Jeff Gordinier writes for the NY Times Dining and Wine section. Since joining the staff in 2010, he has written too many articles to count, on subjects ranging from the poetry of cheese mongers, to cooking with just-killed chicken, to mindful eating, to a hilarious debate over homemade vs. Heinz ketchup. He writes chef profiles, reports on cocktails and tracks down trends. He answers readers pressing questions, and offers weekly squibs on what’s going on the food world. He also writes frequently for Poetry Foundation. And he wrote the incisive and original X Saves The World, a “manifest for a generation that’s never had much use for manifestos.”
We think he’s the food writer for the new millenium: on top of the trends, aware of what matters, smart, funny, generous. He can tell a story and entertain as well as he can critique. And there’s also, there’s the matter of his inimitable prose style: razor sharp, allusive, fluid.
We’re really pleased to have his voice in Cassoulet, and even more pleased that, for us, he wrote his origin story. If you want to know why Jeff left a successful career at glossy magazines to become a food writer, take a look at “Why Won’t My Kids Eat Foie Gras?”. In it, he struggles with how it is that his two children, who he loves “beyond expression” are, in his words, “the pickiest eaters in America.” More important, he tells you why he cares. And as you should expect from a Cassoulet essay, the answer is probably not what you think.