Hey everyone, this is Prentice and welcome to Becoming the People.

I was actually very nervous to talk to Samin Nasrat for this episode.

I was nervous in part because I am just way out of my depth when it comes to talking about food.

I'm a very basic food person, disappointingly.

I don't know anything about it.

And Samin has been one of these people that through just her kind of like joy around food, the story she tells through food, it's actually made me a little bit more curious about

how to make food, how to cook, food preparation, sharing, community, all of these themes that

feel very core to who she is. So I was really, really excited that she said yes and excited to talk to her.

In this conversation, honestly, we are

discussing her newest book, Good Things, which if you haven't picked it up yet, is not only a

gorgeous book, but it's a book that to me really respects real life. It gives little things,

a small good thing you can do or prepare that adds love into

your meals. It doesn't require you to create this five-course meal, but it's just like, how can I

put something beautiful or put something that makes my family excited or that I can

share with my friends? How can I create something small yet beautiful yet good? And I really love

that approach because it made me feel like, okay, this is a much more manageable way of

approaching food and food preparation. but it's also just more

embodied, grounded, loving. I love this conversation just exploring the kind of simplicity,

the beauty, the actual reality of people's lives, but it's also really tender conversation,

and Samin shares a lot about her life and where she's at and where she's been

over these last several years and the journey to making a kind of simple and profound offering.

I think there's something here in this episode for all of us, all of us who are navigating

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