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, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Eater, and recommended in New York Magazine, W, Food52, Coveteur, and Vogue Australia; it has over 20,000 subscribers.

According to GQ, this “popular newsletter often wades into the thorniest thickets of the conversation.” Vogue “read[s] it religiously.” The Nation says, “Alicia Kennedy’s newsletter is an example of the kind of honest thinking we need about the future of the American food system.”

My book No Meat Required: The Cultural History and Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating will be out Summer 2023 from Beacon Press. My writing has recently appeared in Bon Appétit, Harper’s Bazaar, Foreign Policy, and other outlets. 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 Good Morning America, the BBC World Service, WNYC’s “On the Media” and “The Takeaway,” and many more radio shows and podcasts to talk about issues of food media, culture, and meat consumption. In the past, I’ve been a contributing writer for the Village Voice and NYLON magazine, as well as a contributing editor at Edible Brooklyn. My essays have been listed as “notable” in Best American Food Writing and Best American Travel Writing for two years in a row.

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 full recipes and recommendations for a better cooking life. 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.