Episode 91: Anna Gass: From Corporate Sales to Food Writing

Join cohosts Ethan Frisch and Vallery Lomas for a conversation with Anna Francese Gass, author of the recently released cookbook Heirloom Kitchen. After a stint in corporate sales, she traded the boardroom for the test kitchen, and has since worked for Whole Foods, Mad Hungry, and Martha Stewart Living Ominmedia. Currently, she is a regular contributing editor at Food52 and contributing writer for msn.com. In her new book, Heirloom Kitchen, Anna shares the stories and recipes of 45 strong, exceptional women who immigrated to the United States, and whose family recipes helped shaped the landscape of American food. Organized by region, readers will enjoy Magda's meltingly delicious Pork Adobo from the Philippines; soak in the warmth of Shari's Fesenjoon, an Iranian walnut and pomegranate stew; learn to deftly seal pleat-perfect Northern Chinese dumplings with Tina; and yes, sink their teeth into Anna's mother's perfectly seasoned Calabrian Meatballs from Southern Italy.

Along with these recipes are stories: recollections of a journey to America, of hardship and happiness, and of many nights by the stove using food as a comfort and a respite in a new land, a culinary tether to their cultural identities.She lives in Connecticut with her husband and three children.

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