Rethinking Dinner With Georgia Freedman

The author of 'Snacking Dinners' offers inspiration for meals that are much more fun.

It often feels like there’s a lot weighing on dinner.

“There’s this pressure we put on ourselves to have this complete meal,” says cookbook author Georgia Freedman in this week’s podcast conversation. “It’s going to have all the vegetables, it’s going to have all the protein.”

To pile on more pressure, dinner’s also supposed to be a time of connection and somehow perfect parenting at the very end of the day.

In contrast, Georgia says, a snacking dinner “is all delight and zero obligation.”

Snacking dinners like the recipes in Georgia’s new book are a low-effort source of joy—whether you’re treating yourself on a quiet solo evening or you’ve declared that it’s picnic dinner for all.

These simple bites—assembled in 20 minutes or less—could absolutely be multiplied for a gathering, but you don’t need to save them for that.

I talk to Georgia about ways to make a snacking spread without fussing or fiddling, and the little store-bought delights she always keeps on hand to be eaten right from the bag or tin or jar or transformed into something like her Sweet Potato Chip Salad, reprinted below.

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Note: This newsletter contains some affiliate links; your purchase is a small way to support the show. Have you checked out this list of every cookbook recommended by the cookbook authors I’ve talked to so far?

Georgia mentioned

Rancho Gordo Bean Club
Black Bean Picadillo from Snacking Dinners
Tuna Kimchi Melt on Georgia’s newsletter
Georgia’s “Taco Bowls”
Carrot Greens Salad (from Cooking South of the Clouds, excerpted on Food52)
Bebe Carminito’s The Curated Board
Yogurt-Miso Green Goddess Dip
Laura Chenel goat cheese
Steamed Clams With Bacon, Beans, and Kale (The California Table)
Zuni-Ish Roast Chicken Salad (The California Table)
Anita Lo’s Twice-Cooked Sweet Potatoes With Kale, Mushroom, and Parmesan (from Solo, reprinted on Simply Recipes)
Michelle Zhao’s Small Pot Rice Noodles (on Mala Market’s blog)
Marinated Feta With Spice-Roasted Tomatoes And Grapefruit (from Kismet, on The Los Angeles Times—Georgia sometimes subs watermelon for the grapefruit)
Okonomiyaki Tater Tots (from Snacking Dinners, reprinted on Creative. Inspired. Happy)
50 Hertz Tingly Sichuan Pepper Peanuts
Orion Sweet Corn Flavor Turtle Chips
Shirakiku Japanese Nori Maki Arare Rice Crackers With Seaweed
White Bean and Salami Toast (from Snacking Dinners on Simply Recipes)
Eugenia Bone’s Tuna Garlic Pasta, adapted from Well Preserved
Fly by Jing’s Chengdu Crunch (now called Xtra Crunchy) or Original Chili Crisp

Georgia’s favorite cookbooks:

Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden, especially the celery salad with dates, and the pea and prosciutto pasta with pea shoots
Harumi Kurihara’s Everyday Harumi especially the katsu (you can make with chicken!), the hot noodle soup with sliced duck, and the green beans with sesame dressing
Hiroko Shimbo’s The Japanese Kitchen
Fuchsia Dunlop’s Every Grain of Rice, especially the mapo tofu and the “Cold Chicken with a Spicy Sichuanese Sauce”
Kristina Cho’s Chinese Enough

Maggie mentioned:

Peter Som’s Sweet and Spicy Tofu With Broccoli

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Sweet Potato Chip “Salad” With Hot Honey and Fresh Herbs

Excerpted with permission from Snacking Dinners by Georgia Freedman, published by ‎Hardie Grant Publishing, April 2025.

10 minutes; Serves 1

Photo: Leela Cyd

This dish has a bit of an identity crisis. It’s kind of like chips and dip, but the flavors are reminiscent of roast sweet potato wedges with herbs, and the whole thing is plated like a salad—a crunchy one you eat with your fingers. The earthy sweet potato is a perfect vehicle for a tart dip-like dressing of feta, yogurt, and lemon, and lots of fresh herbs lift and brighten the flavors and give the dish its salad-like feel. A final drizzle of sweet-spicy hot honey (or a mix of honey and chile crisp) makes the whole thing irresistible. To bulk up the meal, serve with a jammy egg.

Ingredients:
¼ cup (65 g) plain yogurt
¼ cup (35 g) crumbled feta
½ to 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon garlic powder
Kosher salt
1 scallion, white and light-green parts only
¼ cup packed (8 g) cilantro leaves and thin stems
1 tablespoon dill fronds and thin stems
4 teaspoons hot honey (or 3 teaspoons honey and 1 teaspoon chile crisp)
One 5-ounce (140 g) bag of thick-cut sweet potato chips, such as Terra brand
Za’atar

Preparation:

1. Smash the yogurt and feta together in a small bowl, leaving some of the feta in clumps. Stir in the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic powder, and a big pinch of salt; adjust the seasonings to taste. Cut the scallion in half lengthwise and then very thinly crosswise; finely chop the cilantro and dill. If you’re making your own hot honey, mix the honey and chile crisp in a small dish and set aside.

2. Put about half the sweet potato chips on a large plate in an even layer. Drizzle them with half the yogurt dressing and half the hot honey, then sprinkle on half the scallion, cilantro, and dill and a couple big pinches of za’atar. Repeat with a second layer of chips and the remaining ingredients.