Cooking for people is a risk: they might not like it. That’s what makes the ones who do feel like family.

Feeding people puts something you made in front of someone who might not like it, with no way to pretend you were not trying. That exposure is exactly why it lands when they do like it, because the other outcome was genuinely possible. Anything that cannot go badly cannot mean much either.

Cook for somebody this month, even something plain and slightly wrong. Resist apologizing for it before anyone has tasted it. Notice that the people who come back are telling you something about themselves as much as about the food.