In today’s episode, we speak with our guest Iliana Regan, a self-taught chef who currently runs Milkweed Inn with her wife Anna. 

In this interview, Iliana shares why she turned over her successful Michelin-starred restaurant Elizabeth to her employees to run a 150-acre bed and breakfast—set deep in the upper peninsula of Michigan. She also divulges intimate details about finding her identity as a chef and what it took to write her debut memoir, Burn the Place, which was included on the National Book Award Longlist— being the first time a food writer was listed since Julia Childs.

Listen as Iliana talks about growing up on a 10-acre farm, relying on instinct and memory to create dishes, and serving “new gatherer” cuisine at Milkweed Inn.