Born Hungry started out as a completely different idea. I wanted to encourage people to eat well and live simply.
I daydreamed about a seasonal event where people could come together to share a delicious meal. Things got complicated. Where would I hold the event? How would I plan everything on my own? What would entice chefs to participate? Would anyone be interested? And then I found out about 18 Reasons. They do everything I thought of and more (all with Bi-Rite’s unbeatable standards).
So I kept digging. Surely there was another way to do more with food. I read Tamar Adler’s Everlasting Meal and asked her how she got into cooking. She talked about her teachers and told me how she wrote a letter to the chef at her favorite restaurant while working at Harper’s. She went right up to people that inspired her and asked them to let her in. She wanted to cook, so she did. It seemed too easy. Could it be that easy?
I started asking myself why I wanted to do whatever-this-thing-would-be in the first place. And I came back to eating well and living simply: the path of the home cook. I love cooking as much as I love eating; it keeps me eager to try new things. But I’m not a chef and I don’t want to be. So how could I learn more about food without going to cooking school? It seems simple now, looking back on the past year: dive in and ask questions. I started cooking more regularly and decided to take a class. And with the help of a great teacher, I’m more confident and curious than ever (in the kitchen anyway). So that’s how we got here.
And now, where we’re going: I want this magazine to be a safe place to share what scares, stimulates, and satisfies us. Because food is more than a task on an agenda. This bit from M. F. K. Fisher covers it:
[W]hen I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it… and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied… and it is all one.
Everyone can make a delicious meal. It just takes some practice, as our first story by Kate Kiefer explains. So if you want to practice with us, come right in. And if you care as much about reading as eating, please make yourself at home. And if you like to write stories or pass on great recipes, we hope you’ll contribute. So nice to see you. Let’s get to it!