Communal Table Podcast: Samin Nosrat

Chefs and restaurant workers take great care of everyone else, but often they need a little help themselves. Each week, Food & Wine senior editor Kat Kinsman talks with hospitality pros about they manage their business, brain, and body for the long haul.

Episode 1: Samin Nosrat

Say Samin Nosrat's name to a food lover and their face will break out in a smile. The chef and author's debut cookbook — Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat —is a New York Times bestseller and James Beard Award winner, lauded for its innovative approach to cooking, culled from years of work in restaurant kitchens and teaching. Her four-episode Netflix show of the same name has turned her into a household name, with viewers around the world falling in love with Nosrat's inimitable blend of expertise, curiosity, passion, and one of the best laughs ever committed to film.

It may seem to casual viewers that Nosrat's rise has been meteoric, but to the daughter of Iranian immigrants to California, who fell in hard, fast love with restaurants after a chance meal at Chez Panisse, the path to becoming a successful author and breakout TV star had yet to be paved. In this intimate, revealing conversation, Nosrat opens up about her sometimes-challenging financial journey, struggles with depression and self-care on the road, the responsibility of representation, and the network of support that gets her through it all.