Frankly, no one writes a more captivating, novel-like cookbook than Nigella Lawson — and the celebrity chef, as well as two other famous cooks, will be coming to SF soon.
For as long as we can remember, we’ve been infatuated with cooking and baking, particularly in the realm of cookbook writing. (As an ex-boyfriend of mine, who was a nutritionist by day and private chef by night, once said to me over dinner: Writing and cooking exist in the same canon of creativity… you start with nothing and, hopefully, make something that gives someone joy.)
During the pandemic, we craved those moments of pleasure more than perhaps anytime in our lives. It’s why bread making had a moment; wine-and-cheese tastings over zoom became things; 70% of Americans began making the majority of their meals at home — the largest percentage seen in decades.
Our guides through these new culinary pursuits came through screens (read: YouTube videos and IG reels) and turned pages (books are not going anywhere, anytime soon). For us in San Francisco, we’re going to have a chance to see our favorite digital or on-page food muses IRL later this month.
Nigella Lawson — the British Jewish cookbook author and television personality, whose cookbooks often include the most tantalizing dish descriptions and cerebral metaphors — is coming to The Curran Theatre at 7 p.m. on November 14th.
Lawson, who read Medieval and Modern Languages at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and went on to become Deputy Literary Editor of The Sunday Times at the age of 26 will be in conversation with Isabel Duffy Pinner to talk about her latest, cookbook, Cook, Eat, Repeat: Ingredients, Recipes, and Stories. Yes, reader: it’s already a bestseller — her twelfth, in fact.
Clair Saffitz rose to culinary superstardom on Bon Appétit’s dedicated YouTube channel that began gaining a cult-like following in 2018. But, as with most things in life that seem too saccharin, a controversy around its EIC about racist allegations, as well as the outright underpayment for on-screen talent from Condé Nast, the publisher that owns the food publication, caused the channel’s star power to fade as hosts/editors left for other opportunities.
During her time at Bon Appétit, Saffitz became something of the baking fairy godmother among us millennials; it’s a title she still holds, now filming her own videos and having written two cookbooks.
Saffitz will be at the JCCSF at 7 p.m. on November 29th to talk about her most recent book, What’s for Dessert — and will even get a signed copy of the book with a ticket purchase.
Oh! And Phil Rosenthal, of the Netflix series “Somebody Feed Phil,” will be at the Palace of Fine Arts at 7 p.m. November 18th; he’s one of the foremost globetrotting foodies now into the show’s five seasons, tasting his way through cultures and destinations across this space rock.
This month is truly stalked with fantastic IRL events to bask in the warm glow of the individuals behind some of our favorite receipts. Expect to see us fangirling over Lawson.
For more information on Lawson’s event at the Curran Theatre, click here; for more information on Saffitz’s event at the JCSF, click here; for more information on Rosenthal, click here.
