Why 'Ruth Talks Food'?
No I'm not a chef or gourmet cook; I just love to eat, cook and write about food
Hello! Thanks so much for being here! If you enjoy these posts, please tell your friends and followers to subscribe to Ruthtalksfood. It would mean a lot to me!
My husband came home the other night and told me he’d overheard his friend telling his wife about me.
“You know, Jeff’s wife Ruth is a professional cook who writes a food blog.”
I was aghast. I’m not a professional cook nor have I ever pretended to be one. I didn’t go to culinary school. I haven’t written a cookbook. I’m not even a gourmet cook. I cook for my family, which these days is usually just the two of us, with one of the two (hint: not me) being an extremely picky eater who would be happy to consume the same three meals daily for the rest of his life. If I’m lucky, the table may expand to a guest or two or three, and even more for special occasions (as it will soon for Hanukkah). When I have company, I like to try a new dish—or maybe just one that will be sure to please, like roast chicken, or something that’s more challenging like a lasagne (Anne Byrn shares a recipe I’m dying to make, which you can find here) or perhaps a dessert that’s an ambitious multi-step project, such as chocolate babka, which I wrote about two years ago.
But then why am I still writing a blog called Ruthtalksfood after more than 3 1/2 years, especially when there are so many others with stellar culinary credentials doing a bang-up job?
The truth is fairly simple: I like to cook and I like to write. I also love reading cookbooks, both old and new, trying out recipes I remember from childhood or novel ones that sound delicious, sharing those that work out well (or what I learn when they don’t). I like reading about people who cook; taking occasional classes to up my skills; and learning about foods that once were popular, fell out of favor, and are in the spotlight once again—such as lentils or oatmeal, tinned fish or jello.
I also love reading the many wonderful food-related blogs that appear on Substack. Most of them aren’t exclusively about food; they’re also about family, memory, fears, dreams, travel, books, art, history, politics, fairytales—and why shouldn’t they be? Food is part of our lives, consumed while we’re living it, prepared in the manner we remember from following our mothers around the kitchen. There’s always a context around food. Someone grew it. Someone shopped for it. Someone went for a walk with a friend while it was cooking. Someone rediscovered a lost recipe connected to their heritage.
Food writing for me isn’t just about staying put in my kitchen. Over the past few years, we’ve had a chance to travel in the U.S. and abroad—to Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, Maine, western and eastern Canada, Europe, Japan and more. Sampling the sights, people and cuisine of the places we visit never gets old. As I’ve written before, talking about food leads to talking about everything else—it’s a common bond that unites people—or at least most of the time!
Since I’ve begun writing about food, I’ve found new friends online and even met a few via Zoom or in person. It’s a different kind of community that seems more equitable—you don’t have to be a gourmet cook, star chef or skilled recipe developer and teacher! It helps to have enthusiasm and curiosity about food, its preparation, sources, variations, origin story, historic uses—sometimes the controversies or mysteries surrounding it, and the people who make it, eat it, love or sometimes hate it.
On the weekend of Thanksgiving, arguably the most food-centric holiday on the calendar, I want to thank those of you who have joined me on this journey or encouraged me along the way with your comments, likes and subscriptions. Even if I’m not a professional cook, I’m an enthusiastic eater and experimenter with food—but I also enjoy learning from those who know a lot more than I do—and there are many of you!
Like Alice in Wonderland, I like to nibble on this or that, and while the nibbles don’t make me taller or shorter (though possibly a bit wider!), the feelings food evokes grow “curioser and curioser.” It’s an adventure, and sometimes, if I’m lucky, it involves cake—though not the type that sparks Alice’s adventures:1
Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words `EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants. `Well, I'll eat it,' said Alice, `and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door; so either way I'll get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!'
So on that note, as my husband sits in the other room dreaming of the ultimate grilled cheese sandwich and “flaming fajitas” from his favorite Las Vegas restaurant and I start preparing to crank out potato latkes for Hanukkah (which begins in less than two weeks on the evening of Dec. 7!), I just want to thank you for joining me here. I think Julia Child was right when she said:
“People who love to eat are always the best people.”
Thanks as always for reading my newsletter. Please share it with anyone you think might enjoy it and let me know if you have suggestions for future stories, food destinations or holiday dishes and treats to try. I’ll be returning with a few Hanukkah party ideas and recipes next week. See you then.
Ruth
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll, Chapter 1: “Down the Rabbit-Hole.”
I think you are a great writer, baker, cook, traveler and food explorer Ruth!
Grateful you have found your joy and the art of food sharing in your informative and interesting newsletters!
I was talking to a friend today and described you as ‘my friend Ruth whom I met on the internet’. Love your newsletter and your approach to life. It really is an adventure.