ABOUT THIS COOK:

I have been cooking regularly since my teens, and in a previous life, tried my hand at a French bistro in NYC as a sous-chef. I am now writing, and still cooking regularly and enjoy food as both an individual's history and cultural anthropology.

• What is the strangest food you have ever eaten?
  silkworm

• What do you cook when home alone?
  cacio e pepe or multigrain rice and nori

• Your most treasured kitchen possession:
  knife that got me my stint at a French bistro

• The ideal number of guests for a dinner party is:
  eight or twelve