Hey there, listeners, future callers, and cooking enthusiasts.

Welcome to DinnerSOS, the show where we help you save dinner or whatever you're cooking.

I'm Chris Morocco, food director of Bon Appetit and Epicurious.

This week, we're not talking hearts and roses, or dinner for two, or those weird little candies

that only show up one time of the year.

We're talking about the gentle art of cooking for yourself and only yourself.

I'm joined by two of my colleagues, Jesse's Chef Check.

Hi, Jesse. Hello. And Kendra Vaculin. Hey, Kendra. Hello.

So, you both are people who live with their partners. And when I say cooking for one, what does that mean to you?

It's funny to think about, to me, when I first heard that this was going to be what we were going to talk about today, I interpret cooking for myself because so often I cook a meal that only I eat, but my husband is also there.

You know, like, and he has made something that he wants that's separate or, like, we're doing scrounge dinner where we're both like cobbling together random bits and

bobs from our fridge and our meals turn out different even though we started from the same

melange of items this prompt makes me think of when he is not home like when i'm fully truly

alone no one to judge you no one can can judge me. No one is watching.

There's no performance.

No performance.

Nothing.

So it's just me cooking for me and my eyes only type of vibe.

And while the food is not necessarily that different of what I would make if he was there. It's the process and the after dinner that

is different for me. Yeah, what is that? The process is my favorite thing to do is make dinner,

clean the whole kitchen and everything, and then eat. It's the only way I eat. What? We talked

about this early. It's the only way I eat, too. I want...

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