Alison Roman has long been appreciated for her approachable, indulgent recipes and her honest, no-nonsense voice in the food world. But on the latest episode of the Motherly Podcast, she opened up about a different kind of creation—motherhood—and how it has reshaped both her life and her kitchen.

Meet the Expert:

Alison Roman is a celebrated cookbook author, recipe developer, and food columnist known for her flavor-forward style that makes cooking feel joyful rather than daunting. With over 20 years of experience in professional kitchens and food media, including a column at The New York Times and multiple bestselling cookbooks, Alison has a talent for helping home cooks transform simple ingredients into remarkable meals. Her latest book, Something From Nothing, emphasizes creativity, improvisation, and using what you have on hand, a philosophy that resonates with busy parents seeking practical, satisfying ways to feed their families. Beyond her work in the kitchen, Alison is also a mother, navigating parenthood with humor, insight, and a love for the everyday magic of food and family life.

Liz Tenety: What surprised you most about motherhood?

Alison Roman: I mean, I’m surprised every day with something different. But honestly, I think how fun it is. It’s, like, really fun and silly. I think that the refrain that you hear is how hard it is. And it is hard, but it’s also just so fun.

Liz Tenety: How has motherhood helped you rediscover fun in your life?

Alison Roman: Because it’s so chaotic and things are so out of your control that if you don’t find the humor and the joy in the chaos, then you’re kind of fucked, you know? Like, life is gonna be really hard and long.

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Liz Tenety: You’ve mentioned working in restaurants prepared you for parenting. Can you explain that?

Alison Roman: If you’ve worked in a restaurant or in the service industry in any capacity, you’re pretty well equipped to have a baby because it’s not unsimilar in the first few weeks and months of just being like, okay, what needs to happen? What needs to get done? I’ve got to do it. I don’t care whose job it is, it just needs to happen. [And you’re] remaining calm under pressure and putting out fires and firing on all cylinders and being exhausted and just being like, there’s a mutual goal and a job to get done. There’s this adrenaline happening, and also it’s fun. And you’re like, I like doing this and I want to be here.

Liz Tenety: Can you share your journey to motherhood?

Alison Roman: It was not super A to B. When I met my husband, I knew that I wanted to have kids with him. I hadn’t specifically known that I always wanted children, but I had frozen my eggs when I was 35, when I was single. And so I went back to the fertility clinic, and we decided to take the eggs that I had frozen and turn them into embryos just in case. We had one implanted, but it didn’t work. We had another one, it didn’t work. And then I got pregnant and that was it! The number one piece of advice they give you [is] ‘just stop trying,’ but it ended up being true [for us], like literally the second we stopped trying.

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Liz Tenety: What was your postpartum experience like?

Alison Roman: I had a C-section, so the physical recovery was definitely more intense than I anticipated. During the C-section, I had a blood transfusion because I had severe blood loss. Then three weeks postpartum, I got this crazy reaction and my platelets dropped to one. You’re supposed to have like 300 to 400. Anyway, once I came home from [treating that] and got the clear from my doctors that everything was progressing normally, then I felt like I could really begin. I did jump back into work pretty quickly, which was hard. 

Around five months, I stopped pumping and my hormones really nosedived and I got really depressed and stayed depressed until I realized I was really depressed. I talked to a doctor and I got on some medication, and I feel much better. But it was really, really tough.

Liz Tenety: How has motherhood influenced your career perspective?

Alison Roman: I care deeper about a lot of things and a lot less about a lot of things. When you go through something like pregnancy or childbirth and have this person, it’s such a different experience and you’re like, well, what is actually important to me? And that’s important to me because I want my son to be really proud of me. I want him to be like, wow, my mom is really smart and she contributes something really wonderful to the world and her work is important.

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Liz Tenety: What does cooking mean to you as a woman and a mother?

Alison Roman: I think it’s extremely powerful, and I take a lot of pride and pleasure in that. I never once ever, ever, ever thought of it as being relegated to a role of being in the kitchen or having to do something. I love to be in control. I love to decide how things are done, and there’s no greater gift than knowing how to cook because you get to decide how it tastes and what you’re making and how it looks.

Liz Tenety: How does your new cookbook, Something From Nothing, reflect your approach to cooking?

Alison Roman: I realized that for a period of time, a lot of the recipes I was making I didn’t leave the house for, right? I opened up my pantry and looked at what was there and I was like, well, I’m gonna figure this out. And like, if that isn’t motherhood, I don’t know what it is. You have none of the right things, but damn, we’ll figure this out. The point is that if you have a well-stocked pantry, you can have a really wonderful braised chicken in 40 minutes. The goal is that it tastes really good, and I know for a fact that every single recipe in this book stands behind that.

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Liz Tenety: Has motherhood changed how you cook for your family?

Alison Roman: I’m cooking a lot for Charlie, making purees and boiling vegetables and roasting squash and making meatballs. The only real modification I’ve made is I don’t make things as spicy. He loves cumin, loves fennel seed, he loves turmeric, but I’m not including things like chili flake as much. I give him what I eat, but now there’s more of a bent towards, will Charlie eat this? when I’m cooking.

Liz Tenety: What advice do you have for busy moms trying to cook week-to-week?

Alison Roman: I made a point to have this book not feel like a textbook. I wanted it to be like a gentle collection of recipes that all sort of cleverly utilize pantry staples that you probably already have, like canned beans, dried beans, lentils, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, pasta, lemons, potatoes―very basic ingredients, but you can use them in a way that you might otherwise not think to. My best use of a cookbook is to make you feel comfortable and excited to cook.

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