“There’s something about the spirit of Nashville that is still so very sticky and creative and humble and burgeoning,” says Christina Tosi, James Beard Award-winning chef and founder of Milk Bar. In 2024 she moved from New York to her new home in Music City with her husband, restaurateur Will Guidara, kids, and extended family.
“All weekend we spend just eating at our house, hosting, going to visit other people in the neighborhood, jumping in someone’s swimming pool, sliding down someone’s blow-up house, smoking a brisket overnight,” says Tosi. Her kids, 3 and 5, eat the way she and her husband do, as opposed to vice versa. “It’s fun to think about it in the way of like, oh, what we actually keep in the fridge is also developing and defining their palates as well.”
The chef, always experimenting in the kitchen, snacks on pickle juice chocolate chip cookies while discussing her and her husband’s latest projects: Guidara recently published Unreasonable Hospitality: The Field Guide (Optimism Press), and Tosi has launched a line of Milk Bar baking mixes available on milkbarstore.com.
“I love a good grocery store walk. I can go and spend two or three hours just walking up and down the aisles.” —Christina Tosi
5 Things Inside Christina Tosi’s Fridge
Butter and Eggs
“For baker reasons, but also for breakfast reasons.”
Milk
“Because we have kids.”
Cheese
“Usually some mozzarella string cheese, because it’s portable and easy, but I will say the new little snacky squares of parmesan cheese—that’s like the newest innovation, that’s my go-to.”
Pickles
“I eat a lot of dessert because I’m always working on new desserts, and cheese and pickles are really good salty palate cleansers.”
Bubbly Water
“Club soda, sparkling water, anything like that. It does the same thing; it clears the palate. It’s kind of fun to drink.”
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Tate Jacaruso
Tate Jacaruso loves celebrating Southern food, travel, and culture as associate editor at the Local Palate. She is based in Charleston and is currently making her way through every bowl of pasta and oyster on the half shell in town. Her work has appeared in Charleston Living Magazine and CHStoday.
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