Jenny Rosenstrach - Dinner: A Love Story: It all begins at the family table

W elcome to Dinner: A Love Story, the book thats all about family meals, however you might define family and however you might define meals. Before I get down to the business of explaining what you will find in the next three hundred pages, Id like to tell you a bit about what you wont find.

You will not find dire warnings that your children are going to become meth addicts if youre not eating with them five nights a week.

You will not find lyrical musings on the Japanese eggplant or tender odes to the fleeting beauty of beet greens, kabocha squash, or garlic scapes.

You will not be told that family dinner is a problem that can be figured out in three easy steps!!!

You will not hear me describe family dinner as a problem. A problem is a flood in the basement or a bedbug on your pillow or a letter from the IRS saying you owe them $120,000. A problem is something that, once solved, gets you right back to where you started, but poorer or angrier. Preparing your mothers crispy vinegary pork chops and sharing them with people you love, potentially making your life richer and happier, is, in my opinion, the opposite of a problem.

(Disclaimer: You may, however, catch me referring to certain family dinner scenarios, such as having two working parents and two kids under two, as not merely problematic but also soul crushing and harrowing.)

You will not read the insidious phrase: So delicious your kid will love it, too! Therefore, you will not have the urge to throw this book across the room when your kid tries the kale and decidedly doesnt love it, too.

You will not hear me suggest, even for one second, that you should do what I have done and document in a dedicated diary every dinner youve cooked and eaten for the past fourteen years. (This strategy should be employed only under special circumstances and only after being officially approved by your institutions chief warden.)

Olives. Im sorry. I know its a major culinary weakness, but I really dont like olives, so you wont find them anywhere in these pages.

You will not hear me claim that family dinner is the magic bullet, the answer to your prayers, the only way to raise happy children. But I will say that it has done more to foster togetherness and impart meaning and joy into my family life on a daily basis than just about anything else I can think of.

Jenny Rosenstrachis the creator of Dinner: A Love Story, the website devoted to family dinner, and the coauthor of Time for Dinner: Strategies, Recipes, Inspiration for Family Meals Every Night of the Week. She was the features director at Cookie magazine for four years, and before that, the special projects editor at Real Simple for five years. Her essays and articles have appeared in numerous national publications and anthologies, including Real Simple, Cookie, Martha Stewart Living, Whole Living, and the New York Times. She and her husband, Andy Ward, cowrite The Providers, a column in Bon Apptit. They live in Westchester County, New York, with their two daughters.

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I found that writing a book was a lot like being a parentI spent a lot of my time looking around at everyone else who has done it before me, wondering how on earth they seem to manage it so effortlessly. The book you have just read was an absolute labor of love, with an emphasis on the labor part. I dont know how it would have happened without the support of the following people:

My Dinner: A Love Story readers: I knew what I was writing was interesting to me, and the three people around my dinner table, but I had no idea that tales of pork chops mixed with reviews of childrens books mixed with family living would mean something to you guys, too. I love that for every Yum! This was delicious! you write comments like Thank you for bringing peace to an otherwise no-good day. Its hard to overstate how much that real-world feedback (and such well-written real-world feedback) means to a lonely blogger sitting in her pajamas at the kitchen table banging out 300 words on mashed potatoes. A thousand thank-yous.

My editor and friend, Lee Boudreaux: Im married to a book editor so I know how many authors and launches and pitches and bidding wars and writer complaints you are juggling on an hourly basis. And yet, not once since I landed on your doorstep, have I ever felt like I was anything but the only person in your orbit. Thank you for your tireless enthusiasm, your thoughtful reads, quick turnarounds, and your diplomatic reassurance whenever I was ready to lose it.

My agent, Elyse Cheney: For pushing me in directions I would never think to take. And for taking one look at my dinner diary back in 2009 and saying I will represent this project, even though the blog was months away from launching and neither of us had any real sense of what this project even was.

The team at Ecco: Dan Halpern, Abigail Holstein, Rachel Bressler, Allison Saltzman, Leah Carlson-Stanisic, Mark Ferguson, Michael McKenzie, Leslie Cohen, Samantha Choy, and Ben Tomek. Thank you all for believing in the blog, the book, and the bumper stickers!

Yolanda Edwards: Im waiting to discover the boundaries of your generositywhether its as small as hand-me-downs and flea-market finds or as huge as photography counsel, design feedback, and personal cheerleading. I feel lucky to have you on my speed-dial.

Rory Evans: Thank you for making everything Ive written cleaner and betternot just this book (which I couldve never published without your stamp of approval), but all those stories about garlic and coffee and how to get ahead for the holiday right now. And a huge thank-you for reading my blog so religiously and for commenting on posts with such heart.

Pilar Guzman: For letting me piggyback on your shooting star; for telling me my jeans were too big and my ambitions too small; for encouraging me to be a writer as much as an editor; for teaching me everything I know about design; for always coming through for me when I need you.

Adam Rapoport: For letting Andy and me be