Chrissy Teigen is Not What I Expected
A chance encounter with her cookbook -- and strong voice -- kept me laughing.
You know how excited you get when someone leaves a few free cookbooks on the sidewalk. I grabbed Cravings by Chrissy Teigen, published in 2016.
If you don’t know Chrissy Teigen, she’s a supermodel and tv star, married to singer John Legend. She has more than 41 million followers on Instagram. I always wanted to read her cookbook because:
Adeena Sussman was her collaborator, and this was her first foray into writing cookbooks
A client who ran a cooking school told me Cravings was one of her favorite cookbooks because the recipes always worked.
To my surprise, Teigen is an enthusiastic, hilarious and cheeky writer. Despite her celebrity, she lacks pretense or snobbery, and she swears she actually cooks and eats the dishes she presents.
(If you want a serious review, read this Cravings review in Epicurious.)
Here’s a taste of how Teigen crushes her headnotes:
Crispy Bacon Hash Browns: IHOP hash browns are one of my many trashy guilty pleasures. I will go to IHOP and consume two to three plates of their hash browns because I’m married and who cares… I love that IHOP doesn’t f*cking call them hash browns and then serve me HOME FRIES. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE, PEOPLE.
Shrimp Summer Rolls, paragraph two: Also, I have no idea why, but I have really punctual friends. So to punish them, I throw them onto my summer roll assembly line when it’s party time. You would (not) be surprised by how excited people are to roll when paid with cheap tequila.
Il Buco-Style Kale Salad: I so badly want to hate kale, but that endeavor is impossible once you try these Caesar(ish) leafy bastards. There’s a little restaurant on Bond Street in NYC — a dream street I would love to one day live on — called Il Buca. It is home to our first date, our first fights, our first food favorites. Many a booze-fueled lunch. One time I threw up so hard into their toilet that I hit my forehead and had to wear fake bangs for a week. Memories! Anyhoo, their kale Caesar taught me that it is, indeed, possible to love kale. Sure, it’s covered in giant garlic croutons and heaps of Parmesan, but bitch, don’t kill my vibe.
And it’s not just her headnotes. Her methods can be fun too, which is hard to pull off. About pounding a chicken breast, she wrote: “It won’t be perfect, and if the edges get raggedy you can trim them if you’re OCD like me.
Maybe Teigen did stand-up comedy in a previous life? I dunno. The point is that she is hugely entertaining. Did you know that the main reason people read anything longer than a few lines is to be entertained? Yes. We’re shallow.
Now, if you know me, you’re ready for me to nitpick. I am not a fan of all caps, dashes and exclamation points. For me they mean that writers are inexperienced. They can’t get their points across without those kinds of crutches. But I’m making an exception here. Clearly, Teigen chose a casual stream-of-consciousness, social media-style tone.
And it works. I bet that now that you have read Teigen’s writing, you’d recognize it anywhere.
How do you get a strong voice?
Do you write a newsletter, a blog, personal essays, recipes or how-to material? Then you need to develop a strong voice, one recognizable as you.
Understanding your voice means that you know your own personality, and you make it come through in your writing. It might be in the length and rhythm of your sentences, the way you approach a subject, or the words you choose. When you review your drafts and finished pieces, they sound like you.
Without a strong voice, your writing could be bland, and you won’t come through as an individual. Can you describe your own voice? If not, ask a friend to describe it to you. Here are a few adjectives that might apply:
knowledgeable
friendly
honest
self-deprecating
companionable
poetic
confessional
obsessive
high-energy.
Maybe you need a refresher? I happen to have one. Please enjoy this short presentation I gave to the Association of Food Journalists, called Finding Your Voice.
I’ve written lots more on voice. Here are a few blog posts to read:
I’d describe my own voice as trusted, amusing, and sometimes sarcastic. What about yours? Dare to describe it to me in the comments? I’d love to know.
Next Office Hours for Paid Subscribers
Let’s chat about recipe writing: What’s new, what drives you crazy, and what are the issues? Join me tomorrow, Wednesday, April 2 at 1 p.m. PT/ 4 p.m. ET on Substack. You will get an email notification that the chat has begun. Just click the graphical button in the email to join.
What I’m Reading
On the first of every month, I bring you irresistible links like these:
Want to Take the Pain Out of Planning Meals? Learn to Be an AI Whisperer. A gift link to a Wall Street Journal feature article. Read to the end, where food writers evaluate the meals AI produced.
50 Best Food Science Blogs and Websites in 2025. If you’re interested in food safety, science, tech and nutrition, check out this list.
Scribehound Food is a new online magazine, with many big names in food writing. Plus, there’s the new Homecooked magazine, in print, and Authentic Food, a new website that pays $200 for stories.
Do you know about the Food Jobs newsletter? Find job listings that include food writers.
Want to write for The Guardian? Here’s what the U.S. editor wants to commission.
What Zelda Fitzgerald would write about breakfast. I love it.
Substack newsletter writer Nic Miller compiled a list of writings about salt. There’s also The Great Salt Shake-Up, about why kosher salt is popular. (Possible Atlantic paywall.)
Quick Primer on Publishing Terms. Agent Kate McKean describes advances, royalties, grant of rights and other terms useful to know.
A New Era for Latino Cookbooks. Latino cookbooks for Latino people used to be an anomaly.
How Britney-Brown Chamberlain Grew Her Food Blog to a $20K/month Business. A Food Blogger Pro interview with a super-successful food blogger.
What are today’s LOL restaurant foods? Jaya Saxena explores this issue for Eater.
Why we Test Recipes. Ruth Reichl details her experiences making subsequent versions of an orange cake.
Cookbook Chronicles: The Photoshoot. Martin Sorge talks about getting through a four-day long shoot, complete with AI.
How Cookbooks Travel Across Cultures, Part I. How cookbooks get adapted for American audiences.
Gratin Dauphinois + Elizabeth David. Cookbook author Anne Byrn explores a recipe in A South Wind Through the Kitchen, and David’s life.
We’re Living in the Age of the Culinary ‘-Ish.’ Diasporic cookbook authors focus on food that comes from many origin stories, all at one.
Workshops, Consults and Appearances
A Few Spots Left! A Late-Summer Food Writing Workshop in Sicily
September 19-23, 2025
$2990 double occupancy, $3510 single occupancy
Join me, fellow teacher Demet Guzey, and a small group of other food-and-writing obsessed types in sun-soaked Sicily for Sicilian food, wine, and food writing. Read more here. We’ll stay at a seaside hotel and visit a winery, a farmer’s market, a farm and take a cooking class. And every day, there will be good food, gorgeous scenery, plus writing time and instruction by me.
Private Consults Anytime
Through a partner, Delicious Experiences
One-hour consult: $250
Book a Zoom consult for just one hour (or more). If you want to write a cookbook, get published or find better freelance assignments, I can help move you forward.
Coming Up
I’ll be at the Oxford Food Symposium in July. Let me know if you’ll be there too, or come say hi!
Happening on Instagram
I share and review cookbooks, novels and memoir on Instagram, among other things. If you’re on the platform, click on the image to read the caption. Follow me at instagram.com/diannemjacob. Thank you!
News from Clients and Students
Sanaa Boutayeb started a newsletter called The Walking Palm Tree.
Nissa Pearson wrote a feature on herb-based cooking in Edible Marin and Wine Country magazine. (I coached her on freelance writing.)
Nico Vera restarted his Substack newsletter about Peruvian cuisine, La Yapa.
America’s Test Kitchen chose Maggie Zhu for a two-year Editor-in- Residence program. She will develop recipes and collaborate on videos, podcasts, and TV episodes with the test kitchen team.
I like to brag about food writing accomplishments from clients and students. Send me yours at dj@diannej.com.
My Book
Here’s the latest edition of my multiple award-winning book, Will Write for Food: 2021: Pursue Your Passion and Bring Home the Dough Writing Recipes, Cookbooks, Blogs, and More.
I’m also the co-author of:
Disclosures: I am an affiliate of Food Blogger Pro, Amazon and Bookshop.org.
Thanks for Reading
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Dianne Jacob
Editor, Writer and Coach
Email: dj@diannej.com
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what a headline!!!
I'm chuffed to see this here (sorry it somehow took me a month and a half). Honored to have CT's book mentioned by someone I so admire, and thanks, everyone, for the props on the recipe testing. I always say that everything else is subjective--design, voice, cover--but if your recipes don't work, your cookbook isn't worth the paper it's printed on.