My favorite foods are pretty ugly. They maybe don't have a garnish, and they maybe did take one pot, and there's maybe not a vegetable. And that is what I crave cooking. For me, it really was

about getting back to foods that we cook, but maybe like don't take a picture of.

Welcome back to working. I'm your host, Karen Hahn. And I'm your other host, Isaac,

Butler. Hi, Isaac. How are you? I'm, I'm all right. You know, I'm really trying to hit the ground running this month before classes start in a couple of weeks, because once that happens, it's like getting anything off the ground becomes much harder, but things that are already in progress are kind of easier to keep, you know, moving forward on day by days. And I think that's going pretty well. What about you?

I obviously don't have to worry about classes, but I would say that the principal sort of still

stands. It's like you want to start January on a good foot or try as much as you can to do that.

Totally. So who did you talk to you for this episode? I spoke to the great Ali Slagel,

who is a freelance food writer and editor most prominently for the New York Times. If you subscribe to their cooking app or you read their recipes, you have almost certainly cooked her food. She also has a wonderful new cookbook out called I Dream of Dinner so you don't have to. Well, I can't wait to hear your conversation.

But before we hear it, what can we look forward to in the Slate Plus segment this week?

I was interested to learn when researching the interview that Allie has a background as a food stylist as well.

And she used to do that freelance on top of the food writing.

So I wanted to talk a bit about that world because everything I've heard about it

is very strange. And also how issues of food styling played out with her cookbook, because her

cookbook is like weeknight meals for home cooks, which is not the sort of thing that one

normally gets out the tweezers and, you know, lovingly arranges on the plate or whatever.

And so, you know, how did she

strike that balance of making a beautiful cookbook with food that doesn't necessarily look great in

photos? That's so fascinating. I feel like food styling is one of like the big mysteries of the

world for people who have no experience or knowledge of it. So I'm very excited to listen to that

segment. Slight Plus members will hear that at the end of the episode, but if you're not a Slate Plus member but want to hear that segment, why not join Slate Plus? As a member, you'll get no ads on any of our podcasts, unlimited reading on the Slate site, and member exclusive episodes and segments from our show and other shows like The Waves,

Culture Gap Fest, and Amicus.

Sign up for Slate Plus now at slate.com slash working plus to access all of Slate's content

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