In this episode, we have the pathbreaking author Joan Nathan, who has published over 12 cookbooks and earned many awards for her work. Joan pioneered the study of Jewish cuisine by adopting an anthropological approach, treating recipe development as an opportunity to explore the history and culture of a diasporic people. Her cookbooks became bestsellers in the United States when the iconic editor Judith Jones asked Joan to write about “how Jews have changed food in America and how America has changed Jewish food.”

Here, Joan shares several stories with me from her early career researching the foodways of logging camps or what it was like to have Julia Child as a guest on her PBS cooking show—they actually went kosher food shopping together on camera. Joan also tells me about the time she laced her matzo balls with marijuana, and some of her tried and true secrets for hosting the best dinner parties. Joan’s latest cookbook is a memoir, My Life in Recipes, which takes you from Madagascar to Martha’s Vineyard and everywhere in between. I highly recommend.

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