Dinner party tips. Healthy meals with Trader Joe’s ingredients. Stories involving Martha Stewart, Sufjan Stevens, and Sia?

This conversation with Jess Damuck has all of the above and more, and I’m bringing it to you a day after the launch of her gorgeous new book, Health Nut: A Feel-Good Cookbook.

If you’ve seen Salad Freak, you know how beautiful Jess’ work is. Which makes sense considering she spent years working directly with – and learning from – Martha Stewart.

Amazingly, Jess wrote not one but two cookbooks in the past year. And when we caught up in Los Angeles a couple weeks ago, we talked about both of them, plus:

* Making 47 plaster sculptures for Sia (really!)

* What she learned working for Martha Stewart and Bon Appétit

* Minimizing the number of dishes we use in meals

* Embracing living in L.A. and hosting artists and entertainers

* Why “health” can be a loaded word and what it means to her

* The tofu stir fry she cooks when she doesn’t feel like cooking

Links:

* Health Nut: A Feel-Good Cookbook

* Salad Freak: Recipes to Feed a Healthy Obsession

* Open Wide: A Cookbook for Friends (Benny Blanco book out April 2024)

* Jess’ Instagram

* Smoked soy sauce

* Kettle Soba Cha buckwheat tea

* High Maintenance, the HBO show Jess’ partner Ben created and starred in

* Dave, the FX show Ben directed

* Ram Dass’ spiritual sanctuary in Maui

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