As anyone knows, inviting strangers into your home can be awkward. Letting them rummage through your refrigerator, all the way to the back of the shelves, where maybe you yourself haven’t been in some time, is, well, intimate. We deeply appreciate the trust these chefs and their families gave us—and thank them for letting us into their kitchens.
We apologize if we put your favorite condiment back in the wrong spot. Thank you for finding the time (in between two shifts) not only to show us your fridges but to also feed us when we arrived jet-lagged and starving, for letting us discuss your family’s dislikes, for teaching us how to whip up a sauce with a few leftover vegetables or how to freeze rice. Thank you as well for your honesty about shopping at the occasional big-box store and for understanding when our flight was late.
We are especially grateful to the amazing teams and PR companies who found our project insightful and worked hard to schedule us in and respond to follow-up questions. Thanks as well to all the friends and family who hosted us on couches or in guest rooms.
We are also incredibly thankful to those who believed in this book and made it possible: Sarah Smith, and the team at David Black, who championed our project; our editor Elizabeth Viscott Sullivan at Harper Design for her patience and vision; Linda Rodgers for her incredible attention to detail and sharp ideas; and Lynne Yeamans and Tanya Ross-Hughes for their work on the book design.