This week on Five Rules for the Good Life, I’m joined by the one and only Dana Cowin—former Food & Wine editor-in-chief, zine creator, podcast host, and party-throwing legend—for a conversation on how to entertain with joy and intention. Dana shares her Five Rules for Throwing a Sustainable Party, from the power of the potluck to the importance of local beeswax candles, and saying no to the disposable single-use platter. We talk about rethinking leftovers as party favors, the ethics of bodega bouquets, and how to host with less waste and more meaning. This one’s for anyone looking to throw a party that feels good and does good for the environment.
Photo By Morgan Foitle
Editorial Note, Updated 7.31.25: Dana left Food & Wine in 2016, not 1996.
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Hello, and welcome to Five Rules for the Good Life.
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I'm your host, Darin Bresnitz.
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Today, I am joined by food and media legend, Dana Cowin.
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For over 20 years,
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she was the editor-in-chief at Food & Wine Magazine until she struck out on her own
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creative culinary journey,
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launching such incredible zines like Speaking Broadly and her new podcast and event
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series,
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Progressive Hedonist.
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She joins me today to share her five rules for throwing a sustainable party.
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We chat about taking the pressure off yourself as a host by asking your guests to
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pitch in for a potluck,
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how to source locally grown flowers to make the perfect details for your setting,
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and how to make sure that no food goes to waste.
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It is a delicious, fun, and educational conversation.
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So let's get into the rules.
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Dana, so good to see you.
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Always a pleasure when we can make time to sit down and chat.
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So happy to see you.
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With such an illustrious career in food,
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especially from an editorial perspective,
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have you been able to spot the difference between a trend or fat in cooking versus
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something that becomes more permanent?
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I gave up my trend spotting.
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I started in print, so Legacy Media, in 1982.
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And all I focused on for the next three decades was what is the trend?
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What are people talking about?
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When I left Food & Wine, which was in 1996, I was like, I'm done with that.
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I'm not interested.
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I don't care.
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The trends, they do come and go.
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Some are longer, some are shorter.
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But at the end of the day,
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they actually distract from some of the bigger questions that we should be asking
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ourselves about the food that we're eating and the people we're supporting and the
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way that we're living on this planet.
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The biggest trend that I see right now is people looking to find a more restorative way of life.
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I have to imagine,
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given all that time looking at recipes and looking at different dishes and what
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people want to cook,
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when you're throwing a dinner party,
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how do you select from your deep arsenal of dishes what to cook when you have
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people over?
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This is funny, Darin.
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You're making all these assumptions.
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You know that I wrote a cookbook.
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I know.
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I'm mastering my mistakes in the kitchen.
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So I'm not a cook.
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I didn't come to this world as a cook.
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And I had 20 years of tasting the best food in the test kitchen every single day
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saying,
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this is incredible.
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Am I going to make it at home?
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I'm not so sure.
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The greatest irony is that for those 20 years, I cooked not at all.
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Being in the test kitchen every day,
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I learned a lot of tricks,
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shortcuts to flavor,
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better ways to shop.
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Crispier potatoes.
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Oh my God, the smashed potatoes.
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Absolutely.
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These things when you're in the kitchen, you're like, wait, how did you do that?
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So I learned a lot of technique.
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I learned about all kinds of ingredients that I'd never heard of before.
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It was super exciting.
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Since leaving Food & Wine, I've cooked so much more.
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Taking the technique and the ingredients and the enthusiasm and all the ideas that
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are in the back of my mind,
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that's what's stored.
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Just all these ideas, but not the recipes themselves.
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It has made it really fun, and I am a much better cook.
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And it feels very ironic to me with Progressive Hedonist,
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I host and co-host events all over the country and a lot of them at home.
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And I do so much cooking for people because I ask other people to bring dishes that
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regenerate themselves and regenerate the planet.
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And I have to find my own set of dishes that match that.
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I think it's really important,
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especially when you're having people over,
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to be conscious of what you're buying and what you're working with and not having
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more food in your trash can than on your plate at the end of the day.
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And that's why I'm excited to be chatting with you about your five rules for
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throwing a sustainable party.
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We've all had a party where sometimes we put all the pressure on ourselves,
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but your first rule gives a little grace to the host of a party.
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What is it?
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make it a potluck.
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If you take on the responsibility of cooking for whatever number of people it is,
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it can be very stressful.
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Inviting people in to cook with you,
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to bring ingredients,
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to bring complete dishes,
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I have found it's such a delight,
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not just because it's less stressful,
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but people cook things that I've never tried before.
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I used to have a test kitchen that expanded my horizons.
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And now with potlucks, I have a way to expand my horizons and try new things.
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Of course, restaurants as well.
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But in terms of home cooking,
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I did a congee potluck and seeing all the toppings that people brought and the
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different chili oils and the little fishes,
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and it was completely delicious.
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and something I would have never done myself.
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It builds that sense of everybody in this together because everyone has brought
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something to the table and gives everybody something to talk about.
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Lastly, and this is important to me because I now host quite a bit, it saves you money.
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Yes.
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Because if I had to pay to feed 20 people twice a month,
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that's exorbitant,
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but much less so if you're making a couple of dishes out of everything that's on
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the table.
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My second fear when we're having a big party,
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when I'm hosting,
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number one,
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running out of food.
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Total Shonda.
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I really identify with that.
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I am always worried.
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I always overcook.
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But my second one, I don't have enough serviceware or the right plates.
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New Year's Eve last year found me running to Sur La Tabla to get two white serving
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platters because I just couldn't do it.
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One more New Year's with the wrong platters.
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But rule two advises against this.
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What is your rule number two?
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I am wagging a virtual finger at you.
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I know.
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I believe that we should avoid buying new things when we're entertaining.
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And particularly in the area of service wear.
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So that would be beautiful platters or forks and knives, even napkins.
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I avoid things that are both disposable and new.
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You probably have something that will suffice.
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And will people leave your party saying,
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oh my God,
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did you see that platter under the chicken wings?
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Actually, no one's going to say that.
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No.
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People seem to leave a lot of platters here.
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So my platter collection has grown.
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There's a couple of reasons that I believe this.
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I believe that it's best to use what we have.
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I believe that if you buy things that are paper and plastic that are single use,
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you're doing a disservice to the experience because eating off of paper and with
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plastic is not very satisfying.
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And also it ends up in the trash.
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And the other thing is I now have enough plates and there was a time when I was buying them.
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So at some point you have to buy them.
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I'm just saying, try not to get the one off and then borrow.
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Many a friend has gotten a last minute, oh my gosh, I just realized that I do not have a
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cutting board that's big enough for this gigantic ham.
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Could you rescue me?
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We've all been there.
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So instead of going and buying one,
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someone comes over,
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hopefully on time with a gigantic cutting board.
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While a cutting board in need is a great thing to ask a friend for,
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rule three deals with something that people usually bring,
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but never really give a thought of where they come from.
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People who want to be good dinner guests often bring one of two things.
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Wine, which is great as far as I'm concerned.
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Fantastic.
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And the second is flowers.
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And I abhor cut flowers that are from the local bodega because those flowers are
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part of the international flower trade,
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which runs on bad labor practices.
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Mm-hmm.
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Bad growing practices use a lot of water and then energy for transportation from
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very far away places.
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So I see someone walk in with a bouquet and my mouth smiles and my heart drop.
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I do believe in having flowers at home though.
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And I really love supporting local flower growers.
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At my place upstate, there's Piecemeal Farm run by Olivia Rabbit.
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Her flowers are beautiful.
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She has experimented with zinnias of every
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color and size and the variety that you can get when you're getting flowers from
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someone who's really experimenting and taking care of the land and investing in the
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biodiversity and avoiding the monoculture.
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And I also believe in plants and herbs and other things that are living and still
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have their roots attached to them.
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We've been trained somehow that flowers should be stems.
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Yeah.
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But if what you're really looking for is a spot of green or something that's a
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visual relief or something that's in a pot that still has its roots that can live
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on after the event,
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I find such a great alternative.
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After I've gotten older,
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I do feel that hosting without some sort of floral or plant,
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you don't have a complete party.
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I've also realized how important lighting is, which ties into rule number four.
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Lighting is so important and I entertain with my husband.
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who really, really likes a lot of light.
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So he'll walk in a room and it's dusk and night is falling and he'll flip on every
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light,
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which I find excruciating.
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The rooms are prepared with candles.
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And I put candles of different heights all around the rooms.
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Tea lights, as well as tapers and tapers of different sizes in different holders.
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What's very important to me is that the tapers themselves are beeswax and not paraffin.
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The reason for that is that paraffin is a petroleum product.
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As it burns, it's releasing toxic chemicals.
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Whereas a beeswax candle,
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it does release a very gentle aroma,
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but I find it to be really sumptuous.
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It's soothing.
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I'd never had thought of candles as local before,
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but just like flowers and just like ingredients,
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there are local candle makers because there's local bees.
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Having the right couple of candles and lighting placed at a party makes all the difference.
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Candles are very romantic.
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Well,
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listen,
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dinner party's over,
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candles have melted,
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but there's still a ton of food left over.
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I have gotten into the same habit as you rule number five because I know that I
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don't want anything to go to waste,
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but I can't eat it all.
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What's your fifth rule?
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My fifth rule is to ask guests
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to bring glass containers to take home leftovers.
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And for people who forget, I have containers at home for them.
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Yes.
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I love having just a little bit of food left in my fridge.
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Same.
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So you don't have to cook the next day.
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Exactly.
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So I don't have to cook the next day.
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But I also love giving people a taste of something to take home that they didn't make.
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One of our last parties,
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someone had showed up late and unbeknownst to us put a squash that they grow in
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their garden and goat cheese galette in our fridge.
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And we had given away all of the food.
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There was no leftovers.
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The next morning when it came lunchtime,
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I was like,
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I don't want to cook and open the fridge and it was gorgeous,
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perfect summertime dish.
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And I was like, this is why you have dinner parties.
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That sounds amazing.
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It's true.
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At my last dinner party, which was two days ago, I had a butter sommelier come.
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I'm here for it.
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She brought butter from Australia, New Zealand, Greece, France, Pennsylvania.
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She whipped her own butter.
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She made a butter with raisins soaked in maker's mark when cut into coins and chilled.
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It's like a Japanese bar snack.
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And she made bournoisette.
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When I opened my refrigerator the next day, there was this butter bonanza.
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Exactly.
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I was like, this is the best leftovers.
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And these are going to be leftover and in this fridge for quite some time.
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Dana, it is always a pleasure to sit down and chat.
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Thank you for sharing your rules.
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If people want to follow what you're up to or who you have coming up on the
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Progressive Hedonist,
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where can they go?
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If you follow me on Instagram at Progressive Hedonist,
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that's the best place to find all the information.
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You can also go to ProgressiveHedonist.com and listen to the podcast.
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Dana, it's so great to see you.
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Hope to see you soon.
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Great to see you.
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Hope to see you soon.
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Take care.
