Deborah Copaken Kogan and Paul Kogan wrote our title essay,“The Cassoulet Saved Our Marriage.” Without giving away too much, I can tell you that theirs is the story of how their annual Cassoulet Day was created after a decade of marriage, and how a decade later, the painstaking, involved process of making cassoulet for their family and close friends has become a metaphor for the painstaking, involved process of making a long-term marriage work. More
contributor spotlight
Contributor Spotlight: Bethany Saltman
Bethany Saltman is a Buddhist, a writer, and a parent. Her poetry and essays have been published in literary and popular journals (think Parents, Edible Hudson Valley, Nimrod), but I first found her writing through her popular column in Chronogram, Flowers Fall, which is one of my favorite columns about motherhood. Ever. More
Contributor Spotlight: Lisa McNamara
When Caroline and I started working on this project, one of the first stories I thought of was “Like Mom Never Made.” Lisa McNamara is an amateur baker and an avocational writer who, I knew, had a moving and important story tell. She was exactly the kind of writer we wanted to represent in our collection: someone who might not cook or write about food for a living, but who had a profound story to tell about what food had meant in her life. Also, I had sampled a range of Lisa’s pies and baked goods. I knew she knew her stuff.More
Contributor Spotlight: Phyllis Grant
Meet, Phyllis Grant, the former pastry chef and photographer behind the riveting and beautiful blog, Dash and Bella. More
Contributor Spotlight: Keith Blanchard
Honestly, I don’t know what I was thinking when I approached Keith Blanchard about a piece for Cassoulet. I knew Keith in college, so, yes, I knew he was a funny guy. (Just take a look at some of his past pieces for HuffingtonPost, like this one, or check out his twitter feed.) I also knew he was smart. And I knew he’d written a novel. So I knew three things; funny, smart, writer. That was a start.More