“I chose Tomato Tomato because I like to say the phrase, and because tomatoes are an oddly global vegetable—or fruit, depending on how pedantic we’re being on this particular day. They originated in South America and became a staple everywhere. Sometimes they’re the background of a dish, and other times they’re the star.”

“How do you understand the shape of a city? How do you understand the shape of Boston? I’d like to help you try.”

“Copyright doesn’t cover recipes, because the bureaucrats at the U.S. copyright office don’t consider them to be creative enough. I know, misogynist hogwash, imagine saying with a straight face that cooking doesn’t take creativity, but them’s the rules, Helen.”

“I’ll figure out which pot from the auction is suitable for the pasta pickup, and yes, I break down the menu into stations with the same actors working the same stations with the same tools because that’s how it works in a real restaurant.”

“But about that martini: Made with tomato gin, sherry, vermouth, and a little sea salt, I initially thought ‘tomato gin’ meant infused with tomatoes—that's how clearly the bright minerality of the fruit comes through.”

“I put the eggs in focaccia from a fancy bakery, on clouds of ricotta, just like the iconic Ship’s Biscuit sandwich. He complained that the eggs were too runny, and we broke up not long after.”

How to make a vegan version of “jamón de cocinar,” a Puerto Rican cooking staple.

“Cookbooks are a moneymaker, as well as a key relational tool for audience development.”

“I see a parallel to the return of thinness culture, and the commentary around it. My social media feeds are filled with posts about who benefits from keeping women small and undernourished. The question becomes, who benefits from the dismissal of quick, easy dinners?”

“All four see the limitations and instability of being considered solely a ‘food writer’ in the fractured media landscape, and possess a more expansive outlook on their work than food outlets allow. Thank God, says the reader who lives for the story.”

“These baroque representations made sense in the time of rapid European colonization around the world, and especially in the Netherlands, and so treasures such as sugar, pearls, spices, damask, and porcelain occurred frequently as symbolic motifs in still life paintings. Naturally, a little sugar needs some bitterness for balance, and so did the abundant, eloquent still lifes.”