Step into Alison Roman’s kitchen and you won’t find obscure ingredients or a search for the next big flavour. Instead, you’ll find garlic gently sizzling in olive oil, the soft steam of a perfectly boiled potato and the calm assurance of someone who has spent years refining food to its essentials. At a time when cooking can feel like a spectacle, Roman stands out for championing what is simple, straightforward and satisfying.
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A pantry revolution
Roman’s latest book Something from Nothing is her love letter to the pantry, a celebration of making do, making it work and making it taste great. Speaking to Good Food’s Samuel Goldsmith, she explains how time spent outside the city, in snow-dusted countryside with early-closing shops, pushed her to focus on what she already had at home.
“At my core my recipes are pretty pantry-focused,” she says. “It’s always funny to think ‘okay, what is this book going to be?’ But I do need parameters. I need to colour in the lines a little bit.”
This assignment to cook with what is on hand showed how creativity thrives under constraint and how much joy there is in rediscovering humble ingredients. “I like the challenge of making do with less,” she says. “I think it makes you a better, stronger and more creative cook.”
The joy in restraint
Roman’s approach is not about going without but about cooking with attention and appreciation. She describes the quiet magic of a simple meal: “A really nice potato, boiled perfectly with a little butter and crunchy salt, is a really good snack. Eat that and think, wow, that tastes really good. As soon as you lose sight of that being a really delicious food, you’ve lost the plot.”
It is a thread that runs through her career, from early days in professional kitchens, where she admits she once overcomplicated dishes to prove herself, to her current role as a champion of home cooks. “I have so much less to prove because I know I’m creative and I know I’m good at what I do. There’s a quiet confidence in telling you that a boiled potato is really good.”
From restaurant rigour to home comfort
Having trained in restaurants from the age of 19, Roman knows the pressures of performance, or “dinner theatre” as she calls it, yet she finds reward in what is stripped back, everyday and accessible. Her recipes, whether for a viral cookie or a roast chicken, are written to encourage rather than intimidate.
“I would rather have more people cook than have more people think I’m the best,” she says. “If there is such a thing as a legacy, I want people to say, ‘This person taught me how to cook, or encouraged me to cook.’ That can only happen if the recipes work, if they’re encouraging, if they’re simple enough, if they make the person feel good while cooking.”
Cooking for everyday life
Roman’s food is rooted in real life as much as real flavour. She laughs about cooking in rental kitchens or on holiday, where resources are limited, and improvisation becomes essential. “Most people can do anything great if you have all the resources, money, time and equipment in the world. But what if you don’t? What if you have a bag of lentils and a head of garlic, one skillet and some chilli?”
For her, the answer lies in technique and care rather than complexity. “A lot of it is technique-based, and that doesn’t mean fancy or intricate or complicated, but it does mean attentive, and it does mean appreciative.”
A new look marks a new era
Roman’s books have always had a clear visual identity, but her new release signals a shift. “It felt like the first three books belonged together in a set and completed this trifecta of an era. This felt like the beginning of a different era.” The photography, much of it shot on film, reflects the book’s mood: cosy, intimate and rooted in home life. “We’re home, we’re cosy, we’re wearing a sweater, we’re making a soup.”
The true taste of good food
So what does “good food” mean to Alison Roman? It is not about showmanship or chasing trends but something deeper, a feeling that is hard to pin down. “When you eat something really good, or you make something really good, you know it in your body, and you know it everywhere, and you think, ‘that is so good’. It satisfies a part of you, and it cannot be defined equally for everyone. That’s what makes food and cooking so interesting to me.”
In a world hungry for the next big thing, Roman offers a gentle reminder to pause and enjoy the small moments, to recognise the beauty in a boiled potato. For her and for a new generation of home cooks, that is more than enough.
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