When I think of my favorite food memories, my mind goes a million different directions at once. There's the green Shrek-themed ketchup that my sister begged my dad to buy on one of our family shopping trips. I was maybe 9, she was maybe 6 and whenever we were at his house for the week, he'd let us pick out one junk food item each. It was thrilling to say the least. (My sister ate that ketchup exactly one time and then it was banished to the back of the fridge for entirely too long.) There's the unparalleled experience of eating a fresh batch of Fisher's Popcorn after spending a morning playing in the waves in Rehoboth Beach, Del., fingers pruny and salted from the ocean, mind at ease because summer vacation was in full swing. There's my grandma's potato salad that she made whenever we had a crab boil, birthday or other family gathering, forever insisting on Helman's over Duke's. There's the beautifully charred, impossibly flavorful flank steak my mom would grill and serve alongside a too-big salad and plenty of other fixin's when the weather was nice and she had time to cook dinner after a full day in her catering kitchen. These memories are a blend of low-brow and (occasional) high-brow foods that make up the whole of my gustatory past — a thrilling culinary joy ride, if you will.
Even more thrilling? Discovering that one of your core food memories is shared by an acquaintance, maybe a coworker or a classmate or the guy you met on Tinder six years ago and then ended up marrying (happy anniversary, Nick). Slap those memorable dishes on an article of clothing and you've basically got a walking billboard for food nostalgia — that's Rachel Antonoff's latest line of edible-themed garments in a nutshell. Rachel founded her eponymous fashion brand in 2008, releasing her first line a year later. Over the decade plus since the brand has been around, there have been a few constants: inclusive sizing, ethical production, garments that are actually comfortable to wear and irreverent prints that either perplex or delight (or both) and often feature food. From an internet-breaking pasta puffer to a key lime pie print created from Rachel's latest baking obsession, I sat down with the designer to talk all things food, fashion and inspiring trips to Florida.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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