Why John Magaro of ‘Past Lives’ Could Never Love a Picky Eater

Modern Love

The New York Times

Nytimes, Redemption, Society & Culture, New York Times, Love, Essay, Storytelling, Loss, Nyt

4.4 • 8.7K Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2024

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The actor John Magaro is picky about whom he goes to dinner with. Magaro is an adventurous eater. So whether he’s buying offal from the butcher, making stews from the 1800s or falling in love over a plate of rabbit, he says it’s important to him that the people he shares a meal with are willing to be curious. For Magaro, it’s about more than personal preferences. Sharing a meal and connecting with other people, he says, is the bedrock of society. Magaro played Arthur in “Past Lives,” one of our favorite movies last year. His character is constantly working to understand his wife on a deeper level. And Magaro sees that quality in “My Dinners With Andrew,” by Sara Pepitone, a Modern Love essay about food as a love language, and a series of dinners that make, and break, two relationships.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the New York Times, I'm Anna Martin. This is Modern Love.
0:07.0	I'm a rapid fire you some questions about food. How does that sound?
0:11.0	Sounds good. Okay, favorite meal. That's like
0:14.1	asking favorite movie or favorite book. I started with the meal there's too many. I know
0:19.4	maybe just one of those
0:24.0	those favorites. Oh goodness gracious. I'm talking this week with John McGaro. John is an actor
0:26.3	with a very diverse resume. Most recently he was in the movie Past Lives
0:31.0	directed by Saline Song which was nominated for Best Picture.
0:35.1	And his performance in that movie, needs to be said, made me ugly cry in the theater.
0:39.3	It was not pretty.
0:41.1	John was also in the big short, and he starred in the indie movie First Cow, which is set in the 1800s, where he plays a cook living on the northwest frontier.
0:50.0	And John's a cook in real life too. He loves to eat. The essay pick for today is called
0:55.8	My Dinners with Andrew by Sarah Pepitone. Food is Sarah's love language and she talks about
1:01.6	falling for a man who was willing to try new foods with
1:04.6	her, even the ones that scared him.
1:07.8	John said he could relate.
1:10.1	I listen, I eat everything.
1:11.9	I will try anything one thing I think people might find just generally who have a weaker stomach
1:20.0	find the fact that I eat like awful a lot.
1:23.0	What is that?
1:24.0	Awful is like organ meat.
1:25.0	So like I'll go to Pizano's in Brooklyn or I'll go to the butcher and I'll just,
	...

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