Claire Dinhut Transcript
Lauren Goldstein:
Hi, everyone. You're listening to Radio Cherry Bombe and I'm Lauren Goldstein coming to you from CityVox Studios in Manhattan. I'm filling in for host Kerry Diamond today, who is traveling in Ireland with Kerrygold, the famous butter folks.
Speaking of butter, today, we're talking all about condiments. Is butter a condiment? We're about to find out. I'm a condiment fanatic, so I'm thrilled to be interviewing Claire Dinut, the author, Substacker and culinary personality known as Condiment Claire. Claire just released her new book, “The Condiment Book: Unlocking Maximum Flavor with Minimum Effort,” earlier this spring, and it's everything you'd want from a deep dive into the world of sauces, dips, and spreads. The book is part cultural history, part travelogue, part personal memoir, and entirely fascinating. Claire and I will talk about how she got her start, what condiments you need this summer, and why everyone is so condiment-obsessed these days.
A little bit about me, I'm a Cherry Bombe alum and consider this my hard launch, a social media and marketing consultant. I'm obsessed with tuna fish sandwiches, homemade ramp butter, and my Rancho Gordo Bean Club membership. And I've never met a stranger's dog I didn't like. I also write a Substack called Mandatory Fun, that I should probably publish more often. I'm excited to be hanging out with you today and talking to Claire. So stay tuned.
A little housekeeping, the brand new issue of Cherry Bombe magazine will be on sale very soon. You can subscribe or buy a single issue over at cherrybombe.com. There are four different covers for this issue and you won't believe our cover stars. Gloria Steinem, Sophia Roe, Mashama Bailey, and the women behind Via Corota, Rita Sodi, and Jody Williams. Amazing, right? Visit cherrybombe.com for more.
Also, this Thursday, June 5th, at Happier Grocer Apartment in Manhattan, Radio Cherry Bombe host Kerry Diamond will be in conversation with Diana Yen, author of the new cookbook, “Firepit Feast.” Enjoy their chat plus fire-inspired bites from Diana's book like a smoky baba ganoush, grilled cheese skewers, and tahini strawberry s'mores with bergamot hot fudge. Yum. Tickets are $50 and include all bites and a signed copy of Diana's book, and the link is in our show notes.
Now let's check in with today's guest. Condiment Claire, welcome to Radio Cherry Bombe.
Claire Dinut:
This is my dream come true. I'm such a fan, so I'm so excited to be on. Thank you for having me.
Lauren Goldstein:
I am so excited to be talking to you today. So you are here in New York as part of the U.S. leg of your book tour for your beautiful book called “The Condiment Book.”
Claire Dinut:
Yes, I am.
Lauren Goldstein:
So today we're going to talk all about mustards, and jams, and sauces, and pickles, and all the good stuff. But I want to start off by going all the way back to the beginning. How did you become Condiment Claire?
Claire Dinut:
It is still quite mind-boggling to me, let's just call it that. I was working in food travel TV before the pandemic. It's getting jobs here and there, but there's nothing really that stable. And I basically get on a call that tells me that, you know what? If I do want to do a docuseries, I need to have a following. I either need to be a chef or I need to have a following. And so I was like, "Okay, I guess I'll start on TikTok and not tell my friends." Because at that time, you could get a following from TikTok. But it was still a little mortifying, let's say I'm a little old for TikTok.
And so because of that, I started, my username was Claire From Where, and it was all about cultural differences. I had just moved to the U.K., so... We were in lockdown, so a lot of the stuff I was filming in my kitchen and it's very easy for me to talk about food, talk about travel, all that. Lockdown lifts, I come to New York, I'm standing outside of Sedelle's waiting for my friends because obviously I'm always the first person there. But two people run up to me, separate people, "You're the condiment girl, you're Condiment Claire." And I was like, "I'm the condiment girl? What do you mean I'm the condiment..." I hadn't realized that the content I was making had to do with condiments.
Flash forward a few days, I'm back in London. I start getting recognized there, and people tell me, "You're the condiment girl. I love your salt videos, your butter videos, your mustard videos." And I'm like, "Oh, I guess I am the condiment girl." And at this point I was like, "My life is a gag. I'm delirious from nine months of lockdown. Let me just change my username to Condiment Claire, because why not? I mean what's the worst thing that could happen?" The next week, three literary agents reached out to me.
Lauren Goldstein:
Oh my God.
Claire Dinut:
My U.S. publisher reached out to me. And for the first time in my life, something was kind of handed to me on a silver platter that had to do with my career. And so it was, "Do you want to write this book?" And I studied history and literature in college, so I felt confident that I could, but I wanted to make sure that it wasn't just a cookbook. I really wanted it to be a little historical, a little nerdy, more so storytelling, with obviously some recipes throughout, but more so like the storytelling aspect and the maps of the world and the doodliness. And I wanted the book to be playful but not childish. So that's exactly how it happened, and that is how now I have a career based on condiments, which is still so funny to me, but I am so grateful for it.
Lauren Goldstein:
So, Condiment Claire found you?
Claire Dinut:
She found me. My alter ego found me, and now I have become her. So we are both one and the same.
Lauren Goldstein:
Okay. Wait, I want to take a little bit of a step back. So how long were you Claire From Where before you became Condiment Claire?
Claire Dinut:
Maybe like six months.
Lauren Goldstein:
Wow.
Claire Dinut:
A year. I really did not have a big following when my publisher reached out to me and when my lit agent reached out to me. I think there just obviously is this niche of condiments that no one had tapped into before. And I love to tell people that it's not actually about condiments, every culture can make a roast chicken, but it's what you put on it that makes it so yours. And that is --
Lauren Goldstein:
Totally.
Claire Dinut:
-- the condiment because there's taste and there's flavor and tastes is salty, sweet, bitter, acid, umami, but flavors, color, texture, smell, but more importantly, nostalgia and memory. So it's that cultural element that you add to a dish. So by looking at a condiment, you're not just looking at it like, "Oh, here's some ketchup. Here's some mustard." You're really looking at a country and what they went through. Was the condiment born out of necessity? Was it born just because it's delicious? Was it born to sweeten things, make things saltier during the war? So it's just my nerdy way of tapping into a country's culture, and it's always through food because a lot of my memories have always just been based on flavor.
Lauren Goldstein:
You are very much a citizen of the world. Your dad is French, your mom is Greek-American, you have spent your life and your childhood between France and the U.S. But really what I want to talk about is your family background and really the way that it has shaped your approach to food, and cooking and writing, and really what drove you to the point of deciding, "I'm going to create a TikTok as my way into potentially creating a docuseries about food culture."
Claire Dinut:
Yeah. So as you said, my mom's Greek-American, my dad is French, so food is a very big part of both of those cultures. And growing up, it was just me, I'm an only child, but we had a ritual of you have breakfast together, obviously I was at school, so I would have my packed lunch, but my mom would make me a three-course packed lunch, and at dinner we'd all sit down at the table together. And it was really interesting for me when I swapped from... Because I was in French school until I was 13, and then I moved over to American school, both in L.A.
Lauren Goldstein:
In L.A.? Okay.
Claire Dinut:
Yeah. And when I went to American school and I was going over to my friend's houses for dinner, and sometimes it was, "Yeah, just grab whatever in the fridge." Or, "You can eat in front of the TV." Or, "You can eat in your friend's room." I thought that was so cool because I was so used to, "No, if it's dinnertime, we're all sitting down together. You'll have your starter, you'll have your salad, you'll have your cheese, and then you're done." That's the meal, and you have to sit down and be present. And so to go somewhere where it's like, "You can eat in your bedroom. You can sit on the floor." Was so eye-opening to me. But the second I got to college, I was like, "Oh, that was such a big cultural part of how I grew up." And I did realize that that was the more European side of me. So now I definitely veer more in that direction and those flavors that I grew up with, and they're very special to me.
Lauren Goldstein:
And so when you were starting out on social media, when you created your TikTok, when you were Claire From Where, obviously the name Claire From Where implies that really diverse cultural background; what did those early videos look and feel like? It sounds like people really resonated with the videos that you were making about condiments, but how were you thinking about the content that you were creating? What were your early videos like? And what was the first video that went viral for you where you realized, "Okay, I'm Condiment Claire."
Claire Dinut:
It's funny, because I had actually moved from the U.S. to Prague at the very beginning of the pandemic.
Lauren Goldstein:
Wow.
Claire Dinut:
The first video that I posted went viral, and it was the fact that... God, I can't believe I'm admitting this. I had this ice cream shop down the block from my apartment in Prague. I'd go every single day. It was my ritual because what else are you going to do during lockdown? And I would get the ice cream on a cone, I'd eat the ice cream, I would bring the cone home, I would smash up the cone, add salt and cinnamon to it and eat it like cereal. And I was like, 'You know what? Let's do it. Rock on." That video went viral and everyone was like, "You're a freak." Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm like, "Okay. I added nice flaky salt, I added cinnamon. It was my little condiment ice cream cone cereal, let's call it."
And then I moved over to the U.K. and I kept making these, culturally curious, I guess let's call them, videos about a lot of U.K. words are not American words. So I was saying, "Oh my God, I didn't realize that you guys said this rather than that." Little videos like that. But because no restaurants were open, I would go to the shops and I would bring stuff back to try. So I tried Branston Pickle, I tried sandwich spread. I tried salad cream, because those were the packaged goods that you could get on the shelves. They were also condiments.
And so one day my friend was like, "You have so many jars in your fridge, post a photo of every single one of them. Why not?" And I was like, "Yeah, why not?" So on Instagram, just private Instagram, just had my friends, I posted 40 photos in a row of this jar, that jar, this bottle, this hot sauce, this, that. And I got so many responses overnight, but from random boys I went to college with that I had not spoken to in years.
Lauren Goldstein:
That's always who responds.
Claire Dinut:
Oh, yeah.
Lauren Goldstein:
Yes, that is in fact always who responds.
Claire Dinut:
But to know that people were interested was so interesting to me. And that was before I'd even clicked that the condiment route was the route to go down. But now looking back on it, I have been Condiment Claire my entire life. I would bring this yuzu-Dijon mustard to the dining hall, this wasabi mustard I always had in my backpack. So-
Lauren Goldstein:
And were you making these-
Claire Dinut:
No.
Lauren Goldstein:
... at the time? Okay. These were store-bought?
Claire Dinut:
These were store-bought. But my family in France has always lived in a very rural part of France. We live on a watermill and we have lots of fruits and veggies there, and we're never going to let anything go to waste. So I've always jarred goods, whether pickles, we made a lot of jams, jellies, even my house in L.A. had a quince tree in the backyard, which is not, I guess normal for Americans, but we had a quince tree.
Lauren Goldstein:
We can all dream.
Claire Dinut:
Yeah. And so we would make quince jelly every single year. So in terms of jams, and spreads, and preserves, that was something that I would just do normally. I started also making miso in high school because I was obsessed with It's Alive with Brad, and I was like, "I must know how to do this." And then I got “The Noma Guide to Fermentation.” So I had been dabbling in the condiment world, but the videos I was making had nothing to do with, "Here's how to make jam." It was more so, "I'm going to a U.K. grocery store, let me try Branson Pickle for the first time. What is this?" And I think especially the world of chutneys and pickles is so dominant in England, and in the U.S., you're only starting to really see some chutneys come about.
Lauren Goldstein:
We'll be right back with today's guest.
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It seems like everybody is condiment obsessed these days. We have-
Claire Dinut:
I love it.
Lauren Goldstein:
... infused mayos, and compound butters, and heirloom hot sauces, and everybody is looking for a way to amplify or enhance the flavors of their dishes. Why do you think that is? And why do you think it's happening right now?
Claire Dinut:
I think life's too short to have a boring Tuesday night dinner. And I think we all have had very rough years, I think especially right now, financially, it's very difficult. But the idea that a condiment is something that you can use over, and over and over and the experience doesn't finish right away. So it's all about cost per wear. Think about your dish as an omakase, where you're like, "Okay, it's one and done. It's a great experience, but it's done. That money's out the window." Whereas when you buy a condiment, you're buying something that you can add every single day. So even if you buy a condiment that's on the pricier side, you're actually using it more often and you're getting that experience more often.
A lot of condiments are special to people because they bring up certain memories and nostalgia. You really are unboxing comfort with the jar. I love Dijon mustard. I grew up with it, it was always on the table, and it does bring that element of coziness to me. So if I'm traveling for work and I've been gone for a month and I just really just have one of those days where I'm like, "Ah." I feel a little discombobulated. If I have a little Dijon mustard, it honestly makes me feel comfy. And so I think condiments are magical and people are becoming very condiment obsessed, which I love because I love tasting new condiments all the time.
Lauren Goldstein:
It's your moment to shine, you are-
Claire Dinut:
It's-
Lauren Goldstein:
... Condiment Claire.
Claire Dinut:
I love it. I'll take it. People are making condiments with flavors from their childhood. They're also making condiments based on combinations that they one day created unexpectedly. And I think that's so fun because we all have different taste buds, but it's all about figuring out what you love. And so to have people experiment with flavor and be more adventurous with food makes me extremely happy.
Lauren Goldstein:
The full title of your book is “The Condiment Book: Unlocking Maximum Flavor with Minimum Effort.” I would love if you could talk about why you included the second half of that title.
Claire Dinut:
Well, I think it's exactly what we've been discussing. It's the fact that you can have a really bland, boring dish in front of you and just amp it up with a condiment, whether it's one condiment, whether it's two, as long as you have something unexpected and fun or something that you love, then you can just level it all up.
Lauren Goldstein:
I love the dedication of your book. Your book-
Claire Dinut:
Thank you.
Lauren Goldstein:
... is dedicated to your parents. The dedication reads, "I would like to thank both my parents for not only opening my eyes, but also encouraging me to explore cultures other than my own."
And based on our conversation and reading this book and engaging with all of your content, it's really clear that your family history and heritage and the places where you grew up have had so much influence on your perspective on food and cooking. So I'd love if you could tell us a little bit about what elements of each of the cultures that raised you, have had the strongest influence on the way that you think about food.
Claire Dinut:
Yeah. I am really grateful to my parents because they always force me to experiment with flavor, and I think that's why I just love trying any and all new flavors and dishes. So if I'm traveling somewhere and I see a dish that I've never tried before, my immediate instinct is, "I must try it." And if I can't try it, then I will fixate on it and think about it for the rest of the trip until I can taste it. And I think that is really due to them. My first food ever was a garlic anchovy because I was sitting on my mom's lap. I wasn't supposed to be eating solid food and then all of a sudden everyone turned to our dinner and was like, "Please look at your child." And I was stuffing my face with garlic anchovies.
But then in terms of the two cultures and how they influenced me, my mom's family's Greek Orthodox, we have Greek Easter every year, and-
Lauren Goldstein:
Great.
Claire Dinut:
... that's just a giant feast. A giant feast, so many dips, fun games. And so the idea of that community aspect when it comes to eating, which is... Yes, it's still apparent in French cuisine, but that jolliness, like the jovial nature of Greek Easter, where you have so many dips and so many dishes. And my great aunt brings this, my other aunt brings that. It's more the experience than the food. And obviously, the food is delicious and there's so much lemon and so much dill, and we obviously love our oregano, but it's about the experience, it's not just about the food, but the food obviously does amplify it. And then in terms of my French side, again, we come from a very, very, very deep countryside, let's say that. So very deep in the countryside, a little village. And so everything we eat, we basically grow ourself or make ourself, whether it's going to my uncle's house to get his quince or going to a friend's house who fishes in the river or whatever it is. You make everything yourself.
And the idea that you can all come together and use every single element from each other. There's an egg guy who comes to my house every Thursday morning, which on TikTok, we call him the Egg Dealer, 8:00 AM every Thursday he will be there. I know I have to prep the coffee, my dad will go out, he'll give him his €2, we get our eggs, and that's the way it works. And I think-
Lauren Goldstein:
I's a ritual.
Claire Dinut:
It's a ritual. Exactly. And it's really beautiful to look at the plate in front of you and know, "Okay, these are the squash that we planted on May 1st. These are the tomatoes we planted on May 15th, and this is the fish that we fished in the river yesterday because we knew we wanted fish for dinner." That's really special to me, and I really... I'm really grateful that that's the way I was raised, and that's the way I can live now because I'm in between London and France now. And it's really special.
Lauren Goldstein:
You're the first to say that you're not a chef, you're very much a home cook. But your recipes and all of your stories are so well researched.
Claire Dinut:
Thank you.
Lauren Goldstein:
Where did you learn to cook? Who taught you how to cook and who did you spend the most time with in the kitchen when you were growing up?
Claire Dinut:
Yeah. Definitely my mom. My mom is an amazing cook, and she's always had a very, very busy work life and full-time job, but she always made an effort, whether that was waking up at 5:00 AM to make me my three course lunchbox and make me breakfast before she went into an office all day. Come home straight from work, and I was already home from school, and she'd make a whole three-course dinner, even though she had worked for the next three, four hours. So I really respect the fact that she didn't have time, but she made the time, and it was that ritual of every time we were able to spend time together, whenever she wasn't working or wasn't on a conference call or wasn't doing emails, she was cooking. So I spent that time with her to have that relationship with her. So a lot of our relationship is based on making things together.
And she's the best at whipping things up with random things in her pantry or random things in the fridge. Well, I'd be like, "Okay, I have two friends coming over last minute, sorry." And she'd be like, "Ugh." And with a random can of chickpeas and a random lemon in our backyard, she would make the most amazing meal. So I definitely am inspired by her cooking and just her ability to create things out of nothing.
Lauren Goldstein:
What are some of your favorite recipes that she makes?
Claire Dinut:
She makes a really good lemony herby roast chicken, which I 100% stole her recipe, and it's in my books. Sorry.
Oh my God. In L.A., we used to have this one salmon guy, and we'd buy this salmon that was so good. And now whenever I see her, I ask her, "Can I have your salmon?" And it's just this really Ponzu-heavy salmon with bok choy and scallions on a beautiful bed of rice. And it's so simple, but there's something that she just does. She adds a little bit of Mirin and sake to it. It's so good. It's so good. And all my friends know that is Annie's fish, Annie's salmon. So when my friends come over, it's time for Annie's salmon.
Lauren Goldstein:
This whole book is so clearly rigorously researched. And you mentioned earlier on in our conversation that content creation and the process of writing this book was really just a way for you to nerd out on history-
Claire Dinut:
Absolutely.
Lauren Goldstein:
... and you are such a student of history. And none of this is a surprise given you studied history as an undergrad. And one of the things that I love about your Substack is that you so often mention. Just as an aside, the lengths of time that you spend doing historical research, around specific ingredients, specific food cultures. You'll mention, "Oh, I spent a whole week deep diving into this one particular ingredient." Or, "The way that this one particular culture interacts with this type of sauce." I would love to know more about your research process.
Claire Dinut:
Yeah. So I usually fixate on a specific thing, but then I get bored of things really easy, but I need to know every single thing about that thing before I move on. So even when this book opportunity came about, I was looking through my notes' app because I will always deep dive on the internet. I still have access to my JSTOR because of my alumni email. So I go through-
Lauren Goldstein:
Same.
Claire Dinut:
I'm obsessed with it. I'm looking at my primary sources, my secondary sources. I'm listening to podcasts too. Because I walk a lot, I'm a very antsy person. So if I'm in London, I'm like, "Okay, I need to research nutmeg." I will download three-hour-long podcasts about nutmeg and then go on a manic walk across the city and just listen to nutmeg and write down notes-
Lauren Goldstein:
How are you finding-
Claire Dinut:
... in my notes app.
Lauren Goldstein:
... three podcasts about nutmeg?
Claire Dinut:
I am diving deep. I'm doing it in English, I'm doing it in French. I'm seeing, you know...
Lauren Goldstein:
Well, I guess that helps that you speak multiple languages.
Claire Dinut:
It really is helpful sometimes because it's also really interesting to see how French articles can write about a certain thing versus American ones, or English ones or Australian ones, South African ones. Just to be able to look at the same information or the same ingredient from all these different countries, gives you so many different perspectives. And I think that's what's really fun about it. So I just nerd out by myself and I have a great time. So I'll listen to my podcast, I'll come home, I'll look at my primary sources, secondary sources, and then I'll go and Google and see, "Okay, what do people care about? What's the brief overview of... If someone's Googling the history of nutmeg, what is that person seeing and what are they missing? What are the fun anecdotes?" Because I just love going to a dinner party and whipping out a random fun fact that no one asked for. But if you want to know the history of the chili, I can tell you all about it.
Lauren Goldstein:
Well, that's a really interesting approach because it kind of puts you in a position to be filling in gaps in common conversation. And when you're thinking about content that's going to do really well on a platform or on any other social media platform, oftentimes you're thinking, "Okay, what is my audience or my potential audience, what questions do they have about this thing? And how do I answer those questions?" And so often... I'm sure people ask you this all the time, how do you create content that goes viral? How do you find an audience? And so much of that is often just answering questions that people already have.
Claire Dinut:
Yeah. But it's really interesting because I find that platforms... Obviously, the people watching my face... My TikTok videos... People watching my videos, people watching Instagram, or looking my Instagram or reading my Substack, people want different things. And so all the nerdy history stuff, no one cares about on TikTok. That will never get hits.
Lauren Goldstein:
Really?
Claire Dinut:
No one cares about it on Instagram. I've been adding it to my captions recently and people have been liking that. But on TikTok, it always flops, but I love researching it, so I always go deep on my Substack. My personal favorite social media platform is definitely Substack, if we're calling it a social media platform.
Lauren Goldstein:
No, I think it totally is.
Claire Dinut:
Right? Because I get to write about food history, history with the farmer's market. One day I was like, "I must know." I was at the farmer's market and I was like, "Wait, where does this come from? I'm having a little freak-out. I must-"
Lauren Goldstein:
Who gets the permits? And like, why are they allowed to just sell fruit here?
Claire Dinut:
I'm like, "Let me run home and learn all about the farmer's markets near the Nile River." Had no idea that was a thing. So yeah, so I get to dive deep, but I also get to write up city guides, which I really like. So if you're traveling to Paris, to London, to Cape Town, to whatever, knowing where to go in a certain place and not knowing where the best restaurants are, but know, "Okay, this is the farmer's market. If you go during X season, this plum is available. If you want to go walk through a nice park, there's a little ice cream shop at the back that's really cute. And these are the flavors you should try when you're there and here are my favorite spots to get them."
So even before the Olympics, I did a Paris checklist, where it was like, "When you're in Paris, you should have a souffle, a macaroon, a steak tartare." Or whatever. "And here's some of my favorite places to get them." Because I think it's more so about the experience of traveling and trying certain cultural dishes, as opposed to trying the three-Michelin-star restaurant that everyone's writing about.
Lauren Goldstein:
On your Substack, you wrote at some point recently that you think of writing as more of your job than social media, which when I read that as somebody who's so familiar with the way that you approach content across platforms, I took a second and I realized at the end of the day, you're a storyteller. Your background is in production, your background is in editorial. And I'd love to know how you decide what stories you want to tell across all of your platforms and what role audience reaction plays to the way that you approach those stories.
Claire Dinut:
Oh, that's an interesting one. I think Substack is very much my mind on a page. It's what I want to research. It's where I go. It's random recipes that I want to come up with because my friends are coming over for dinner on Friday. TikTok is very much so, it's like if I'm FaceTiming a friend, it'll never be beautifully edited, but it's my experience. I'm just documenting what I'm doing. I'm never going to create a dish just to film it. I never plan out my content. That's just... It's not who I am. I'm not someone who really scrolls on social media. I've always been... I don't know, I'm not a big social media person, let's just say that. My Instagram was private for far too long when my TikTok was public.
Lauren Goldstein:
Which is so funny to say when you're having a conversation with someone who has 1,000,000 followers on TikTok, to not be a social media person. But I get it, I've worked in social media for so long, and I probably shouldn't be saying this on the record, I don't spend a ton of time scrolling TikTok-
Claire Dinut:
No.
Lauren Goldstein:
... for personal use. Because you just end up regurgitating the same ideas that you're seeing over and over again, and you almost lose the ability to be creative and have your own perspective.
Claire Dinut:
And it's been really interesting on this U.S. leg of the book tour, because a question I'll get asked a lot doing podcasts, radio, whatever it is, is, who are your favorite content creators? And yeah, I definitely follow some people, but I'm not someone who really scrolls. And when I do scrolls, it's... Let's just say, my for you page is rugby highlights and how to plant a garden, fun planting tips. So it's just a lot of old people being like, "Here's how to grow the best tomato." Or French rugby highlights from 2002. That is my content.
Lauren Goldstein:
Or that man in the English countryside who grows the gigantic parsnips.
Claire Dinut:
Oh, I love him.
Lauren Goldstein:
I'm totally forgetting his name. I think his name is-
Claire Dinut:
Gerard.
Lauren Goldstein:
... Gerald. Gerard.
Claire Dinut:
Gerard. Yeah.
Lauren Goldstein:
Gerard. Okay.
Claire Dinut:
I follow Gerard.
Lauren Goldstein:
I knew you would know who I meant. Right? It's like that's what my for you page-
Claire Dinut:
Same.
Lauren Goldstein:
... looks like too.
Claire Dinut:
Exactly. With the cabbage sweatshirt.
Lauren Goldstein:
I know we started this conversation really focused on condiments, obviously, and food culture, and food history, and food influence. But I do think that this conversation around how to structure a career as a content creator who has a presence across multiple digital platforms, who has books, who has other projects that they work on outside of social media and books like you do food writing in the U.K., that there's so much that goes into all of this, right? That in order to be able to build a career, sharing the content and telling the stories that you love, that you often do need to think about, "Okay, how am I going to pay my rent?" Right?
Claire Dinut:
Yeah.
Lauren Goldstein:
It's the unsexy part of all of this. There are so many-
Claire Dinut:
Completely.
Lauren Goldstein:
... people who want to be content creators and who want to leave their 9:00 to 5:00 jobs to pursue content creation full time. As a consumer and as somebody who works in the space, I'm really interested in hearing about how the creators that I love make it all work. That paid Substack subscriptions-
Claire Dinut:
Yeah.
Lauren Goldstein:
... that's huge.
Claire Dinut:
It's huge. And again, that's what I consider my job. The fact that I can know what I'm making in a year on Substack is so helpful to know, "Okay, how much can I spend on rent? How much can I spend on dinner?" And I think when people see someone who has a million followers on TikTok, they assume, "She's going to buy a $10 million house." And you're like, "No, no. I live in the U.K. This is very different." And so you need to figure out, "Okay, if I don't have a social media brand deal next month, oh, I'm so glad that I have this written opportunity." Or this or that. And I think also the world of books, people assume is very well paid, it is still a very old-fashioned career. But I mean, I am so grateful for this book. Because it gives you something else. It gives you legitimacy. You get all these opportunities.
I mean, I'm sitting here in front of you on Cherry Bombe. This is crazy to me. That's so exciting. And even though social media isn't really... I don't know, it was a means to an ends at the beginning. I mean, I owe it everything. I owe it everything. I will never bash TikTok because the fact of the matter is it gave me this book. This book is my literal child. So I just am really grateful for the way that things fell into place. I think as a consumer of social media, certain people assume, assume things, whether it's about creators, about their content, maybe about their financial status, maybe about projects that they're coming up. And I think people just need to know that we're all winging it. We're all winging it. So it's been really interesting to see that process pan out, because I never thought I'd be on social media as a career. I never thought I'd have a book. So I'm just going day by day. And I'm flying back to London after this, and today's the last day of my book tour that I've been on since-
Lauren Goldstein:
Oh my God.
Claire Dinut:
... September, so I feel a little crazy right now.
Lauren Goldstein:
Oh my God.
Claire Dinut:
And we'll see what's next.
Lauren Goldstein:
Well, that's a really nice segue into what I was going to ask you next. What's next for Condiment Claire? Mean, personally and professionally, what are your plans for the summer, and what does the future of your career, and your writing and your content look like?
Claire Dinut:
Yeah. I think this summer, because I've been on the road so much recently, which I'm so grateful for the book, I just really am excited to be in London with my friends and go back and forth to France. Because we just planted everything early May, so my-
Lauren Goldstein:
Gorgeous.
Claire Dinut:
... tomatoes are getting ready-
Lauren Goldstein:
Gorgeous.
Claire Dinut:
... my currants are ready, my gooseberries, I'm very excited to go home. And then otherwise, potentially a second book because I really loved that experience. So have a few things in the works. And then otherwise, I've always wanted to do food and travel TV and docuseries. So I think that's probably what's next. But it's been really interesting being on this book tour and having to organize these events. And I'm so lucky that I've gotten to work with brands and people that I really have admired and collaborate with, and just it has been really special. But I think especially on the plane ride home today, I'm going to have one of those moments where I'm like, "Uh-oh. Like what now?" My whole life has been “The Condiment Book” since it came out in September and since I started writing it summer 2023. So it's just-
Lauren Goldstein:
So crazy.
Claire Dinut:
Yeah, I'm excited to have that moment of, "Ugh." Because I think it's going to make me really realize what I love and what I want to do next. And otherwise, it's keeping up with that weekly Tuesday Substack because it's how I structure my weeks, and I love that discipline.
Lauren Goldstein:
Well, it sounds like it's all full circle for you, right? You started Claire From Where because you wanted it to be a segue to TV, and now four or five years later, you're coming back to that place of, "I never thought I would be on social media. I never thought I'd write a book. I never..." It sounds like you always thought that you would write, but you probably never predicted that you would've had a Substack because Substack didn't exist then-
Claire Dinut:
No, exactly.
Lauren Goldstein:
... when you started this whole project. And that it's all coming back to that place of, "I want to do docuseries."
Claire Dinut:
Yeah.
Lauren Goldstein:
"I want to do food and travel TV."
Claire Dinut:
Yeah. I think whether it's on-screen, behind the screen, the idea of, again, storytelling and showing the authentic nature of a certain place. And showing people, not what the restaurant is, but maybe what the flavors of that place is, maybe what people are growing, the seasons. I think that's what's so beautiful about a certain place is being able to experience that. And I think condiments are great because they allow you to travel via a jar. But I think the idea of maybe not having the ability to travel somewhere, but to be able to experience it authentically through a screen, is something that I've always really been drawn to, when I grew up watching Anthony Bourdain and seeing him do that. So I just love that kind of show that's really authentic to a place and doesn't necessarily take you to the fanciest restaurants, but more so someone's backyard.
Lauren Goldstein:
It's all about the spirit of a place. And I think you referencing Anthony Bourdain as a source of inspiration for you makes a ton of sense.
Claire Dinut:
Oh, thank you.
Lauren Goldstein:
... when you think about what's informed your approach to storytelling, that it's not necessarily of the moment TikTok trends and what might be showing up on for you page of people who are just consuming, sort of a fire hose of food content, but that it's a slower storytelling that existed before social media that you've found a really unique way to adapt for today's platforms.
Claire Dinut:
Yeah. I grew up and my two idols were Anthony Bourdain, obviously, and also Ina Garten. So it's that-
Lauren Goldstein:
Oh my God. Ina Garten was all I knew-
Claire Dinut:
I mean-
Lauren Goldstein:
... as a child.
Claire Dinut:
Thank you. And the fact that she'd go to Poilâne in Paris and her and Jeffrey. I always say, I don't think I would be starstruck if anyone came up to me, if Ina walked up to me, I think my head would fall off. Ina and David Attenborough, I think those are the two people who really, I would just... I don't know if words would come out of my mouth. I'd be like, "What's your favorite condiment? I don't know what else to say."
Lauren Goldstein:
Oh my God.
Claire Dinut:
I'm sweating thinking about it. I really like... Yeah.
Lauren Goldstein:
What kind of food media did you grow up with, if any at all? Did you have French food media, Greek food media? What did that look like?
Claire Dinut:
Honestly, I love the Food Network. I grew up with the Food Network. I loved watching “Iron Chef.” I remember one time I went to New York with my parents and I was like, "We have to go to Morimoto. Please, we must go to Morimoto." And we went and they made the tofu in front of us, and I was like, "This is the best day of my life." So I loved Food Network growing up, loved “Chopped” and “Iron Chef,” those were the shows. And then otherwise, all the food travel content. So obviously “Planet Earth” isn't food related, but it's the idea that you see the forest, and you see what's going on and you see the food in the ocean.
Lauren Goldstein:
It's sense of place.
Claire Dinut:
Exactly. So I've always been a docuseries, documentary girl.
Lauren Goldstein:
And so it was more docuseries and documentary and TV for you, than editorial?
Claire Dinut:
Yeah, I would say so. I think it really was. I didn't really grow up having food magazines around the house.
Lauren Goldstein:
As a kid-
Claire Dinut:
I can't remember.
Lauren Goldstein:
... me either. Neither did I. I grew up with-
Claire Dinut:
No.
Lauren Goldstein:
... Ina Garten on the TV and fashion magazines.
Claire Dinut:
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I think... My mom had a beautiful cookbooks and everyone in my family cook. So the idea of food and recipes, that was always around. But in terms of media, it really was TV and a lot of docuseries.
Lauren Goldstein:
And was it primarily English language or were you watching-
Claire Dinut:
Yeah.
Lauren Goldstein:
... French media as well?
Claire Dinut:
English language. English language. And yeah, I was always drawn to more, let's call it life-styley docuseries: like food, travel, sports, fashion. And that's what I ended up studying in college. I did history and literature. You learned history through reading literature of the time. So whether it was a fashion magazine or a restaurant menu or a World's Fair pamphlet, so it was all through that. So I wasn't reading, let's call it boring, boring history books, where it's like, "In 1881, this happened." It was-
Lauren Goldstein:
History through culture.
Claire Dinut:
Exactly. So that's what I did. And I did lifestyle and it was amazing. And I think it really heavily influenced what I'm doing today.
Lauren Goldstein:
And did you write any kind of thesis or any sort of-
Claire Dinut:
Yeah.
Lauren Goldstein:
... capstone project? And was it related-
Claire Dinut:
Yeah.
Lauren Goldstein:
... to the kind of work that you're doing now?
Claire Dinut:
Definitely. So my thesis was not related, it was about Christian Dior, in France during World War II. And notions of femininity and how he allowed women to feel feminine after the war and employed a bunch of women. So he was very at the forefront, and I really admire him. But the other big essays that I wrote in college, like my junior paper, things like that, I wrote about IPA and the relationship between Britain and the Colonies, because IPA is India Pale Ale, and it was created to withstand the journey from Britain to India, which is fascinating. And then I wrote about-
Lauren Goldstein:
And people probably don't even know that.
Claire Dinut:
Exactly, and I didn't know that until I had done a quick search. And then I went to my professor and I was like, "Hey, do you think I could write about IPA, even though I'm underage?" And he was like, "Yes." He was English. It was amazing. I got him a six-pack when I turned in my essay, don't worry about it. And-
Lauren Goldstein:
And I hope you got an A.
Claire Dinut:
I did, I did.
Lauren Goldstein:
Yeah, of course you did.
Claire Dinut:
Because we nerded out about it and he was like, "I miss the pub." And I was like, "Yes. I don't know the pub, but I'm glad."
Lauren Goldstein:
I don't know the pub because I'm underage.
Claire Dinut:
No, yeah. And wine in France during World War II and notions of Frenchness, and the idea of France being so attached to red wine and what they did when the Nazis came, and the idea that the Germans have this big focus on beer and beer culture. And so that disparity. So always kind of looking at cultural elements through food, through flavor, just based on terroir really.
Lauren Goldstein:
With all of that interest. Did you ever think about going to culinary school?
Claire Dinut:
I didn't. I didn't. I think I always recognized how difficult working in a kitchen would be. And I think, again, even though I'm a very type A, intense person, I love, again, being able to run around all over the place. And the idea of being stuck in a kitchen actually gives me anxiety thinking about it. And I also think, I don't know, it's such an unbelievable job. People who do that, I have so much respect for-
Lauren Goldstein:
Oh my God.
Claire Dinut:
... the hours.
Lauren Goldstein:
Me too.
Claire Dinut:
I'm an early... I'm a... I need to go to bed early. I will wake up at 5:00 AM happily, but I'm in bed by 10:00. Leave me alone. Don't text me. My phone is in the other room. And my-
Lauren Goldstein:
You can do baker's hours.
Claire Dinut:
Yeah. So that is more interesting. But I always... When I grew up cooking with my mom, a lot of it was baking. And so when I was in New York at one point, I was in a job that I was not happy at whatsoever. I went the talent agency route, I was someone's assistant. I had three cell phones on me, I was not the best version of myself, let's just say that.
Lauren Goldstein:
You've got to try it.
Claire Dinut:
And my mom had gifted me a 12-week pastry course at the Institute of Culinary Education.
Lauren Goldstein:
Wow.
Claire Dinut:
And so I would go on the weekends. I'd go from I think it was like 8:00 to 6:00, 9:00 to 6:00, whatever it was. It was all day, Sundays, for 12 weeks straight. And that was the greatest form of therapy I could have ever asked for because I had the best time there. And I think that switch really made me realize that, "Okay, I know I want to do entertainment, so I'm still going to do this, but I really need to focus on making sure that it has to do with food because this is what I'm passionate about." And it allowed me to have that creative outlet during the week because otherwise I was sitting at my desk from 6:00, 6:30 until 9:00.
Lauren Goldstein:
And this was pre-COVID, so you were in the office every day?
Claire Dinut:
Every single day.
Lauren Goldstein:
And how long were you in that job?
Claire Dinut:
I was in that job a little over a year.
Lauren Goldstein:
Okay.
Claire Dinut:
A little over a year. And then right before COVID, I spoke with this producer. Just one day randomly I got off work at 8:00 PM as opposed to at 11:00. And he was like, "What do you really want to do?" And he was visiting from Athens, and I was like, "Oh, I really want to do food and travel docuseries." And he was like, "Okay, pitch me." And I was like, "Great. Would love to do a show about grandmas. They have the best food. I lost both of my grandmothers. One before I was born and one when I was really young. So I gravitate towards old people. My friends' grandparents are my dream people, and everyone knows that a grandma's food has the best food. It's ugly, but it tastes delicious."
And he's like, "Great, want to do that in Greece?" I was like-
Lauren Goldstein:
Yeah.
Claire Dinut:
... "Yes, please." And he was like, "Great, do you want to come Monday?" And I was like, "I can come two Mondays from now." And he was like, "Awesome." So I quit my job that Friday night, I emailed my boss, went in the next week. I was like, "You need to hire another assistant because-"
Lauren Goldstein:
Wow.
Claire Dinut:
"... I can't be assistant one and assistant two for you anymore. I know you're too busy to hire an assistant two, but now-"
Lauren Goldstein:
Now you have assistant zero.
Claire Dinut:
"Now you need two assistants... You need assistant one, two, and maybe assistant three because there is far too much work for two people."
Lauren Goldstein:
Because I'm going to Greece, and good luck to you.
Claire Dinut:
Exactly. So I left two weeks later. So I spent November and December in Greece, of 2019. Came home for the holidays, met with a Mexican producer. He was like, "Oh, I love that concept. Would you want to come to Mexico and do it in February?"
Lauren Goldstein:
Wow.
Claire Dinut:
And I said, "Yes, let's do it." And so the Greek guy basically told him, "Can we push to spring?" And he was like, "Yes, it's better weather anyways. It's nice and sunny." So I was like, "Great." So I went to Mexico City. I did that. And then I got a call being like, "There's this thing called COVID."
Lauren Goldstein:
Oh my God.
Claire Dinut:
"We don't know what's going on-"
Lauren Goldstein:
So you never made it to Greece?
Claire Dinut:
Never made it back to Greece. So we have pilots and reels for both Greece and Mexico City. But then everything got canceled because I had to go back to LA for that two week lockdown, which ended up being COVID.
Lauren Goldstein:
Wow.
Claire Dinut:
And then the elderly are vulnerable, so you can't do a show like that and put older people at risk. So-
Lauren Goldstein:
Oh my God. Wow.
Claire Dinut:
Yeah.
Lauren Goldstein:
And from there you were at home.
Claire Dinut:
Condiment Claire?
Lauren Goldstein:
And then.. Well, then you weren't-
Claire Dinut:
There you go.
Lauren Goldstein:
You were Claire From Where.
Claire Dinut:
I was Claire From Where.
Lauren Goldstein:
You were Claire From Where. Okay. So then I feel like that's a part of your origin story that has not made its way into the lore around-
Claire Dinut:
No, this-
Lauren Goldstein:
... you.
Claire Dinut:
... is probably the first time I'm talking about it.
Lauren Goldstein:
Pursue your passions.
Claire Dinut:
Yeah. And I actually started on TikTok out of spite because I got on a call with a streamer and they had seen the reels and they had said, "Okay, great, but how many followers do you have? Because we have the exact same concept for a show, but we don't like our hosts. Will you host it?" And I said, "Yes, I don't have a job. I will host it." And they were like, "Okay, what's your follower count?" And I didn't have a following, and that's why I started on TikTok.
Lauren Goldstein:
It is all so full circle.
Claire Dinut:
There you go.
Lauren Goldstein:
Claire, I could literally talk to you for 100 hours. We have to wrap up, so I'm going to move into our speed round.
Claire Dinut:
Oh my God. I'm so excited. Okay.
Lauren Goldstein:
Okay. What is your favorite condiment to make?
Claire Dinut:
Jam. Jam. Any jam.
Lauren Goldstein:
Any particular fruit?
Claire Dinut:
No. Any jam. It's my cozy time. I realized the other day I hadn't posted a jam video in a while, it's because I'd been really overwhelmed with book stuff, and it just is my moment to relax. Love a good strawberry jam, it doesn't get too messy. Just-
Lauren Goldstein:
Classic, crowd pleaser.
Claire Dinut:
Yeah.
Lauren Goldstein:
What is your favorite store-bought condiment?
Claire Dinut:
Dijon mustard.
Lauren Goldstein:
Do you have a favorite brand?
Claire Dinut:
I love Maille. I think Maille is a good classic. It makes me really happy.
Lauren Goldstein:
What do you think the perfect summer condiment is?
Claire Dinut:
Summer condiment. That's such a good question. A great salt. I think a great salt, because you can carry that salt around everywhere you go, whether it's for your morning coffee or morning matcha, whether you're walking around a garden and want to bite into a tomato, whether you're having an apple on the go, whether you're adding it to a random picnic that you're having. Just like a good flaky salt, it's going to do the trick.
Lauren Goldstein:
Favorite brand?
Claire Dinut:
Ooh, you know what? I love Halen Môn. Halen Môn, it's a Welsh salt from Anglesey.
Lauren Goldstein:
Oh, I don't think I've ever tried that one.
Claire Dinut:
Yeah.
Lauren Goldstein:
I'm going to have to check it out.
Claire Dinut:
Yeah, it's nice, flaky. They rinse their salts, so it's really clear. It's double rinsed, and I love them.
Lauren Goldstein:
Do you travel with your own condiments?
Claire Dinut:
Absolutely. Absolutely. You will always find a mini Dijon mustard in my bag and my little Halen Môn pinch tin of salt, in case of emergencies.
Lauren Goldstein:
Obviously.
Claire Dinut:
Yeah.
Lauren Goldstein:
Cannot be without-
Claire Dinut:
Yeah.
Lauren Goldstein:
... your condiment-
Claire Dinut:
And if-
Lauren Goldstein:
... selection.
Claire Dinut:
And if I'm in France, I bring cinnamon with me because French people hate cinnamon and I dump cinnamon on everything.
Lauren Goldstein:
I don't think I ever realized that French people hate cinnamon.
Claire Dinut:
Hate cinnamon. But if they have it in a dish and don't know it's there, "This is so good." I'm just pretending I'm my dad and my mom's apple crumble that she makes for us all the time. He loves his apple crumble, we still have not told him to this day that there's so much cinnamon in it.
Lauren Goldstein:
What is the craziest thing you've done to transport a condiment across state or country lines?
Claire Dinut:
I mean, I guess I don't realize it's crazy, but it probably is, it's, package it up in a little something, but then you always put it in a shower cap just to make sure it doesn't go across.
Lauren Goldstein:
I do that too, and then sometimes I put it in a sock and then I wrap the other sock around it.
Claire Dinut:
There you go. Exactly. No, no, exactly. I completely understand you. Yeah.
Lauren Goldstein:
It's like you need paper and then plastic and then fabric, and then you feel like it's secure and you can put it under the plane.
Claire Dinut:
Yes. Yeah.
Lauren Goldstein:
What is an unexpected condiment pairing that sounds crazy, but somehow just works?
Claire Dinut:
Vanilla ice cream and soy sauce. It's really a staple. I love it. It just adds that nice molasses-y flavor with little subtle saltiness at the end, and it's just... It's perfect.
Lauren Goldstein:
Do you have a favorite brand of soy sauce?
Claire Dinut:
I wish I could tell you what it was called, but the bottle is written in Japanese, so I can't. But I was in Tokyo last year because I really wanted to go to a wasabi farm, so I went wasabi farming.
Lauren Goldstein:
Oh my God.
Claire Dinut:
And then came-
Lauren Goldstein:
The dream.
Claire Dinut:
I have the dream life, genuinely. That's what I'm saying. I'm so lucky to be able to have all these experiences and call them my job. But there's this shop in Japan that sells clear soy sauce.
Lauren Goldstein:
Oh my God.
Claire Dinut:
And they developed it-
Lauren Goldstein:
Clear like water?
Claire Dinut:
It looks like this water bottle right here, but it's soy sauce. And they've developed it for a school because kids kept spilling on themselves, so they just clarify it over and over and over. And so it tastes exactly like soy sauce, but it's clear.
Lauren Goldstein:
How many of them did you buy?
Claire Dinut:
Five.
Lauren Goldstein:
And how long is that going to last you?
Claire Dinut:
Oh, they're done. They're done. Because one of them was dashi infused, and then there was one that was a Ponzu, and then I got the soys, but then I also bought... I think I bought 17 soy sauces, or of their products that day. But I'm forgetting the name of the shop, but it's on my Tokyo City guide. If anyone's interested, it says exactly where that shop is. They'd let you taste everything, and it's just a great experience.
Lauren Goldstein:
What condiment do you think Americans are missing out on?
Claire Dinut:
Chutneys. I think chutneys. I really discovered them when I moved to the U.K., chutneys and pickles. And they really are used so commonly in England, and I really adore them on a lot of things. Whether it's a sandwich, whether it's next to a roast chicken, I think Americans need to become more accustomed to finding chutneys, making chutneys.
Lauren Goldstein:
For Americans who are not familiar with chutneys, do you have a favorite brand that's available in the U.S.?
Claire Dinut:
Just make it yourself.
Lauren Goldstein:
They have to buy-
Claire Dinut:
Think of it... Yeah.
Lauren Goldstein:
They have to buy your book and make it at home.
Claire Dinut:
Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, buy my book.
Lauren Goldstein:
And it's not that hard.
Claire Dinut:
It's just a plug. Yeah. No, it's a jam. But you just add a little bit of vinegar to it. So think of a jam that's still a little sweet, but has chunks, but has vinegar and some spices and some salt.
Lauren Goldstein:
What is one food you would never eat without a condiment?
Claire Dinut:
Honestly, anything without Dijon mustard isn't worth eating. I don't know what else to say. A steak tartare. You can't have a steak tartare, then it's not a tartare, always extra mustard.
Lauren Goldstein:
Then it's just raw steak.
Claire Dinut:
But I guess I would eat that. You know what? Raw steak. Raw steak, because you can't have a carpaccio without arugula and Parmesan on top. You can't have a steak tartare without capers, and Dijon mustard, and Worcestershire, and all that.
Lauren Goldstein:
What's the strangest answer you've ever gotten to your go-to icebreaker, what's your favorite condiment?
Claire Dinut:
Oh, actually, I have a book that I'm going to make you sign after this, that's the empty marketing copy of my U.K. book. And I have everyone sign their name and their favorite condiment. And so I've taken it with me, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia. And seeing the differences based on countries on what people sign next to their name, in terms of name, favorite condiment, is fascinating.
Lauren Goldstein:
And do you find that people include foods that they think are condiments that you don't think are condiments?
Claire Dinut:
No, because everything can be a condiment.
Lauren Goldstein:
Everything's a condiment if you just believe.
Claire Dinut:
Everything can be a condiment. But everyone in Ireland loves garlic mayo. Here I got a lot of lemon juice, which made me very happy. I was like, "I'm so glad that you guys all know that lemon juice can be a condiment. I've trained you well."
Lauren Goldstein:
If you were a condiment, what would you be? And before you answer, it's not what you like, it's what you are.
Claire Dinut:
Maybe a rainbow sprinkle. My brain feels like a bunch of sprinkles. And you could say chocolate sprinkles, but the nostalgia element. Because I like to be playful and slightly childish, but then also it really does add to any dish. A rainbow sprinkle makes or breaks a dish.
Lauren Goldstein:
No, I totally agree. And when people try to say that rainbow sprinkles don't taste like anything, or that rainbow is not-
Claire Dinut:
That's a lie.
Lauren Goldstein:
They're wrong.
Claire Dinut:
They're wrong.
Lauren Goldstein:
They're wrong. They're totally wrong.
Claire Dinut:
They're wrong. So it's a little bit eclectic, a little bit like cuckoo, but just tastes yummy.
Lauren Goldstein:
And the last question for you, this may be a little bit spicy for a condiment queen like yourself. Are there any condiments that you don't like?
Claire Dinut:
Yes.
Lauren Goldstein:
Talk to me.
Claire Dinut:
There's one called Sandwich Spread. I got a lot of hate for this in the U.K., I said this once on a podcast, Sandwich Spread is coleslaw in a jar that is not crunchy.
Lauren Goldstein:
Wait, but it's called Sandwich Bread?
Claire Dinut:
Spread.
Lauren Goldstein:
Sandwich Spread. Oh, oh my God.
Claire Dinut:
I guess you put it on bread for a sandwich, but it's literally mushy coleslaw with zero texture, all mayo. There's no tang to it. There's no texture to it. It's just like.
Lauren Goldstein:
What color is it?
Claire Dinut:
You can see shreds of cabbage and carrot, and it's like veggies with white sauce all over them. It looks like a coleslaw, which I love a coleslaw, don't get me wrong, but it's mashed potato texture.
Lauren Goldstein:
It's just been sitting in its juices-
Claire Dinut:
Yeah, I don't know how long it's been on the shelves in the supermarket. I don't know if people buy it or not. I don't know if it's been just macerating there for years, but it's not my cup of tea.
Lauren Goldstein:
Thank you so much for being here, Claire. I hope everybody listening feels inspired to try their hand at making homemade condiments, reusing those jars with the little bits left in them. Or if they're still too intimidated to do that, hopefully they feel excited enough to stroll through the condiment aisle and pick up something new to try.
Claire Dinut:
Let's hope so.
Lauren Goldstein:
Make those Tuesday night dinners a little bit more exciting.
Claire Dinut:
There you go. Exactly.
Lauren Goldstein:
Thank you.
Claire Dinut:
Thank you so much for having me.
Lauren Goldstein:
That's it for today's show. Thank you to Claire for joining me. You can follow me at Lauren Page Goldstein on Instagram. Our theme song is by the band Tralala. Thank you to CityVox Studios in Manhattan. Our producers are Tarkor Zehn, Catherine Baker, and Jenna Sadhu, and our editorial coordinator is Sophie Kies. Thanks for listening, everybody. You're the Bombe.