A Conversation with Deb Perelman: In-Person & Online

Christine Han

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J. Kenji López-Alt Presents

A Conversation with Deb Perelman: In-Person & Online

Past Event: Thursday, January 25, 2024

At Town Hall Seattle—The Great Hall

In-Person event icon Online event icon

In Person & Online

Smitten Kitchen is not just a food blog: it is the food blog.

— The New Yorker

Deb Perelman has gained a devoted following with her blog, Smitten Kitchen, where she shares rigorously tested recipes written with warmth and wit.

— Forbes’ Vetted (The Best Cookbooks Publishing in 2022)

No one delivers recipes inspired by equal parts curiosity and appetite quite like Smitten Kitchen’s Deb Perelman.

— Epicurious

Although this event has passed, you can still buy a digital pass to stream this event online! The recording will be available through Thursday, February 1st until 11:59 PM (PT).

Deb Perelman is the self-taught home cook and photographer and the creator of the award-winning blog SmittenKitchen.com. The author of three cookbooks, most recently Smitten Kitchen Keepers, Perelman is hailed as one of the original food bloggers and beloved for her endlessly comforting, faithfully tested recipes. She will be joined in conversation by J. Kenji López-Alt, our Community Curated Series director.

Deb Perelman is a food writer and the home cook, photographer, and publisher behind the wildly popular Smitten Kitchen food blog. Winner of Saveur’s Best Cooking Blog of 2011 award, Smitten Kitchen has amassed a huge following due to Perelman’s ability to translate ambitious, sophisticated flavors into easy-to-follow recipes. The long-awaited New York Times bestseller The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook (2012) compiles favorite and innovative recipes, Perelman’s own beautiful photography, and is peppered with her distinctive “no-fuss” cooking philosophy.

Working out of her apartment’s 42-square-foot kitchen, Perelman draws on a unique sense of humor and personal anecdotes to connect with her audience. Her approachable style and infectious enthusiasm make her a great fit for special events, luncheons or dinners, women’s organizations, or anywhere food lovers congregate. Most recently, Perelman published Smitten Kitchen Every Day, which brings passionate home cooks new recipes designed to elevate their meals with her signature flavorful and approachable flair.

A graduate of George Washington University, Perelman cemented her love for food with odd jobs at bakeries, coffee shops, and ice cream stores before she began blogging. She has written for Martha Stewart Living, Parenting, and NPR, and she lives in New York City with her husband and son.

J. Kenji López-Alt, the director of this year’s Community Curated Series, is an American chef and food writer. His first book, The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science, became a critical and commercial success, charting on the New York Times Bestseller list and winning the 2016 James Beard Foundation Award for the best General Cooking cookbook. In 2023, he won his second James Beard Foundation Award for the Single Subject category for The Wok: Recipes and Techniques, his definitive guide to the science and technique of cooking in a wok.

Videos

Deb Perelman makes baked brie with balsamic red onions.

Deb Perelman makes the perfect vegetable lasagna.

Event Details

Town Hall Seattle—The Great Hall

1119 8th Ave
Seattle, WA 98101

View directions.

Know Before You Go

Can't find your tickets?

All tickets have been emailed for this event, so be sure to check your inbox for an email from [email protected]. Email or call us at 206-621-2230 x10 if you can’t find them.

For in-person attendance: Your e-tickets have been emailed.

For online attendance: If you purchased a digital pass, SAL will send a pre-event reminder email with instructions to log in and access the online stream on the day of the event. The night of your event, return to lectures.org/event/deb-perelman and enter the password where prompted. The program begins at 7:30 p.m. (PT) and will be available for viewing for a week after the event.

If you have opted out of receiving SAL emails, you will miss this important information—please email us at [email protected] and we will assist you.

Seating in the Hall

For the in-person event, the lobby doors and SAL Box Office open at 6 p.m. (PT). The auditorium doors will open at approximately 6:30 p.m. (PT) for seating.

All seating is General Admission by section with the exception of Grand Patron seats, which are reserved.

Late seating is permitted at SAL events. However, your seat is not guaranteed after the program has begun.

Have a question for the speaker?

Want to ask our speaker something? We invite you to submit questions for our Q&A. Check your pre-event email for a link!

Books

Our partner bookstore Book Larder will have books for sale in the lobby and on their website.

There will be no book signing after the event.

Patrons & Grand Patrons, Have a Drink on SAL!

Patron & Grand Patron seating includes a pre-event drink ticket! Check your pre-event email for details.

Need an exchange?

Please note: in-person tickets do not include digital access. (Curious to learn why? Check out our FAQ.)

If you need to exchange your in-person ticket for a digital pass, SAL kindly asks that you please contact the box office before noon on the day of your event.

Tickets and subscriptions are non-refundable.

Transportation & Parking

Town Hall Seattle is centrally located at 1119 8th Ave, on the corner of 8th and Seneca. Their venue is served by frequent bus routes, is near access to light rail stations, and close to a number of parking options nearby. Please see their website for more details.

Accessibility

Open Captioning is an option for people who have hearing losses, where a captioning screen displaying the words that are spoken or sung is placed on stage. To make a request for open captioning, please contact us at [email protected] or 206.621.2230×10. Please note: for in-person events at Town Hall Seattle, we appreciate a two-week advance notice to allow us time to secure captioning services. 

Closed Captioning is an option for people who have hearing loss, where captioning displays the words that are spoken or sung at the bottom of the video for online events. Captioning is available for all online events; click the “CC” button to view captions during the event.

Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) are devices that people with hearing loss use in conjunction with their hearing device (hearing aids or cochlear implants). Town Hall Seattle has a hearing loop system, so you can switch your T-coil hearing aid to telecoil to have the stage’s microphones transmitted directly to your hearing aids. To pick up a headset, check in with any Town Hall usher when you arrive.

Sign Language Interpretation is available upon request for Deaf, DeafBlind, and hard of hearing individuals. To make a request for interpretation, please contact us at [email protected] or 206.621.2230×10, or select “Sign Language Interpretation” from the Accessibility section during your ticket checkout process and we will contact you to confirm details. Please note: we appreciate a two-week advance notice to allow us time to secure interpretation.

Wheelchair Accessible Seating and Accessible Restrooms are available in all sections at Town Hall Seattle, which is fully accessible to ticket holders with physical mobility concerns. Town Hall Seattle recommends that visitors use the 8th Avenue Entrance for events in the Great Hall, and elevators with Braille signage go to all levels within the Hall. The venue has all-gender, ADA-accessible restrooms on the lobby and Forum level. To reserve seating for a specific mobility concern, please contact us at [email protected] or 206.621.2230×10, or select “Wheelchair Accessible or Alternative Seating Options” during ticket checkout, and we will contact you to confirm details. For more details on accessibility features at Town Hall, click here.

Guide and service dogs are welcome.

All-gender restrooms are available.

We are pleased to offer these accessibility services at our venues, and they are provided at no additional cost to ticket holders. Please contact us with any questions and feedback about how we can be more accessible and inclusive. Our Patron Services Manager is available at [email protected], or Monday-Friday from 10:00am – 5:00pm at 206.621.2230×10.

For more accessibility information, please head to lectures.org/accessibility. If you would like to make accessibility arrangements you do not see listed here, please contact our box office or select “Other Accommodations” from the Accessibility section during your ticket checkout process, and we will contact you to confirm details.

Seating Chart

Sponsors

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