Food Is a Feeling: An Evening with Carla Lalli

​Some cookbooks teach you a technique. This one teaches you how to feed yourself through a hard year and come out the other side still hungry for good things. Carla Lalli, the James Beard Award winning author behind Where Cooking Begins and That Sounds So Good, joins us at First Light for an evening built around her most personal book yet, a collection of recipes and stories about what it means to cook for one, cook for comfort, and cook your way back to yourself.

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Thursday, September 24 6:30 to 8:30 PM First Light Books, 4300 Speedway $50, includes a copy of Food Is a Feeling and a snack box made for the occasion

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The evening begins as a relaxed gathering, good conversation and good company. Settle in with a snack box made for the occasion and spend some time with Carla and fellow cookbook aficionados before she offers a short welcome around 7:00 PM.

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About the snack box

Every ticket includes a snack box designed just for this night with recipes taken right from Food is a Feeling. Expect the kind of small, comforting bites that feel like the book itself. We'll also have a full a la carte menu available and a Sour Patch Lemonade Spritz designed especially for the evening.

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About your signed copy

If you'd like your copy personalized, let us know at checkout. Carla will be in store earlier that day to sign and personalize books ahead of time, which means she's fully present with all of you once the doors open.

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About the book

Carla Lalli has always known that her recipes are about more than just sustenance. In Food is a Feeling (Clarkson Potter, September 8, 2026), the James Beard Award winning author of Where Cooking Begins and New York Times bestseller That Sounds So Good shares an intimate, story driven collection of 65 recipes and 30 essays that explore the idea of cooking and eating as an expression of self-care.

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Food is a Feeling came about after Carla's 24 year marriage ended, perhaps an unusual jumping off point for a cookbook, but her experience, with its highs and lows, inspired a purposeful return to the kitchen. As she unraveled what this new version of herself and her life would look like, she listened to her cravings, recreated dishes from her memory, cooked for herself and for others, and wrote about all of it. Food is a Feeling celebrates the emotional life of food and the many joys of cooking.

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While fans may know Carla for her meticulously written recipes, she brings a fresh perspective to the dishes in Food is a Feeling. Many have roots in her home life, like her mom's Saturday Night Alfredo (Carla's go to request at age 10), the Weeknight Lamb Chop Special she makes for reimagined family dinners, and the Crispy-Skinned Fish with Olives and Lemon she learned to make as a young line cook in New York City. Others, like Alone Popcorn, Night Cereal, and Cosmo's PB&PB&J&J&J, take the guilt out of pleasure and serve as a reminder that there is never "too much of a good thing." The recipes and stories live together on the page, the way they coexisted in real life.

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In writing that is relatable and funny, Carla uses rich personal context to make the case that yes, we should eat our feelings. After all, they're delicious.

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About the author

Carla Lalli is the New York Times bestselling author of That Sounds So Good and received a James Beard Award for her first cookbook, Where Cooking Begins. She is a producer, writer, cookbook author, podcast host, and video host. Before making the move to food media, Carla spent 10 years in restaurants, first as a line cook and kitchen manager, and later as a general manager. She was the food director at Bon Appétit, where she hosted the YouTube series Back to Back Chef, and appeared in dozens of BA Test Kitchen videos.

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At home in Brooklyn, Carla reigns supreme over two humans, a cat, a dog, and three houseplants that aren't looking too hot, if we're being honest. She shares a birthday with Julia Child and Napoleon, and her natural sleep cycle is from 2am to 10am.

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