The cook and food writer Alison Roman frequently emanates and celebrates a certain spilled-milk imperfectionism. Her on-camera candor and laid-back cooking style have both contributed to growing her devoted audience of home cooks as well as the food-curious, many of whom have followed her and her singular recipes over the past decade-plus, from her prior media roles (Bon Appétit and The New York Times) to the independent-platform path she’s now on. That’s not to mention her three best-selling cookbooks, Dining In (2017), Nothing Fancy (2019), and Sweet Enough (2023), as well as her forthcoming fourth title, Something from Nothing, out Nov. 11. For Roman, there’s joy and wisdom to be found in embracing a certain amount of honest-to-goodness mess, all while maturing into different versions of herself, in and out of the kitchen.

On the episode, she reflects on the diaristic quality of her dishes, how time and money have shaped her cooking style and recipe-writing approach throughout her life, and the beauty of prioritizing tangible things in our ephemeral digital age.

Special thanks to our Season 12 presenting sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels.

[03:19] Something From Nothing (2025)

[04:04] Dining In (2017)

[04:04] Sweet Enough (2023)

[09:03] Nothing Fancy (2019)

[14:31] First Bloom

[20:29] The Tenth Muse by Judith Jones (2007)

[20:29] Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin (1988)

[20:29] Books by Anthony Bourdain

[20:29] Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton (2011)

[29:10] Chris Bernabeo

[44:58] Solley’s

[52:26] Christina Tosi

[53:44] Bon Appétit

Alison Roman on Recipes as Time Capsules