📖 Order Up! A Conversation with Cathy Erway, Award-winning Food Writer, Cookbook Author, and Toddler Mom
Cathy Erway shares how she went from “Not Eating Out” to Feeding a Toddler
It’s the first interview of the month, which means that this full-length conversation is available for all of our readers! One Potato is a reader-supported newsletter - paid subscribers have access to the full archive of Specials, Interviews, Recipes, and Community Voices for $5/month or $45/year.
Small Bites:
Books, Books, Books - by Cathy Erway
Win Son Presents: A Taiwanese American Cookbook [Bookshop, Amazon ]
Sheet Pan Chicken [Bookshop, Amazon]
The Food of Taiwan [Bookshop, Amazon]
Cathy Erway’s “Shelve It” Column - Taste Cooking
🍽️ Summer on a Plate - fresh from Peas & Hoppiness
There’s something magic about seasonal eating — and Peas & Hoppiness knows how to bring it to your table. Each week’s menu highlights the season’s freshest produce (think juicy strawberries, bright greens, tender asparagus) and turns it into simple, delicious meals. Bonus? Seasonal ingredients are often more nutritious and more affordable, so it’s a win for your body and your grocery budget. Check it out here: Make Family Meal Time Easier with Peas & Hoppiness Meal Planning App from our friend registered dietitian Ann Kent. Use code ONEPOTATO30 for a 30-day trial.
New‑mom, food-writer, home-cook, and cookbook author Cathy Erway dishes on family dinners, cultural nostalgia, and cooking without fear.
Cathy Erway has written about everything from fermented tofu to examining the “pouchification” of food in the grocery store aisle. She’s the kind of food writer who can trace a grocery store staple back to a Cold War-era marketing scheme—and somehow make you laugh, reflect, and get hungry all at once. But these days, she’s just as focused on red-braised eggs and figuring out which sheet-pan dinner might actually make it past her toddler’s lips.
A new mom and longtime voice in the food world, Cathy is the author of The Food of Taiwan, Sheet Pan Chicken, and Win Son Presents: A Taiwanese American Cookbook. She started her career with a scrappy blog called Not Eating Out in New York, documenting two years of home cooking in a city obsessed with restaurants. Since then, she’s won a James Beard Award for food journalism, taught food writing at Boston University, and written thoughtful deep dives for TASTE, where her “Shelve It” column explores the cultural history of everything from baby food pouches to boxed cake mix.
In this conversation, Cathy talks to One Potato about growing up with two very different parental influences in the kitchen, why she’s raising her son to eat the same dinner she does (even if he’s not into ginger just yet), and how red-braised stews and weeknight oven meals help her feel connected to family, culture, and the kind of home cooking that doesn’t need to be perfect to matter.
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Introduce Yourself: Hi, my name is Cathy Erway. I'm a freelance food writer, cookbook author, and a mom to an 18-month-old.
Did you always know you wanted to be a food writer? Or did that path surprise you?
I didn’t really know food writing was even a career path when I was in school. I studied creative writing in college and started blogging in 2006 just because I loved cooking. I was living in New York City and didn’t have the money to eat out all the time like so many food blogs were covering. So I gave myself a challenge: no restaurants for two years. I started a blog called Not Eating Out in New York to document it, and that eventually led to my first book, The Art of Eating In.
Did your love of cooking start at home growing up?
My mom is from Taiwan and cooked a lot of fast stovetop meals like stir-fries during the week, but sometimes she’d make a long-simmered soy sauce chicken stew on the weekends. That red-braised style of cooking, with soy sauce and spices, was such a staple. And she always added hard-boiled eggs, which would soak up all the flavor and color. They were my favorite snack.
My dad is from upstate New York and had a totally different style—he loved big weekend cooking projects like beef bourguignon or baking pies. He’d follow recipes to the letter. So between the two of them, I got to see very different approaches to food, and I loved it all.
Is there a dish or recipe from your childhood that you hope your son will carry on?
Yeah, I think of it not so much as a recipe but a formula—my mom’s soy sauce stew, or what’s called a red-braised stew, or Hong Shao in Mandarin. “Red” refers to the rich, deep tint the soy sauce gives everything after it’s been simmering for a long time. She would start the base with garlic, ginger, scallions, and spices like star anise. The main protein could change—it might be chicken, beef, or tofu—but the foundation stayed the same. And always, always, there were peeled hard-boiled eggs added in. After simmering, they’d take on this gorgeous tan color and flavor. They’re known as stew eggs, or lǔ dàn, and I loved snacking on them throughout the week - separate from being eaten with the stew as the main meal. It’s still one of my favorite things, and I hope my son takes on this approach—not just the dish, but the idea of a flexible, flavorful cooking formula you can return to again and again.
Has parenting changed the way you think about food?
It’s made me think a lot about how I was raised. In my house growing up, we always ate dinner together. There was no separate kids’ menu—we all ate the same thing. And that’s something I want to continue. My husband and I already eat the same meals, so we try to give our son whatever we’re eating too. It doesn’t always work—he’s in that unpredictable toddler phase—but we’re trying.
You’ve written some great food columns, like “Shelve It” for Taste, which looks at pantry staples through a historical lens. Has becoming a parent influenced how you approach your writing?
Yes! After my son was born, I wrote about avocados as a first food because it’s on every baby-led weaning list out there. I also wrote about the rise of baby food pouches—not just for babies, but how they’re now used in adult convenience foods too. It’s called “The Great Pouchification of American Foods.” I wasn’t making a judgment, but I wanted to understand how that packaging format took over.
Tell us about your cookbooks.
My first cookbook, The Food of Taiwan [Bookshop, Amazon], came out in 2015 and was the first major English-language cookbook on the subject. It was really important to me to document that food in a thorough, respectful way. I also wrote Sheet Pan Chicken in 2020, which feels especially relevant now that I’m a parent. Sheet pan cooking has been a lifesaver—just throw everything on a tray and into the oven. Fewer dishes, less stress. And I always try to fill up every inch of the pan.
Many of our readers come from multicultural families like yours. Do you have any advice for parents trying to pass on that cultural connection through food?
You don’t have to be an expert. Learn alongside your kid. I know so many people who started learning to cook when they became parents. If you didn’t grow up cooking certain cultural dishes, that doesn’t mean you can’t explore them now. Even looking up a few traditional recipes or talking to family members can help make that connection meaningful.
Is there a cooking skill you think every home cook should practice?
Honestly, knife skills are helpful, but if you’re cooking for a family and your time is tight, I think mastering sheet pan cooking is even more important. It’s such a practical, stress-saving method. You can roast proteins and vegetables all at once, get a balanced meal on the table quickly, and you don’t have to hover over a stovetop. It also cuts down on dishes—just one pan to clean! It’s something I lean on constantly, especially now.