Georgia Freedman

Georgia Freedman is a freelance journalist and editor based in the Bay Area. Formerly the managing editor of the food magazine Saveur, Georgia has written for the Wall Street Journal, Food & Wine, Afar, Martha Stewart Living, and other publications. She is also the author of the cookbooks Cooking South of the Clouds—Recipes and Stories from China’s Yunnan Province (2018) and There's Always Room for Chocolate: Recipes from Brooklyn's The Chocolate Room (2016).

What's your desert island food?

Salads of all kinds. I am a Californian at heart, and, as such, I believe strongly that any and all foods can and should be used in salads. (I also believe that any and all foods, including salads, can go into a taco, but that's a different topic.) My refrigerator is full of greens and my yard is being taken over by all kinds of leafy things, and whenever I cook, I make extra bits—an extra caramelized onion, scraps of roast chicken, additional servings of wild rice or soba noodles—and then secret them away in the fridge for future salads.

What's your favorite condiment?

I don't have just one go-to favorite. The condiment sections of my refrigerator and pantry are overflowing. I run through massive jars of Dijon mustard, mostly adding it to salad dressings, but I also have to buy tomato paste, anchovy fillets, and doubanjiang in bulk. Perhaps the condiment I have the softest spot in my heart for is a Yunnan-style fermented pickle I make and store in the back of my refrigerator all year. It reminds me of my other "home" (Yunnan Province, China) and is good in everything.