Stephanie Danler needs a little time to detox. The TV adaptation of her New York Times best-selling novel Sweetbitter made its debut only in May- but she’s already back in the writer’s room working on Season 2. Danler, who lives in Echo Park in Los Angeles, never imagined that her novel- a coming-of-age tale set behind the scenes of the buttoned-up world of fine dining- would take her to the small screen. She partly attributes the success of the book, which has a strong, young female lead, to its release during a wave of feminist optimism, back when, she says, Hillary was supposed to be elected. The story is based on Danler’s own experience as a 20-something waitress at New York’s Union Square Cafe, newly transplanted from her hometown of Seal Beach, Calif. In making the leap from the page to the screen, Danler assumed the role of writer, creator and executive producer. To execute her vision, she was faced with thousands of seemingly minute yet critical decisions, including what shade of lipstick the main character would wear and what type of china would be used in the restaurant.
Having little prior exposure to fine dining, Danler found that her learning curve was steep, but the job inspired a lifelong love of foodie pleasures. She eats whatever she wants in restaurants, she says, not restricting herself with food in any way shape or form. But when Danler cooks for herself, she makes an effort toward self-restraint, counterbalancing those rich restaurant meals. Her friend Carly de Castro, a founder of Pressed Juicery and The Chalkboard Magazine, is a healthy influence, as it was de Castro who first introduced Danler to Ayurvedic cooking along with the recipe for kitchari, a dish made from red lentils and rice. An Ayurvedic diet- based on traditional Hindu medicine- is rooted in the idea of eating according to one’s body type. Meals are tailored to balance the three doshas, energies as defined by the five elements: space and air, fire and water, water and earth. A monthly break from the individualized approach, the kitchari cleanse is a practice of eating the easy-to-digest, anti-inflammatory pairing of mung dal and rice for three meals a day, four days straight- which Danler now swears by. It is said to be tridoshic, soothing to the system no matter your body’s composition. We all could use some tridoshic…
