Bringing a book like this to life requires the assistance of many people. I owe my family the deepest debt of gratitude: without them, I would never have conceived of the idea. My wife, Sarah Schenck, deserves enormous credit for her inspiration, patience, and support. My daughters, Aurora and Isis, have taught me that I am capable of more than I ever could have imagined. I hope to give them the same gift in return.
The contributors are an amazing group of writers—I was blessed to have the opportunity to work with them. The dads whom I interviewed were uniformly enthusiastic, interesting, and willing to accommodate my crazy work schedule. It was an unexpected joy to get to know all these fathers and cooks.
My agent, David McCormick, and everyone at Algonquin—including my editor Andra Miller and the copy editor Rachel Careau—were instrumental in the creation of this book. Thank you all.
This was a multiyear project, and each of the following helped me in an important ways: Joyce Harrington Bahle, Katherine Baldwin, Cecile Barendsma, Daphne Beal, Kate Bittman, Richard Brody, Paola Difonis, Elizabeth Donohue, Eileen Donohue, Jim Donohue, Tom Donohue, David Dowd, Esther Drill, Randall Eng, Boris Fishman, Andy Friedman, Dr. Steven Glickel, Adam Gopnik, Paul Greenberg, Ben Greenman, Beth Katz, Dan Kaufman, Jean Kunhardt, Mary Lester, Dan Levine, Richard Lewis, Pamela Lewy, Cressida Leyshon, Katie Long, Shauna Lyon, Bob Kankoff, Jon Michaud, Charles Michener, Merrideth Miller, Rick Moody, Emily Nunn, Ngozi Okezie, Clare O’Shea, Russell Platt, Gus Powell, Connie Procaccini, Dr. Bruce Reis, Carrie Rickey, Sam Rudy, Tracey Ryans, Sally Sampson, George and Jane Schenck, Andrea K. Scott, David Stern, Anne Stringfield, Cynthia Stuart, Robert Sullivan, Joan Tiffany, Deborah Treisman, Liza Vadnai, Peter Vadnai, Chuck Verrill, Nicholas Vokey, Sean Wilsey, and Paula Witt.
And thank you to Man with a Pan™ Personal Chef Jonathan Carr of Scarborough, Maine, for granting permission to use the title Man with a Pan for the book.