Jenny Rosenstrach

Jenny Rosenstrach sat down to family dinner every night of her childhood, so there was never a question whether she was going to do the same with her own family. Until, that is, she actually had that family (and a full-time job and a young picky eater) and realized how Herculean a task it was to cook a meal that was fast, healthy, and—here’s the hard part with kids—consumed. So, when the mother of two toddlers found herself in The Great Pasta and Pizza Rut of 2006, she decided it was time to take control of the situation. Rosenstrach challenged herself to cook a brand-new meal for her family every night for a month—brand-new to her and brand-new to her kids. By the end of 30 days, dinner morphed from the dreaded it’s-coming-no-matter-what status to a source of adventure and happiness. And the idea for her book Dinner: The Playbook, published in August 2014, was born.

In her lectures Jenny shares her real-life stories of balancing a young family and work, all while striving for the ultimate end to any day: the family dinner. Rosenstrach acknowledges the hurdles that make family dinners seem impossible, but also breaks down the process into steps, rules, and recipes that make it doable and delicious.

Along with Dinner: The Playbook, Rosenstrach is the creator of the blog Dinner: A Love Story and the author of  its companion book as well as How to Celebrate Everything and forthcoming The Weekday Vegetarians. She and her husband, Andy Ward, co-wrote “The Providers,” a column about feeding a family for Bon Appetit. She has appeared on NPR, NBC’s Today, and her pieces have appeared in The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Cookie, Food52, Food Network, and Real Simple.