You Are What You Eat, Erin Gleeson

Name: Erin Gleeson

Occupation: Photographer, and I shoot mostly food. I’m working on a dessert cookbook now for Room 4 Dessert in SoHo.
R4D’s Choc n’ Awe

Borough: Manhattan, Upper West Side

Relationship status: Attached

What did you eat today?

For breakfast I had these leftover kale, egg and swiss cheese soufflés that I made for dinner the other night. This afternoon I was shooting desserts at R4D and I sampled several of them…lime gelato with salt, hazelnut mousse and a tart citrussy foam. [What a job perk! --Ed.] This evening I had some leftover Challah from a bread making class my friend and I took this week. (I sprinkled the Challah with black sesame seeds, which I’ve recently discovered and put on everything!) I then roasted some eggplant and whole garlic cloves and mixed them with portabella mushrooms & onions that I sautéed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert (recipe from epicurious.com).

What do you never eat?

Meat. I shoot a lot of dinners at the James Beard House, and I have never questioned my vegetarianism so much as there! I like the way it smells and looks, but I still can’t do it. I was raised vegan by hippie parents in an apple orchard in Northern California. I do eat dairy now, though. [Though I've been around plenty of hippies and hippie children, I've never met anyone who was raised vegan. I don't know why I'm so surprised to meet a semi-vegan who's serious about food. Just reveals my prejudices, I guess. --Ed.]

Complete this sentence: In my refrigerator, you can always find:

kale, free range eggs, chevre, soy milk, sundried tomatoes from the Fairway deli, morning star sausage links, dark chocolate.

What is your favorite kitchen item?

My one-cup-at-a-time coffee dripper

Where do you eat out most frequently?

I get lunch several days a week from a health food store deli called Frontier on 21st and 3rd Ave in Manhattan. Occasionally they make these giant baked acorn squashes that are stuffed with a veggie/tofu salad. It’s amazing with their papaya poppy seed dressing all over it. Only $3.99! You can get 2 meals out of it (and I’m a big eater!)

World ends tomorrow. What would you like for your last meal?

Whole wheat toast with butter, a nice chevre with sliced pears, triple crème brie with a baguette, Spicy Thai basil Drunken noodles, Pinot Noir, and Mexican wedding cookies.

Check out some of Erin's photography at her website.