Chef Claire Saftz Reflects Upon Her Culinary Career

Cooking

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“There’s some kind of spark, whether it’s an ingredient, flavor combination, something you see at the farmer’s market or something you taste in a restaurant or see in a bakery,” Saffitz said.

Saffitz also admitted that though she prefers to create her own recipes rather than following trends, no ideas — including her own — are entirely new. Many people try to invent food ideas or recipes from scratch, she said, but no dish is entirely original.

“It’s a general idea in recipe development and food that there’s really nothing new. I’m not going to invent a totally new idea,” Saffitz said.

As a food writer with a large fan base, Saffitz strives to be transparent in her cookbooks, offering instructions that clearly indicate the difficulty of each recipe. Saffitz said she wants novices and home bakers to be able to enjoy preparing desserts for their family and friends — expertise is not required to bake from her cookbooks.

“A big part of approachability is just being truthful about what the recipe is and what it requires,” Saffitz said. “I’m not going to tell you that something is going to be quick and easy if it’s not going to actually be quick and easy. And I think it helps to build trust between the homemaker and me as the author of the recipe.”

Saffitz also discussed how she aligned her passions with her work. Though writing recipe books does require hard work, she is pursuing her hobby as a career, thus making the work enjoyable.

“One anxiety I had when I decided to pursue cooking and baking as a career was — since it was my passion

— if I did it for work, I worried it might no longer be my passion and extinguish the passion I had for it,” Saffitz said.

Saffitz also remarked that she understands how confusing and challenging the process of choosing a career path can be for college students. Students are often conflicted about how best to pursue their interests and obtain jobs that align with them. However, Saffitz also said she believes that a job does not necessarily need to be related to someone’s passion.

“I think there is an inappropriate amount of pressure placed on people your age to pursue your passion,” Saffitz said. “It’s okay to go to a job and to go home, and to then pursue your hobbies.”

When asked how she deals with the anxiety of messing up new recipes, Saffitz opened up about how she navigates failures and uses them to assist her rather than hinder her.

“I think one of the most important lessons that I’ve learned from recipe development that is sort of a metaphor for life, is that sometimes it’s helpful to approach something with a nonrigid idea of what you want the end result to be, because if you go into a creative project with such a specific idea of what you want the outcome to be, then you might never be satisfied,” Saffitz said. “And you might miss the opportunity to realize that the thing you’ve created — that isn’t the thing you want it to be — is actually very valuable in and of itself.

To continue reading this story, please visit www.cornellsun.com ple and you’re not just using it as a place just to have a house,” Ochuru said. “That’s what I really was looking for, and I feel like I got it. I’m really grateful for that.”

Wari is one of the few co-ops that offers a meal plan, with a maximum of 10 students who can live in the house. Wari has a rich history in the Black community at Cornell — it was founded by a group of Black women who wanted to foster an environment for other Black women to expand their self-confidence and grow academically together.

660 Stewart Avenue and Watermargin co-ops cater to LGBTQ+ students looking for a safe space on campus. Brook Diamond ’25, a 660 Stewart resident, said that they enjoyed the mosey process and how it valued diversity and inclusion in the prospective residents. They attended numerous events at the house, including a garlic naan night and a ‘mattress down the stairs’ night.

“The events are silly [activities]. We have a ‘mattress down the stairs’ night where we take our mattresses and you just jump down the stairs,” Diamond said.

The mosey processes for 660 Stewart and Watermargin are nearly identical. Both require prospective residents to attend three events in order to meet live-in members and get a feel for the house. After completing the initial application and attending a few events, interested students are placed in a lottery system, which is used to determine each applicant’s need for cheaper housing options.