Dinner Last Night (with Emma & Dimity) cover art

Dinner Last Night (with Emma & Dimity)

Dinner Last Night (with Emma & Dimity)

By: Dinner Last Night
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We’re Emma & Dimity—identical twins, mamas, and co-hosts of Dinner Last Night. When we became parents, figuring out what to make for dinner—and how to get our families to eat it—was hard. One minute, we were serving up a home-cooked meal; the next, we were in high-stakes negotiations over one bite of broccoli. Between finding time to shop and cook, dodging tantrums, balancing nutrition, and honoring traditions, we often felt like we were facing the daily dinner struggle alone.


So we started asking other parents, “What did you have for dinner last night?” We quickly learned we’re all connected by this daily ritual—but also discovered a world of game-changing mealtime tricks and recipes. That’s why we started Dinner Last Night, a podcast where we swap unfiltered stories with parents around the world, diving into how culture, family dynamics, and daily rhythms shape mealtime. Whether it’s pasta from scratch or cereal in a pinch, every meal has a story—one that proves we’re all in this delicious mess together.


Never miss an episode! Subscribe to our newsletter, where you’ll also be entered to win exclusive giveaways from our amazing guests and be the first to get updates about the podcast: https://emmafrisch.substack.com/


A bit about your co-hosts:


Dimity Palmer-Smith is a co-host of Dinner Last Night, a hobby fitness instructor (her secret accountability hack), and a career educator and nonprofit leader. With a knack for fostering connection and community, Dimity understands the magic of shared meals and the delightful chaos of family dinners. She swore she wouldn’t be a short-order cook, but here she is, whipping up gourmet meals tailored to each kid’s whims! When she’s not discussing dinner with parents worldwide, you’ll find her on the soccer field, at the climbing gym, advocating for local education issues, or exploring nature.


Emma Frisch Emma Frisch is a co-host of Dinner Last Night, a chef, culinary instructor, and writer known for helping people fall back in love with home cooking through simple, seasonal recipes. She’s the author of Feast by Firelight and Seasonal Family Almanac, and co-founded two hospitality ventures—La Buena Onda in Nicaragua and Firelight Camps in Upstate New York—before she had kids and dinner got complicated. A Food Network Star finalist and Fulbright Scholar, Emma’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Vogue, Epicurious, and more. She lives in the Finger Lakes with her husband and two daughters.

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Episodes
  • Paragini Amin: Designer on Indian-American Identity, a Husband Who Cooks Like a Chef, and a Game That Opens Kids Up

    Paragini Amin: Designer on Indian-American Identity, a Husband Who Cooks Like a Chef, and a Game That Opens Kids Up
    May 20 2026
    Paragini Amin grew up in Jersey City in a Gujarati household where dinner, cooked daily by her mother, was always Indian food, and everything else was negotiable. Today, her husband does all the cooking, and he's exceptional at it: French technique one night, Caribbean-Southeast Asian the next, with an instinct for sniffing out the best restaurant on any highway.In this episode, Paragini takes us through the experiences that shaped her, including the early racism she experienced in school, and the radically intentional desegregation high school where she learned what happens when kids from different backgrounds are just given room to be. She tells us what a psychic once said about getting into the kitchen, and why she still hasn't done it. We get into Things & Things, the conversation game she designed — cards paired with physical objects — that helped her quiet, heady eight-year-old finally open up at the dinner table. And we talk perimenopause and HRT, because we're all in our forties and we have things to say. Paragini is co-founder and creative director of Design for Progress, a brand strategy firm serving social justice nonprofits focused on criminal justice reform and mass incarceration.In this episode:Growing up Gujarati in Jersey City, and her parents' approach to two cultures at the dinner tableThe racism Paragini faced as a young Indian-American girl, and how she made sense of itThe quietly radical desegregation high school in Jersey City that just workedThe husband who does all the cooking, and his nose for the best restaurant on any highwayWhat a psychic once told Paragini about getting into the kitchen, and why she still hasn't done itThings & Things: a conversation game with cards and objects that opened up her quiet eight-year-old at the dinner tablePerimenopause, HRT, and the conversations we should all be having in our 40sMentioned in this episode:Things & Things, Paragini's conversation gameDesign for Progress, Paragini and Chris's design firmThe First 40 Days by Heng OuEarlier episode with Eliza Blank on Farmlink and food wasteCornell Prison Education ProgramSubscribeNever miss an episode: Follow Dinner Last Night and ⁠subscribe to our newsletter⁠. If you loved this episode, please leave us a review, tap “like”, and share it with a friend! It helps more people discover the show. 💛Giveaways⁠CLICK HERE⁠ to enter the giveaway for any episode!Follow UsSubstack: ⁠subscribe to our newsletter⁠YouTube: ⁠@DinnerLastNightPod⁠Instagram: ⁠@dinnerlastnightpod⁠Website: ⁠dinnerlastnightpod.com⁠CreditsProduced: Wombmate Productions, Inc., ⁠REP Studio⁠, and Stuart HetzlerEditing: ⁠REP Studio⁠ and Stuart HetzlerMusic by: ⁠⁣⁠⁠Emerson ‘Longstory’ Bartlett⁠ (feat. ⁠Drew Martin⁠ on Saxophone)
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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Stefan Merrill Block: Novelist and Memoirist on Being Homeschooled, Cooking as Rebellion, and The Power of Writing to Heal

    Stefan Merrill Block: Novelist and Memoirist on Being Homeschooled, Cooking as Rebellion, and The Power of Writing to Heal
    May 6 2026
    When Stefan Merrill Block was nine, his mother concluded that his teachers were stifling his creativity and pulled him out of public school. He wouldn't return until ninth grade. Those five years in between shaped everything that came after, including, eventually, his relationship with food and cooking.Stefan is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Homeschooled, which traces a fiercely loved boy through the years he spent learning at home with a mother whose ideas grew more inventive (and more unsteady) as the months went on. In this episode, we follow the food: his mother's recipe-less cooking, the Dallas chicken tortilla soup that tasted like friendship and a bigger world, and the long road that led Stefan at 30, alone on 250 acres of Texas land, to fall in love with cooking on his own terms. We also talk about writing a memoir with a novelist's instincts, feeling anger for your younger self for the first time, and the homeschool reform conversations the book has sparked in three states.In this episode:Why Stefan's mother pulled him from school at nine, and how that impacted his later yearsHis mother's recipe-less cooking, and the meals that felt like something to endureThe Dallas chicken tortilla soup that tasted like friendship and a bigger worldFalling in love with cooking at 30, alone on 250 acres of Texas landCooking three separate dinners as the main cook in his householdWriting a memoir with a novelist's instincts, and feeling anger for your younger selfCo-owning Skate Time 209, the beloved roller rink in Accord, NYMentioned in this episode:Stefan's WebsiteFollow Stefan on InstagramGet a copy of Stefan's memoir, HomeschooledThe Coalition for Responsible Home EducationSkate Time 209SubscribeNever miss an episode: Follow Dinner Last Night and subscribe to our newsletter. If you loved this episode, please leave us a review, tap “like”, and share it with a friend! It helps more people discover the show. 💛GiveawaysCLICK HERE to enter the giveaway for any episode!Follow UsSubstack: subscribe to our newsletterYouTube: @DinnerLastNightPodInstagram: @dinnerlastnightpodWebsite: dinnerlastnightpod.comCreditsProduced: Wombmate Productions, Inc., REP Studio, and Stuart HetzlerEditing: REP Studio and Stuart HetzlerMusic by: ⁣Emerson ‘Longstory’ Bartlett (feat. Drew Martin on Saxophone)
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    57 mins
  • Virginia Craddock: Fashion Founder and Mother on Conscious Consumption, Blending Families, and Finding Clarity in Everything

    Virginia Craddock: Fashion Founder and Mother on Conscious Consumption, Blending Families, and Finding Clarity in Everything
    Apr 22 2026
    Virginia Craddock is the founder of Inside Out Agency, a multi-brand showroom working to shift the way we think about what we wear, how we consume, and what it all means.Virginia grew up eating Brazilian moqueca in two different households — her parents had both spent time in the Peace Corps in Brazil — and now she makes the dish her own way. We talk about scruffy hospitality and why clarity in how you invite people into your home changes everything about the experience. And in one of the most moving moments of the season, Virginia shares how blending her and her partner's families is her biggest triumph, and why. The phrase her business teacher gave her — “clarity is connection” — turns out to be the thread running through it all.In this episode:A Brazilian moqueca passed down from Peace Corps parents, adapted and made her ownBuilding Inside Out Agency to shift how we think about clothing and consumptionScruffy hospitality, and the freeing power of low-stakes gatheringHow knowing where your clothes come from changes how much you love themThe Art of Gathering, and hosting with intention instead of effortBlending three boys, two households, and years of hard conversations into one family“Clarity is connection” — her business teacher's mantra that became her life'sMentioned in the episode:Virginia on InstagramInside Out AgencyThe Art of Gathering by Priya ParkerMeditations for Mortals by Oliver BurkemanSubscribeNever miss an episode: Follow Dinner Last Night and subscribe to our newsletter. If you loved this episode, please leave us a review, tap “like”, and share it with a friend! It helps more people discover the show. 💛GiveawaysCLICK HERE to enter the giveaway for any episode!Follow UsSubstack: subscribe to our newsletterYouTube: @DinnerLastNightPodInstagram: @dinnerlastnightpodWebsite: dinnerlastnightpod.comCreditsProduced: Wombmate Productions, Inc., REP Studio, and Stuart HetzlerEditing: REP Studio and Stuart HetzlerMusic by: ⁣Emerson ‘Longstory’ Bartlett (feat. Drew Martin on Saxophone)
    Show More Show Less
    59 mins
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