In many ways, Rocco DiSpirito has been the face of contemporary American cooking. He’s been at the forefront of this country’s embrace of cuisine since the 90s as one of our first “Celebrity Chefs.” This status has been built and sustained on a platform that covers many facets of food, from the kitchen of high-end restaurants to reality TV shows to  prolific cookbook publications to product lines to popups.

Considering the profound impact of the pandemic on all things food-related, we thought it would be good to catch up with Rocco personally and also share his thoughts on the food industry and food culture. I also need to remind him of something important that the pandemic has postponed, so we caught up on Zoom for a wide ranging conversation that has been edited for clarity and flow.