Podcast: Samin Nosrat is making apace at the table

Nosrat is that rare thing: a woman of color in the upper echelons of the hypercompetitive food world. She is acutely aware of her unicorn status — and taking steps to try to change that.

Because of her food journalism, the food world has been well aware of Samin Nosrat for several years. But she became a household name when two things happened: First, her book, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking, became a runaway bestseller. The book explores the mysteries of cooking for the home chef and garnered just about every award a cookbook could get. In the words of Nosrat’s mentor, Alice Waters (chef-owner of the legendary Berkeley, Calif., restaurant Chez Panisse) Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat “not only teaches you how to cook but captures how it should feel to cook: full of exploration, spontaneity and joy.”

As if that weren’t enough, Nosrat filmed a four-part docuseries with Netflix last fall that was also called Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. In it, she travels to Italy to explore the importance of fat (olive oil! Parmesan!); to Japan to see salt harvested and soy and miso fermented; then to Yucatán, Mexico, to see how acid, in the form of sour oranges, enhances dishes; and finally back to California to show us how heat transforms meats and vegetables.

After the Netflix series, Nosrat became so well known that it became hard to walk down the street or into her favorite grocery store without being stopped by fans and, yes, people with questions. (So many questions!) And sometimes just thanks. She recalled the Iranian father in Oakland who thanked her for speaking to his daughters, who were Iranian and African American. “Thank you for showing them what is possible,” he told her. More at NPR.com