Hello Reader
Today is an exciting day because I’m back home in L.A., and this evening I’ll be talking with my friend and Los Angeles Times restaurant critic Bill Addison about Fundamentals of Flavor at Diesel Bookstore. If you’re in town, I’d love to see you. Come by with all your questions, or simply stop in to say hi.
Launch week has been quite a ride. After filming our Friendsgiving special at America’s Test Kitchen in Boston, I headed to my former hometown of Washington, D.C., to celebrate the book at Bold Fork Books with Elazar Sontag of The Washington Post. So many of you filled the room, which warmed my heart, especially because I still remember what D.C. traffic is like in the evening!
But I also want to be honest about another part of this week.
Starting on Tuesday, alongside all the lovely messages about the book, I began receiving a wave of racist comments on social media on a video I shared to celebrate the publication of my book.
I usually keep this side of being online to myself. I delete or report the comment, block the account, and carry on as though nothing happened. But there is something deeply exhausting about absorbing racism privately and then immediately returning to the internet smiling, talking about a new cookbook, and pretending everything is wonderful. You can be smiling on the outside while falling apart on the inside.
And in the middle of all of that, I went to D.C.
Bold Fork Books was packed with cooks, scientists, physicians, and curious readers, and we spent the evening talking about food, flavor, science, and curiosity. It was warm, funny, nerdy, and joyful. After several difficult days online, being in a room filled with people who genuinely cared made the world feel like a better place, even if only for a moment.
When the racist comments continued afterward, I decided I didn’t want to quietly deal with them by myself anymore. So I shared some of what was happening and asked you for help reporting the accounts.
And so many of you showed up. You reported accounts, sent kind messages, spoke up, and reminded me that the ugly voices were vastly outnumbered by the generous ones. I am deeply grateful.
I don’t want to give the people responsible any more attention than they’ve already received, but I also don’t want to pretend it didn’t happen. It was part of my publication week, right alongside some genuinely wonderful moments. I think there is value in being honest about both.
And now I’m home in Los Angeles, getting ready to walk into another room tonight filled with people who want to talk about food. After this week, I think I’m going to appreciate that room a little more than usual.
Inside Fundamentals of Flavor
Over the past several weeks, I’ve taken you behind the scenes of the six years it took to make Fundamentals of Flavor—the ideas, experiments, joys, chaos, and a few things that never made it into the book.
If you missed any of it, you can catch up on the entire series here:.
And if you already have the book, make the White Bean, Chickpea + Pesto-Calabrian Chilli Soup on page 309. It takes less than 10 minutes and is exactly what I make when I want something delicious but really don’t want to cook.
One Small Favor
If you have Fundamentals of Flavor and are enjoying it, would you leave a review? It doesn't need to be long—tell people what you cooked, what you learned, what surprised you, or simply what you thought of the book.
Thank you for getting Fundamentals of Flavor here. Now let's help it find its way to even more cooks.
Seattle + San Francisco, I’m Coming Your Way! ✈️
The Fundamentals of Flavor tour is heading west next week, with two evenings I’m very excited about.
SEATTLE · OCTOBER 6
I’ll be at Book Larder in conversation with my friend J. Kenji López-Alt. If you enjoy getting wonderfully nerdy about food, this is going to be a fun one. We’ll be talking about Fundamentals of Flavor, how recipes are developed and tested, the science behind better cooking, and probably going down a few culinary rabbit holes along the way.
[GET TICKETS — SEATTLE]
SAN FRANCISCO · OCTOBER 8
Then I’m heading back to a city that means so much to me. I’ll be at Omnivore Books in conversation with San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic Paolo Lucchesi, talking about the new book, flavor, cooking, and the six-year journey that went into making it.
I spent so many important years of my life in the Bay Area, so getting to bring this book back to San Francisco feels particularly special. I’d love to see some familiar—and new—faces there.
[RESERVE — SAN FRANCISCO]
Come with questions, come to talk about food, or simply come say hello. One of the best parts of this tour has been finally getting to meet so many of you in person.
xx
Nik
