I’m a writer from New York based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. My weekly newsletter on food culture, politics, and media, From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy, has been mentioned by the New York Times, Vogue, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, New York Magazine, The Nation, W, GQ, Eater, Food52, Coveteur, Vogue Australia, and more. It has over 30,000 subscribers. My work has recently appeared in Foreign Policy, Bon Appétit, SSENSE, and Harper’s Bazaar.

Beacon Press published my first book, No Meat Required: The Cultural History and Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating. It’s been covered at The Atlantic, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Eater, Hazlitt, and more.

Some of my vegan baking recipes will be included in the forthcoming cookbook Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking by Joe Yonan. I also contributed a recipe to the 50th anniversary edition of Diet for a Small Planet.

I’ve appeared on the BBC World Service, WNYC’s “On the Media” and “The Takeaway,” KCRW’s “Good Food,” and many more radio shows and podcasts to talk about issues of food media, culture, and meat consumption.

In spring 2023, I taught Culinary Tourism at Boston University’s master’s of gastronomy program. I’ve presented at Hamilton College, Tufts University, MIT, Boston University, and Indiana University, and I’ve spoken to classes at many more schools.

I’ve been a contributing writer for the Village Voice and NYLON magazine, as well as a contributing editor at Edible Brooklyn. I am, improbably, an award-winning beer writer. An essay I wrote for MOLD was selected by Mark Bittman for inclusion in Best American Food Writing 2023.

What Is the Monday Essay?

This newsletter is about food and its constellation of concerns, from politics and labor and hospitality and sourcing and everything else. On Mondays, I send out an essay, along with notes on what I’ve published, read, and cooked.

What Is “From the Kitchen” for paid subscribers?

Paid subscribers get the weekly “From the Kitchen” dispatch on Fridays, with recipes, recommendations for a better cultural & cooking life, and interviews with experts. There is an index of all the recipes I’ve published so far.

Who Likes This Stuff?

“Alicia Kennedy’s newsletter is an example of the kind of honest thinking we need about the future of the American food system.” —The Nation

San Francisco Chronicle, Vogue Australia, DigiDay, Food52, Business Insider, W, Good Beer Hunting, and TASTE Cooking have featured it, and none other than the New York Times has referenced “From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy.”

The logo was illustrated by Kit Mills.