The Interview: Barbara Kafka and The Intolerant Gourmet

Barbara Kafka has probably done more than anyone else to influence how we cook.  Her books about roasting, cooking vegetables, making soup, and using the microwave as a versatile and creative kitchen appliance have transformed how many of us make our meals every day.  In The Intolerant Gourmet, she turned to food intolerances -- specifically lactose and gluten -- and showed us how to make good food without compromising flavor and pleasure. 

Unlike so many allergen-free cookbooks that primarily focus on baking, Ms. Kafka's book explored the whole world of cooking -- breakfast, pastas and risottos, soups, salads, fish and poultry, meats and main courses, desserts, sauces, and much more.

Barbara Kafka died on June 1, 2018. She had won two James Beard Lifetime Achievement Awards and the Cookbook Hall of Fame Award.  We had the privilege and pleasure to talk with her in 2012 about her last book, The Intolerant Gourmet.