Samin Nosrat Tickets

I think if UCLA CAP wants to continue putting on these "talks," they need to make them thematic. Putting up a moderator who asks non-linear questions and gets easily sidetracked was not effective. The event was also billed as a conversation between two people so I didn't even know a moderator would be present. Will that be the case with all their events? If so, I won't be attending. The draw for me was two people with similar-but-different backgrounds conversing with one another. In addition, the line to get books signed afterward was horrible. They kept putting people in the preferred line, bumping those of us in the "Regular" line back to wait even longer. It took too long. It was inefficient. I was disappointed and had I not paid for my books on site that evening, I would have left.

I love both of these authors so much, but this event was such a disappointment. I really thought that it was going to be a thoughtful conversation between Lindy West and Samin Nosrat - who are both really interesting women and are doing really cool things as women and also as writers. However, the woman who introduced them seemed obsessed with celebrity and asked the most inane, shallow questions and it ended up being exhausting to listen to and also, being from Los Angeles and growing up in celebrity culture, honestly WHO CARES. Becoming famous and dealing with that in their private lives isn't the most interesting thing about either of them. As a result, it really felt like Lindy, in particular was phoning it in so hard. Samin is always pleasing but I was there primarily for her and I was really curious to hear her speak about her process as a food writer/cook and also to say even more about the relationships that are necessary to create those projects. From Lindy it would have been so cool to hear her speak about the process of Shrill becoming a series and her experience as the writer in that process, and as a woman working in the entertainment industry during this time of change for women, and in particular as this now figurehead for the fat acceptance movement. There is so much that the interviewer could have spent time with rather than just "Lightening Round" inane questions about fame and celebrities that Lindy and Samin have encountered (so boring). I had hoped for way more from UCLA Royce Hall lit events and this one was such a disappointment.

Samin is an incredible woman! What an inspiration - not just in the field of food - but in life!