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Adeena Sussman is a distinguished ICE graduate. She is also the definition of the “joy of cooking,” which is fitting given her career as a bestselling cookbook author.

In preparation for our interview, the results of which are below, I asked for her photo, the result of which is above. In the photo, a woman stands in her kitchen talking to a friend. (It could also be that the friend is her agent, her publisher or a neighbor who has popped by for lunch.) The woman has just cut fresh herbs – scissors and dill rest on a cutting board just inside the photo’s frame – and she is gesticulating over a platter of what looks like figs and roast duck. She is wearing a vibrant mustard yellow blouse, and the light from either the sun or the camera setup catches the temple of her gold-framed eyeglasses. The photo’s backdrop and her clothing are clearly styled, possibly for the jacket of her latest cookbook.  

What isn’t styled, however, is her smile. Open, enthusiastic and employing every part of her face, it’s the smile of both a little girl at play and a woman present – and joyful – in her space.

That space, of course, is a kitchen, and it’s a space Adeena has loved for as long as she can remember. Before enrolling at ICE, Adeena worked in several food writing and culinary capacities, her passion fueled by time spent cooking with her mother as a kid, and later, shopping the stalls of Jerusalem’s Machane Yehuda market and exploring Thai cuisine while traveling in Asia.

Adeena worked in restaurant kitchens, too, before launching her current cookbook writing career. One of these was a Thai restaurant at a popular NYC hotel. Here, she was tasked with making everything from authentic Thai papaya salads to cheeseburgers and fries. 

I loved it,” she says, adding that this experience informed – and possibly guided – the path toward her later work with Chrissy Teigen, who is half Thai.

We wanted to know more about her work before, during and after ICE; her creative process and proudest achievements; and what she would tell prospective ICE students about mentorship, inspiration and how students can get the most out of their time in culinary school. Here’s what she had to say.

* The following interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

ICE: What is your biggest professional achievement?

Adeena Sussman: I would say being the author of my own cookbooks and finding my own culinary and writing voice after happily writing on behalf of others for a long time. Also, becoming a "New York Times" bestseller was a big brass ring thing that you always dream about but don't think will ever happen. So that was a big one. And I would also say shining a light on a misunderstood cuisine and culture.

ICE: Thinking specifically about your cookbook writing, what is your creative process like?

AS: I cook first and write later. Once you've written a hundred recipes [for the cookbook], you've developed a unique culinary language, a lexicon that belongs only to that project based on the foodways and the culture and the cooking itself. Once the recipes have been made, understood and spirited onto the page, the writing is much more informed. The introduction to my books is the last thing that I write.

ICE: So what I'm hearing is that you go in with a clear understanding of the cuisine, but the storytelling and the history around it develop as you work with the food.

AS: Yes. When I was writing my second cookbook "Shabbat," which came out last year, I had an idea about how I wanted to approach the food, but what I didn't realize was how much of a family memoir it was going to become. Only in mining my personal stories of my own childhood did the narrative for the book become clear. And that only became clear after I looked at all the foods that resonated with me from my heritage and upbringing in combination with all of the recipes that I learned from other people. So yes, I start with ideas about some things I want to cook and then I give myself a lot of latitude to experiment and play around.

ICE: What made you want to attend ICE?

AS: I was 33 when I started ICE. I had been working in a variety of disciplines – most of them not in the food world – since I was 20, so I was very clear on how I wanted to use my culinary degree. I was really interested in the intersection of cooking and publishing and I viewed school as a way to increase my cooking chops and give me confidence.

ICE: When did you know that food was your thing?

AS: Well, I grew up in a home where cooking was very central. We were a classic, 70’s-style suburban household with garlic powder and margarine and all that, but there were also lots of fresh vegetables and all the stuff that comes with living in Northern California. My mother had been raised to think of cooking as an obligation – her mother was a child of the Depression and had been pulled out of school to cook and clean for the family – so she had to learn that cooking could be pleasurable, which is something she then passed on to her kids because we helped in the kitchen.    

We were kosher so made everything from scratch, especially for Shabbat and the weekend – all the cakes and soups and meats. So I had an innate comfort level in the kitchen. My mom used a Jewish cookbook and the "New York Times" cookbook by Craig Clayborn. I remember making a triple layered chocolate cake from that cookbook at age 10 or 11, and the excitement of both making it and cooking my way through it, and even just buying all the ingredients and having this special mission. I loved that excitement. The drama, the suspense, the work involved, all of it, you know?

ICE: And did that manifest as a career goal immediately? Since you mentioned you had several jobs before starting school at ICE when you were 33.

AS: When I graduated from high school in 1988, culinary school was still considered vocational – and even though I went to public school, the mentality was like “formal college or nothing.” So I went to college. But in my twenties, my passion for food increased at the same time that jobs in food started to expand beyond cheffing in a kitchen. And then I moved to Jerusalem and a seasonal food market became part of my daily cooking life, and  a lot of pieces fell into place for me. I was learning about seasonality and foods associated with certain holidays and traditions, and eventually I just knew that cookbooks would be a part of my life, but I didn't really understand how. But I kept seeing the same name on the cookbooks I read: Melissa Clark. And that was when I learned that cookbook co-authoring was a job. It was a light bulb moment for me — that you could help home cooks by coaxing their best skills and talent out of them. So I set that as a goal in the back of my mind.

ICE: Speaking of Melissa Clark, let’s talk about inspiration and mentorship. Do you have any mentors?

AS: Melissa Clark was always – and still is – someone I really looked up to and admired. She’s a beautiful writer and a meticulous cook. So when "Sababa" came out, and she nominated it for the best fall cookbooks list, it was a full circle moment.  

But many people took chances on me, including my first boss at Gourmet, Jane Grenier. Also, when I was working at Gourmet, we featured Chef Waldy Maloof, who had a restaurant called Beacon that was a really classic, iconic Midtown New York restaurant, in a special advertising section that I wrote for Viking range company. I went to Chef Waldy’s house to film his Viking kitchen, and I think he could sense that I was interested in cooking, and he invited me to intern at his restaurant. So twice a week for a year, I left my job at 5 pm to go stage from 5 pm to midnight. It was my first experience in a restaurant setting other than working in a sandwich shop in high school. (This was right before enrolling in culinary school.) I think that if people see a spark in you or a curiosity or respect for what they do – and if you ask good questions and listen well – they want to help.

ICE: So what does that mentorship look like for you now that your name is on the cookbook?

AS: People sometimes seek me out for advice or to get a sense of what I do, so I'll invite them into the kitchen or I’ll meet them for coffee or answer questions on Instagram, and try to show them that culinary careers can be more than cooking. But you do need to have a very strong foundation of experience and knowledge, and you have to have put in the time studying fundamentals and reading tons of books.

ICE: If someone told you they were thinking about attending culinary school, what would you say to them?

AS: First, I would tell them that if you have a specific career role in mind, try and do that thing a little bit before you enroll so you have a clear idea of how to get the most out of your time there. Because school provides a lot of fundamentals, but it's also only as effective as what you put into it, and you have to be really game and enthusiastic. You don't need to know what your career will be, but it’s important to know what your passion is. The more you know before you go, the more impactful it will be.

ICE: Do you have any particular memories, like a singular memory of your time at ICE?

AS: There was this sort of iconic Chef-Instructor that everyone was scared of. He was pretty intense, but I was older so I sort of saw through it. And one of the things that I thought was kind of cool about ICE was they don't give you your knives on day one. You have to learn and study a bit first. So this Chef was like, ‘You know, once you get your knives, it's real, it's the beginning. Like, are you a chef or are you a shoemaker?’ And so the first day that we got our knives, they were in these paper sleeves, and I reached to get a knife and I caught my finger – like, before I even like used my first knife – and I didn’t want him to know because I didn’t want to to be perceived as anything less than a top student. So I snuck into the bathroom and made a kind of tourniquet for my finger and just, you know, made it through the day. So that was a kind of funny memory.

Another core memory: I grew up in a house where we only drank instant coffee, and we were in the breakfast module and someone told me to make the coffee. And, you know, I was breaking down fish from scratch, but I had to whisper to my friend “How do I make coffee? Like, a filter? Where does it go?” So that was pretty funny.

ICE: That is funny, especially that you now live in Israel, where coffee is revered. So do you have any final thoughts to share with people interested in a culinary career?

AS: Ultimately, I’d just encourage people to go straight to the source. If there’s someone you admire, reach out to them them and ask they’ll talk to you, maybe meet you, give you advice. After ICE, I did like 10 jobs before I came to where I am now – catering, marketing writing, recipe testing, food styling. So try things, and if something’s not for you, keep going and testing new ideas until you find what fits you and what excites you. Don't be scared to ask people for opportunities. I think people really want to support people who genuinely want to learn. I don't think people are looking for your bona fides or your skills as much as they're looking for passion and curiosity and creativity and kindness of spirit.