Kari herer biography of rory

"It's not about perfection; it's about the joy of striving.”

-Thomas Keller

When I was five my mother worked at the Grafton Hotel in Wisconsin.

I remember her polyester work apron, black with a white ruffle tied around her waist on top of her deep red uniform, and I remember eating the leftover chicken wings and carrot sticks she brought home after her shifts. Because she worked nights we were left in the care of my “Oma,” with her heels and red lipstick, who danced and sang and called us Schatz (little darling) in her thick German accent.

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Oma’s house often smelled like sauerkraut; she would make us homemade “TV dinners” consisting of boiled chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn. Butter was our spice. (It wasn’t until I worked at the Red Door Restaurant in Moscow, Idaho, that I learned about Maldon sea salt and how to properly eat a spiced curry.) 

My first food photograph was a college assignment to design a book cover for an illustrator class.

My roommate stirred butter