Jay Friedman

Location: Seattle, Washington

Education: University of Vermont

Expertise: Sichuan Cuisine

Jay Friedman is a freelance food writer and gastronaut.
Jay's bylines have appeared in Serious Eats, Lucky Peach, Eater, USA Today, Seattle Weekly, and Edible Seattle.
Lover of noodles.

Experience

Jay Friedman is a freelance food writer and gastronaut, a global explorer of things gourmet and, well, not-so-gourmet. Known as the "mein man," he's a lover of noodles and Asian food in general, with particular expertise in Chinese cuisine. In addition to Serious Eats, he has written for Lucky Peach, Eater, USA Today, Seattle Weekly, and Edible Seattle, with most of his work aggregated at his Gastrolust website.

Jay dabbled in classes at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration (ultimately majoring in history and getting an M.Ed. at the University of Vermont), taken cooking classes around the world, cooked as a Vermont inn-sitter, worked as a waiter, and evolved into an omnivoracious eater.

What's your desert island food?

"Mapo tofu. It's the ultimate comfort food, both soothing and spicy. Ma la keeps life interesting!"

What's your favorite condiment?

"I like all things spicy (such as karashi and horseradish), and my favorite condiment is my homemade chili oil. I'm even tempted to put it in my morning oatmeal."

About Serious Eats

Serious Eats, a Dotdash brand, is an award-winning food and drink website visited by over 7 million hungry readers every month. Our audience comes to us for rigorously tested recipes, science-driven cooking techniques, robust equipment reviews, and stories that offer cultural and historical context to the foods we love to eat.

Dotdash is among the largest and fastest growing publishers online, and has won over 50 awards in the last year alone, including Digiday's 2020 Publisher of the Year. Dotdash brands include Verywell, Investopedia, The Balance, The Spruce, Simply Recipes, Serious Eats, Byrdie, Brides, MyDomaine, Lifewire, TripSavvy, Liquor.com, and TreeHugger.