Inspiration for Mr. Latte...

[Rachel Perlow]

Was calling your now husband "Mr. Latte" in your column and upcoming book, Cooking for Mr. Latte, inspired by Candace Bushnell referring to her beau as "Mr. Big" in her column and book, Sex and the City?"

[LESider]

Hi Amanda,

As an addendum to this question, was "Sex and the City" an inspiration for your more personal food diary featured in the NY Times?

Thank You

[Amanda]

it wasn't actually. at the time, i had never read the observer column and i didn't have hbo. i mean, i had heard of the show and had seen ads for it, but i definitely didn't know about the character mr. big.

a while back, i had a breakfast meeting (at 57/57 -- lemon ricotta pancakes, very good) with editors from the magazine. they told me that they wanted to do something different with the food pages (they didn't have me in mind). i suggested a diary, because i thought the immediacy would appeal to readers, as would the continuum of a narrative. plus the recipes would naturally be this great mix of home cooking, restaurant food, dishes made by friends -- the variety that many food people crave. i mentioned that i was dating a guy who was not very into food, and that tension interested the editors. they said they wanted a column that would have a beginning, middle and end. it was natural -- we'd begin with our first date and end with our wedding. it was a bit of risk taking at the time because it wasn't clear that we were headed for marriage, although i had a good feeling. i wrote a sample. they liked it. we decided to call it food diary. the column debuted in april 2000 and ended with our wedding this past november.

the comparison with sex and the city, i agree, is an obvious one, although i like to think the difference is that food diary was about a functional, fundamentally happy relationship.

as for the name "mr. latte", it was a way to playfully emphasize both my food snobbery and his food cluelessness (is that a word?).