When did you know that you wanted to work in food?

The book Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant was passed along to me when I moved to San Francisco.  It's a collection of essays-confessions-about the experience of eating and dining alone.  In a city brimming with people, I kept finding myself alone in the kitchen with lacinato kale.  I'd soften it between my fingers, douse it in lemon juice, and eat it out of a metal mixing bowl with chopsticks.  We all have such distinctive routines around food, and, in privacy, they are beautifully untamed.  When pushed to talk about what we eat and why we eat it the way that we do, so much life seeps out. Each story in that collection was quirky and specific, yet each storyteller similarly fickle and emotional when it comes to food. It warmed me to realize that, even in solitude, I was part of a community of eaters.

How did you get your current good food job?

I've always loved where food and narrative intersect, and the idea that we can use our food experiences as a lens to create a human portrait. When it comes to eating, we all do the so many of the same, ordinary things-cook eggs, for example-but we do them in such nuanced ways for such nuanced reasons.  I dreamed up Yolks & Spokes because I wanted to use a lot of little stories to tell a big one: that we all bring so much with us to the breakfast table.

How did your previous work or life experience prepared you for a good food job?

Working in food service has readied me for documentary work.  I've spent the last several years working in bakeries, not as a baker, but as a girl behind the counter. I like the early mornings and the human interaction.  But what I really love is getting to know the customers that show up every day, and being a part of their daily routine. And I get to know them through the particular way that they order, and take their food and coffee.  Good food service is intimate work.

What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome in pursuing your good food job dream?

It took me a while to muster the chutzpah to say,  "Hey world, I'm Dana and I have an idea. Who's with me?"

I was lucky enough to meet Sara Quinn at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine while she was studying photography and I was studying writing. Having a teammate has made Yolks & Spokes a stronger project, less intimidating, and a heck of a lot more fun.

Name one positive thing that a former employee taught you that you continue to appreciate?

I've always worked in food, and the first job that really ignited me was at Mission Pie in San Francisco. There is so much I love about that business, but especially what their food and atmosphere reflect: that we ought to celebrate simple, wholesome food and the people who cook and eat it. Food culture looks all sorts of ways, but what inspires me is when the culture around food is unpretentious, homespun, and intentional.

What can you identify as the greatest opportunities in food right now?

Every day there's the opportunity to slow down around food, gather around it, and let a meal be a time to connect with other people.

If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?

Occasions to laugh deeply and genuinely, and/or perfectly ripe figs.