164 Updates from My 4 Favorite Guests in 2024

Happy New Year!! Kicking of 2024 with my 4 favorite guests - my sons, Jack, Marcus, Joshua and Nicholas!

As I listened back to these brief interviews with each of them, I marveled once again at how deeply both our innate natures and our nurturing experiences integrate into our approach to food, cooking, eating, and time in the kitchen. Even within these brief conversations limited to topics surrounding food, each of their unique personalities are totally distinct.

We begin with my oldest Jack, who has just about two weeks remaining in his 18th year; he’ll turn 19 this month. Never one to do things the typical way and always one to seek out the greatest challenges, Jack has chosen to attend university in Germany, where he’s in a Physics program at the University of Leipzig. The European approach to university is markedly different to the America approach in many ways, including the fact that Universities are not residential. Jack lives in a flat with a German roommate and immediately became 100% responsible for feeding himself. We discuss how he’s made that change and how it’s affected the migraine disorder he’s suffered with for at least 10 years now.

Next is my youngest, Nicholas, who is 9. Nicholas loves his food but doesn’t like to cook. However, in this interview, we hit upon a plan for 2024 that involves one of his favorite foods and I’m hopeful may just give him newfound confidence in the kitchen.

Third, Marcus, who is 17 sits down with me to discuss his feelings (or lack thereof) towards food. Marcus is both thoughtful and matter-of-fact in everything he says and this was another great opportunity for us to agree on the fact that we are very different to - but very appreciative of - each other.

And finally, we end with Joshua, who is 13 and a born cook. We discuss the ways he thinks about food (I was very surprised by his approach, then realized I should have seen it all along!) and the best ways I can nurture this talent and interest in 2024.