THE SEASON OF TĀST

The Architecture of Festive Food | Thanksgiving Recipes

We’re nearly twelve weeks into our shift toward Life Architecture, and in the coming weeks we’re marking a first: we’re going all-in on food. For some of you who arrived here through interiors, this may feel like a detour. I assure you, it isn’t.

I’ve always believed that the way we design our homes is inseparable from the way we design our lives. And food—its flavors, rituals, ingredients, the way it slows us down or gathers us in—is one of the most powerful architectural materials we have.

This is the part of Life Architecture that has fascinated me for decades. Long before I ever wrote about it, food shaped the way I designed my own homes and the homes of my clients: the kitchen at the center, the table as a primary anchor, the choreography of a meal as atmosphere.

Food has always been foundational to me, quietly structuring the rhythm and ritual of family time, the holidays, even me time. Understanding that food stands as a primary axis of gathering is essential to understanding why good design matters: it’s the feelings and experiences evoked by food in these atmospheric moments that stay with us most.

So today, we begin The Season of Tāst, the moment when festive food becomes part of the architectural conversation. Not metaphorically—functionally. Every dish has its own architecture: ingredients as materials, recipes as blueprints, technique as structure. Once assembled, food shapes us. The warmth, the scent, the color, the sound of clinking glasses—all of it alters the emotional geometry of a home.

And us. It’s design you can smell, touch, taste, and remember.

As we move into the holidays, this Substack will be centered around exactly that: good food, beautiful recipes, and the belief that what we cook becomes part of how we live. This is the first of what’s to come, dedicated to the edible side of Life Architecture—a deeply delicious, deeply sensory season ahead.

A IS FOR APPLE

Fruits and Berries of The Season

THE A–”N B”--C’S OF FESTIVE FOOD

Some of My Favorite Holiday Sides

A STAR IS BORN

Fast, Fool-Proof Make-Or-Take Recipes I Love

Everything Holiday Pie

THE quintessential, best-performing, best-looking, most impressive pie you can make or take to your next holiday gathering — and yes, it has something for everyone, which makes it a star… and it will make you one too.

Next, a guaranteed hit and a staple at pretty much every holiday dinner at my home. This Goat Cheese Round with Fig Preserves and Trader Joe’s Rosemary Marcona Almonds is store-bought, takes almost no time to assemble, and has that perfect sweet-savory combination everyone loves. There’s never a bite left, and it ensures everyone has a nibble as they walk in while I’m finishing off the meal.

To round out my favorite make-or-take, easy recipes, this gem…

It’s not fancy — in fact, it involves a box of Jiffy, which you might think is questionable, but I kid you not, this baked corn casserole is the side that vanishes first, the recipe that never misses. It’s moist, fluffy, and just sweet enough to balance all the richer dishes around it.

EDIBLE ARCHITECTURE

The Feel Good Factor of Holiday Food

Holiday food has a way of making us feel good in a way that almost defies logic. It’s buttery, sugary, indulgent… not always the best for us, yet somehow it’s always exactly what we need. It comforts us, making it its own kind of healthy.

It suspends the rules of ordinary living and lets us sink into something warm and familiar, even nostalgic. Memories from your grandmother’s house, or simply the smell of autumn in the air make cozy, gathering food feel so good.

There’s a reason those first festive bites—apple, cinnamon, caramel, clove—feel like permission slips. They’re emotional architecture. And interestingly, it’s not just nostalgia doing the work.

A few fun food truths I love:

• Warm foods physically relax us. They increase vagal tone, which helps downshift stress and nudges the nervous system into a calmer state.

• Holiday spices are mood elevators. Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and ginger have been linked in small studies to improved mood and lowered inflammation.

• Baking reduces anxiety. Behavioral researchers note that the mix of creativity, sensory input, and a clear step-by-step process gives the mind something grounding to hold onto.

• Scent is memory’s architect. Apples, citrus, vanilla—anything with a strong positive scent—activates the limbic system, the part of the brain that holds emotion. This is why a kitchen can feel like a hug.

  
  

So yes, festive food is decadent. But it’s also deeply human.

It taps into biology, memory, ritual, and emotion all at once. It’s the edible version of pulling out a good blanket or lighting the good candles—it signals to the nervous system that it’s time to slow down, gather, and enjoy.

In Life Architecture, that’s the point.

THE SEASONAL PALETTE

Festive Food and Home Design

Every season arrives with its own palette, but autumn through the end of December is the most expressive. It’s the moment when color deepens and we naturally lean into caramels, wines, chestnut hues, golden browns, ruby reds, and sage greens.

These tones first appear in fashion as soon as Labor Day passes, then move onto our tables as temperatures drop and we crave things like seasonal squashes and pomegranates, and finally make their way into our homes. In many ways—just like fashion and décor—food announces the season.

Environmental psychologists have long noted that people naturally gravitate toward warmer, richer colors as temperatures drop. Designers know this too; each year, fall collections lean into texture, depth, and saturation. Often, it’s simply the combination of these same colors that shifts from year to year.

What’s fascinating is how closely these shifts mirror the food we’re cooking. The flavors grow warmer. The palette grows darker. And our appetite for richness—in both taste and color—intensifies.

Our senses crave this kind of alignment. The hues of the season shape what we want around us: the clothing we reach for, the interiors we want to envelop us, the cozy blankets we pull out, and yes, the tones on the table. We’re responding to the same cues—inside and out.

This is why festive food becomes a form of visual design, much like our homes. A beautifully caramelized apple tart, a bowl of pomegranates, a pot of mulled wine—they don’t just nourish; they color the room. They transform the kitchen, dining, and entertaining areas into a sensory landscape dense with seasonality.

Interior design engages every layer of our internal blueprint: aesthetics, memory, creativity. It grounds us and expands us at the same time. Add what I call the stuff of life—the seasonal traditions and rituals around food that bring a house alive—and you have the true architecture of joy.

DIS-MOI CE QUE TU MANGES

So says the godfather of modern food philosophy — and with that, into the holidays we go. A season that will be built on taste, memory, atmosphere, and the small rituals that make life feel richer.

This week, it begins with food— the recipes that have shaped my home, my table, and so much of my Life Architecture. Here’s to a delicious start.