What Home Cooking Does That Restaurants Can’t
When we eat, the social context matters perhaps even more than the food.
As a professional food writer, I have always found joy and enlightenment in trying new foods. For both work and pleasure, I have had the privilege of eating at hundreds of the best restaurants in the world: Michelin-starred spots in Florence, Italy; bouchons in Lyon, France; shawarma stands in Amman, Jordan. Yet the most memorable meals of my life have unquestionably been in other people’s homes.
These people were typically friends, not professional chefs. Their dishes were, for example, the and potato (chicken in a pomegranate walnut sauce, rice with a crispy potato bottom) prepared by my Persian Jewish friend Tali for my birthday, and the (crab meat stir-fried with eggs, celery, and spices) that my
