, funny, and approachable take on Thanksgiving meals, food culture, cooking burnout, and audience questions about food, body image, and creativity.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Thanksgiving Debate: Traditional vs. Reinvented (2:21–4:30)

• Traditional or Something New?
  • Alison pushes back (with humor) against the idea that you must choose between classic dishes and trendy updates such as “Salmon Wellington.”
    • “Absolutely not. And if anybody here is thinking about doing salmon Wellington, please call me and I'll come over...I want to help you.” (Alison, 2:21)
  • For Alison, Thanksgiving should honor tradition, but with potential for new additions each year. Core items (turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberries) stay the same; vegetables and sides may rotate (3:48).
  • Her approach: “If there's somebody at your table that's like, if I don't have x, y, and Z dish, I'll simply die, then just make it. That's not the time to say no. It's time to say yes.” (Alison, 4:07)
• Potlucks—A Hot Take
  • She finds potlucks chaotic and a recipe for mismatched menus: “Potlucks are the worst thing that’s ever happened to us because that's how you end up with...a menu that does not go. It doesn't go.” (Alison, 5:20)

2. Light & Cozy Meals Post-Holiday (5:36–6:11)

• When asked for light, comforting recipes after heavy holiday eating, Alison’s answer is simple: “Soup is kind of always the answer...you make the broth with the bones from the turkey.” (6:00)

3. Breaking Out in Food Media (6:11–10:25)

• Her “North Star”: Cooking, Not Content
  • Alison’s entry into cooking was rooted in kitchen work—long before the influencer era. “I started cooking before iPhones existed, before Instagram existed...I just wanted to be a cook.” (Alison, 6:31)
  • On standing out in a crowded field: “The answer remains...being yourself, because there’s only one of you...The more you can double down on being yourself and infusing your recipes...I think that is the answer.” (Alison, 7:38)
• Perception vs. Reality of Virality
  • Hanna observes Alison’s uncanny instinct for what people truly want to cook—not just “personal cuisine” (8:05).

4. Is Food Media Dead? (8:45–10:25)

• Alison argues food media is not “dead”—but in a period of flux; she’s “optimistic” that true journalistic storytelling will return, beyond influencer content:
  • “There are people...interested and invested in...regaining what it means to be a journalist in the food space and...tell stories...that aren't just entertainment narratives.” (Alison, 10:01)

5. The Cookbook & Content Creator Divide (10:33–11:14)

• Many in the industry don’t write their own cookbooks; ghostwriters are common. Alison, however, writes her own, with all its imperfections: “You can tell because there’s typos, because things are messed up. That's how you know it's me.” (Alison, 11:06)

6. Institutional Work vs. Independence (11:14–13:31)

• Alison misses the collaborative aspects of working in institutions—editors, colleagues, group problem-solving.
  • “It’s less lonely...I really do miss being edited...making sure something is as well thought out among people as possible.” (Alison, 11:24)
• Freelancing is “lonely” and self-directed, though rewarding.
  • On burnout: “Nobody told me to be busy...nobody’s demanding anything from me...but I’m so stressed out with this job that I just made myself.” (Alison, 12:51)

7. On Making “Baby Food” (13:31–14:32)

• With a new baby, Alison demystifies the process:
  • “I do, but I’m not making baby food. I’m making food that he can eat...I make lentils, and I eat lentils, and so does he.” (Alison, 13:41)
  • She resists the label “baby food”—emphasizing simplicity and overlap with adult meals.

8. The Viral Caramelized Shallot Pasta (14:32–16:38)

• Hanna asks why this dish captured the zeitgeist.
  • Alison attributes it to perfect timing (“A very zeitgeisty moment where...Instagram was just…” 15:21) and actual word of mouth, with genuine simplicity being its magic:
    • “Sometimes paring back and simplicity is the best choice...the easiest or most simple thing is the best.” (Alison, 16:09)

9. The “Something from Nothing” Pantry Challenge (18:05–24:30)

• Live Game: Alison crafts dinner using random pantry items picked blind.

  • First round: Potato, garbanzo beans, sour cream
    • Solution: Potato soup (with sour cream), frizzled chickpea salad (20:33–21:51)
    • Memorable moment: “No blender. We’re not blending. These aren’t...we’re not making baby food.” (Alison, 21:08)
  • Second round: Quinoa, curry paste, black-eyed peas (no salt added)
    • Solution: Black-eyed pea-quinoa salad with garlic, olive oil, lemon, and a curry if coconut milk is around (23:29)
    • Strong take: “Unless it’s for health reasons, I genuinely think you should avoid the no salt added legumes in a can...so hard to season any sort of bean or pea that has not been seasoned from the beginning.” (Alison, 22:56)

• Reading from Cookbook: Alison shares a heartfelt passage about her husband’s admiration for her resourcefulness, making “something from nothing” (18:35–19:02):

  "In his vows, he told me that his favorite nights at home were when we didn't have time to go grocery shopping. And I made something of what we had in the pantry because it was in those thrown together moments that he got to see how my imagination worked."
  (Alison Roman reading, 18:40–19:02)

10. Diet Culture & Body Image (24:30–26:53)

• Audience Q: How does Alison maintain a loving relationship with food/body after growing up with diet culture?
  • Alison is candid about the difficulties, magnified by public scrutiny:
    • “You become really self-judgmental and really hard on yourself...It’s not healthy for anybody’s brain to do it.” (Alison, 24:45)
  • Societal pressures are in conflict: “To be successful, you also have to be hot and young forever. And so you have to love food and love eating, but also look a certain way and never age…” (Alison, 25:40)
  • On solutions: “The work begins in yourself...You can’t wait for the culture to change to make it feel like you’re doing the right thing.” (Alison, 26:14)

11. Why Chicken Tastes Bland (27:06–28:56)

• Alison attributes blandness to industrial farming—better quality (and tastier) chicken is available from local/farmer’s markets; it’s “what we’ve done to the chicken,” not the chicken itself (27:38).

12. Influential Cookbooks & Food Writing (28:56–30:36)

• Alison didn’t grow up with cookbooks; inspiration came later, often from food memoirs and biographies (e.g., Alice Waters, Judith Jones).
  • “I was reading...memoirs…I felt like the recipes I had nailed...but getting the inspiration to figure out, well, how did I want to say it?...those were the most inspirational to me.” (Alison, 29:37)

13. Cooking Burnout & Reclaiming Joy (30:36–32:05)

• Yes, Alison gets cooking burnout. The antidote? Return to simplicity:
  • “To be totally honest, that's like how this book was born...just going more simple and falling back in love with how good it can taste to cook like five ingredients together in a pot...It doesn’t actually need anything else.” (Alison, 30:50)
  • Reframing what you have: “You open up your pantry and you’re like...all I have are a can of tomatoes and like some lentils. And it’s like, well, you can make the best tomato soup of your life with that if you want.” (Alison, 31:36)

Notable Quotes (with Timestamps & Attribution)

• “Absolutely not. And if anybody here is thinking about doing salmon Wellington, please call me and I'll come over...we got to fix that.” (Alison Roman, 2:21)
• “Potlucks are the worst thing that's ever happened to us because that's how you end up with...a menu that does not go.” (Alison Roman, 5:20)
• “The answer remains...being yourself, because there's only one of you...The more you can double down on being yourself...that is the answer.” (Alison Roman, 7:38)
• “A very zeitgeisty moment where Instagram was just...statistically speaking, I looked this up...the way that it’s grown from five years ago, the amount of users on Instagram is just an unfathomable number.” (Alison Roman, 15:21)
• “No blender. We’re not blending. These aren’t...we’re not making baby food. But my baby does like potato soup in a chunky form.” (Alison Roman, 21:08)
• “Unless it's for health reasons, I genuinely think that you should avoid the no salt added legumes in a can...It's so hard to season any sort of bean or pea that has not been seasoned from the beginning.” (Alison Roman, 22:56)
• “To be successful, you also have to be hot and young forever. And so you have to love food and love eating, but also look a certain way and never age...” (Alison Roman, 25:40)
• “You can’t wait for the culture to change to make it feel like you’re doing the right thing.” (Alison Roman, 26:14)
• “When you eat meat or fish especially, you're eating what they're eating. So I think about that a lot when I'm purchasing my protein.” (Alison Roman, 28:36)
• “You open up your pantry and you're like, all I have are like can of tomatoes and like some lentils. And it's like, well, you can make the best tomato soup of your life with that if you want.” (Alison Roman, 31:36)

Memorable Moments & Audience Engagement

• Pantry Challenge Game: A playful, live demonstration of Alison’s “something from nothing” cooking ethos (18:05–24:30).
• Heartfelt Reading: Alison reads an intimate excerpt about her marriage and resourcefulness (18:35–19:02).
• Candidness on Body Image: Open, vulnerable discussion about internal and external pressures for women and creators (24:30–26:53).
• Witty, Down-to-Earth Advice: Alison’s signature humor and bluntness throughout.

Important Timestamps

| Time | Segment / Highlight | |----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2:21 | Opening on Thanksgiving debate: Classic vs. Creative | | 5:36 | Post-holiday light meals (“Soup is always the answer”) | | 6:31 | How Alison set herself apart in food media | | 8:45 | State of food media and misconceptions | | 11:14 | Institutional work vs. independence | | 13:41 | Making “baby food” without overcomplicating | | 14:51 | Why the caramelized shallot pasta went viral | | 18:05 | Pantry challenge game: “something from nothing” live | | 18:35 | Reading about her marriage and resourcefulness | | 22:56 | Tip: Avoid no-salt-added canned beans | | 24:45 | Discussion of diet culture and body image | | 27:38 | Why chicken tastes bland; the importance of sourcing | | 29:05 | Influential cookbooks and writing inspiration | | 30:36 | Addressing cooking burnout and finding inspiration |

Tone & Style

Alison Roman’s tone is candid, witty, self-aware, and empowering. She is unpretentious, encouraging home cooks to embrace simplicity, imperfection, and authenticity. Host Hanna Rosin creates a supportive, thoughtful, sometimes playful atmosphere, guiding the conversation to both practical tips and deeper reflections on food, culture, and identity.

For listeners seeking both practical cooking advice and a thoughtful take on food culture—this episode delivers plenty of laughs, wisdom, and inspiration, just in time for the holidays.