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Alison Roman

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Author

The Resume

    (September 1, 1985- )
    Born in Los Angeles, California
    Food writer, chef and internet personality
    Columnist for New York Times Cooking (2018-20)
    Best known for viral recipes #TheStew and #TheCookies
    Author of 'Dining In' (2017) and 'Nothing Fancy' (2019)

Why she might be annoying:

    She joked that she started cooking as a way to avoid homework ('My parents would come home – they’d say, did you do your homework? And I’d say, no, but I made dinner. And that got me a little bit of time!').
    She was lampooned on social media for indirectly criticizing the product lines of Chrissy Teigen and Marie Kondo.
    Some critics claimed that her remarks had undertones of white privilege and exhibited 'Karen' behavior (both Teigen and Kondo are of Asian descent).
    Teigen herself responded in a tweet: 'This is a huge bummer and hit me hard. I have made her recipes for years now, bought the cookbooks, supported her on social and praised her in interviews. I even signed on to executive produce the very show she talks about doing in this article.' Roman later apologized and Teigen accepted.
    During the fallout, her New York Times column was put on temporary hiatus. She later left the Times in December of 2020.
    She was set to produce a new cooking show for CNN+ in 2022. Until the service shut down only a month after its launch.

Why she might not be annoying:

    She began as a freelance recipe-tester for the magazine Bon Appetit and later left for a job at Buzzfeed.
    A cookie recipe she introduced in her first book went viral on Instagram.
    Her second book 'Nothing Fancy' was a New York Times bestseller.
    Her recipes and online profile gained a huge following during the COVID-19 pandemic when home cooking was more ubiquitous.
    Her recipes were valuable during food shortages due to their actually being affordable (where are you on that one, Gwyneth Paltrow?).
    New York Times Cooking named her shallot pasta recipe (known as #ThePasta) the most popular recipe of 2020.
    John McWhorter defended her from charges of racism in his book.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 22 Votes: 50.0% Annoying