Bonny Wolf, a native of Minnesota, is a National Public Radio commentator and the editor of “Kitchen Window,” NPR?s Web-based weekly food column. She has lived on Capitol Hill with her family for more than 20 years, has worked as a journalist and a speechwriter for two secretaries of agriculture during the Clinton administration, and published D.C. food newsletter “The Food Pages” in the 1990s. Her first book, “Talking with My Mouth Full: Crab Cakes, Bundt Cakes, and Other Kitchen Stories,” was published by St. Martin?s Press in the fall.
Why do you think people are either bakers or cooks?
I can only speak for myself: I?m impatient, and I think to be a good baker you have to follow directions more closely because it?s a chemical reaction and it?s as much a science as an art. I like it actually; I?m not terrible at it ? [but] I don?t shine.
What?s the connection between your wedding and your realization that you “did like asparagus”?
I was very young when I got married, and I hadn?t done much cooking, and I didn?t have a terribly adventurous palate. I thought I hated asparagus; my mother put some on the menu, and I was not happy. But it was an early summer wedding in the Midwest, it was not that hot, and there was still fresh asparagus and she thought it was the thing to do. I tasted [it] and I liked [it], and I decided to open my mind to many things.
Do you clean up as you cook or at the end?
I prefer to work in a clean and orderly kitchen, which does not mean I do. What I really like is when my husband cleans up behind me, which, if he?s around, he does often … is very nice. I tend to neatly pile things in the sink and then clean up all at once. I do not clean up as I go along. My father did and, consequently, when he would cook we?d eat at two in the morning. I married pretty well in that department: My husband is very good at doing the dishes. When we redesigned our kitchen about five years ago, I made a little scullery for him, so he would have his sink next to the dishwasher and could do his thing.
As a cook, do you view voluntary dietary restrictions as a challenge or an irritant?
[In the case of my son] it was just irritating. I?m respectful of most people?s dietary habits, although I have noticed as I?ve got older that you now have to ask people, “Do you eat meat?” “Do you eat ??” I do remember, when I was newly married, serving a big pot of bouillabaisse for one of my husband?s graduate school professors, who we had to dinner with his wife. His wife kept kosher so she couldn?t eat any shellfish. I couldn?t understand why she was just eating bread. I think if you have those kinds of restrictions ? I don?t care what other people eat ? and you are eating at someone else?s home, you should say “by the way …”
My son basically ate only white food, and that?s just not very good for you. And then the day he started college, he became a carnivore, in an aggressive way. He?s [still] a very picky eater, which I find just mind-boggling. I did see him eat a mushroom the other day.
Tell me about writing speeches for the secretaries.
I was very interested in doing more food writing, and I had left the actual office world to do a food newsletter, which I did for a couple of years, when the administration changed in my favor and I decided I lived in a company town; and I live on the Hill, which is sort of the barracks for the industry we support, and I thought it would be fun to work for the Clinton administration. I wanted to learn something about food policy; I had never done any speechwriting [until] I worked in the office that covered all food assistance programs. I did [speechwriting] there and then was asked to move to the secretary?s office. I quite liked it and I learned a tremendous amount, but ultimately decided I wanted to write in my own voice instead of someone else?s.
