Episode Details

On this episode of Five Rules for the Good Life, I sit down with my friend and colleague, Andrew Friedman, author, podcaster, and one of my favorite writers working in food today. We dig into his Five Rules for Living an Artist’s Life, from trusting your gut to trusting the process, and why sometimes the hardest part is just having the confidence to call yourself an artist in the first place. Whether you’ve got a blank page, a hot stove, or a guitar in hand, this episode is a reminder that finding your voice is a lifelong process—and it’s worth every step.

This one hit close to home. I’ve spent a career in creative work—producing, directing, writing—but for whatever reason, I’ve always hesitated to use the word “artist” when talking about myself. Hearing Andrew talk about permitting yourself to own that title, even if only internally, was a real shift. This episode isn’t just about the craft. It’s about belief. Belief in your instincts, your process, your weird ideas, and your voice—even if it’s still forming. And maybe, just maybe, it gave me the nudge I needed to start saying it out loud.

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Transcription

Hello and welcome to Five Rules for the Good Life. I'm your host, Darin Bresnitz. Today, I am so excited to be sitting down with my friend and colleague, writer and author, Andrew Friedman.

He has written some of my favorite books about the culinary world, including Chefs, Drugs, and Rock and Roll, and The Dish, which is a deep dive into how one plate of food can represent the entire industry. I also enjoy his weekly podcast, Andrew Talks to Chefs, where he sits down and chats with some of the greatest voices and minds of the food scene. He joins me today to share his five rules for living an artist's life, and he gets into finding the right balance between working and living, what it really means to trust your gut, and the all-important north star, which is finding your voice.

So let's get into the rules. Andrew, it is always a pleasure to see you and to chat with you. I feel like we've gotten to have a lot of conversations this year, and it just makes me so happy.

I feel the same way, and it was all kind of happenstance, right? It all kind of started when we ran into each other at the big benefit for the LA Fires. And who says there was no benefits for my house burning down? A small price to pay. A small price to pay.

I'm so excited to see you today to chat about your career in creative work and being an author and everything that's fallen under that umbrella. And before we get to the latter stuff, I want to talk about the earlier days. Do you remember the first time you did any sort of creative work? I don't know that it was that unusual, but I do remember little assignments, like in elementary school.

I had done this kind of illustrated story. There was this whole civilization, like in caves, like underground. And I remember the teacher wrote, what an imagination.

And I was really young when I did it. Yes. There's this crazy memory, and I swear to God, it's true.

The Miami News, which used to be the Miami afternoon newspaper, and every year they had a scary story contest at Halloween. And I wrote the winning entry for my age category in about half an hour. I had an idea, and I banged it out, and I mailed it in.

Love it. But I didn't know I had won until I went to a newsstand after school that day, bought a copy of the paper, and opened it up, and there was my story. And that was a big moment.

Having those moments, having those early creative wins are so important, because it shows you that there can be success in doing this type of work, or having an idea and turning something real. And in addition to that, having someone support that creative work, whe