Small Bites: Subscribe to Dinner Last Night’s Newsletter to never miss an episode, and you’ll also be entered to win exclusive giveaways from their amazing guests! Visit the Dinner Last Night website for direct links to each episode on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon. Their most recent episode (published Aug. 31st!) featured a conversation with Anand Wilder—musician, songwriter, former Yeasayer frontman, and devoted dad—exploring how his bicultural Indian-American upbringing, family life, and passion for music intertwine in the kitchen, at home, and in his community.
Back-to-School is super busy, so that’s why we’re loving Territory Foods: no-prep, real-ingredient meals made by local chefs and delivered fresh to your door.
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Peas & Hoppy Meal Guides App Back to School Sale! Want help meal planning? Back to school = back to “what’s for dinner?” The Peas & Hoppy meal planning app makes that question way easier with 11 flexible recipes, a smart grocery list, and tips for real-life families.
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Emma & Dimity on Dinner Last Night, food rituals, and sisterhood
When it comes to feeding families, no one knows the daily dinner struggle quite like identical twins—and mamas—Emma Frisch and Dimity Palmer-Smith. Between grocery runs, picky eaters, balancing nutrition, and keeping traditions alive, mealtime can feel like its own full-time job. That’s exactly what inspired them to start Dinner Last Night, their podcast where they ask parents around the world one deceptively simple question: “What did you have for dinner last night?”
What sounds like a casual mealtime check-in quickly became a window into how culture, work, and family rhythms shape daily dinners, and how those dinners shape connection, joy, and even a little chaos. From playful games at the table to clever ways to navigate picky eaters (including the infamous “bedtime carrot”), Emma and Dimity are learning and sharing practical tricks that any parent can take into their own kitchen.
In this conversation, the twins open up about the meals that shaped their childhoods (yes, cow’s tongue with green sauce makes a cameo), the unexpected joys of cooking together, and what it’s really like collaborating as sisters and co-hosts. Whether you’re looking for inspiration, solidarity, or just a laugh over the unpredictable mess of family dinners, Emma and Dimity’s stories remind us why we keep coming back to the table—messy, magical, and always full of love.
A message from our friend Ann Kent, dietitian & owner of Peas & Hoppiness:
Back-to-School, Back to Real Life—Dinner Help Included
When backpacks get packed and schedules fill up, the last thing you want is to be staring at your fridge at 5pm, wondering what’s for dinner.
One Potato’s friend Ann Kent, a Registered Dietitian and busy mom, created the Peas & Hoppy Meal Guides app to make healthy eating simple for families like ours. And right now, she’s running a Back-to-School Sale:
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A Conversation with Dimity & Emma, hosts of the Dinner Last Night Podcast
Introduce Yourselves:
I’m Dimity Palmer-Smith. I have two boys, one is 11 and the other is nine.
I live in High Falls, New York—up in the Hudson Valley, about two hours northwest of New York City. I’ve spent my whole career in education, starting as a teacher and later working with educational nonprofits and foundations. On the side, I’m really into fitness. During COVID, I got tired of working out alone at home, so I started teaching classes at the gym, and now I have two classes a week that I’ve been running for almost four years.
I’m Emma Frisch, and I have two daughters, ages nine and seven. Dimity and I are twins!
I’m a chef, cookbook author, and entrepreneur. My most recent business was Firelight Camps, the acclaimed glamping destination in Ithaca, NY, which I co-founded with my husband. But my most important job is being a mom to my two daughters. [You can read One Potato’s Order Up! interview with Emma right here from September 2024!]
Flipping the script on you. What did you have for dinner last night?
Emma: Our dinner was a total hodgepodge. Leftovers for everyone. Ayla had leftover broccoli anchovy pasta with a splash of marinara. Cora had a cheese quesadilla with pulled pork. I had pulled pork with cabbage slaw and grilled zucchini. Bobby had daal with grilled zucchini, I think? With all the summer CSA produce coming in, our fridge is full of delicious leftovers. So at least once a week, a mash-up dinner like this is necessary to clear space (and give me a break from cooking).
Dimity: For me, last night was supposed to be fish tacos, but we switched to our Thursday meal plan: chicken gyros with Greek salad, lots of chopped veggies, feta, tzatziki, and pita. I mostly eat plant-based now, so I had tofu instead of chicken. I wasn’t home, so I sent my husband the recipe and all the ingredients ahead of time. I came home to a delicious dinner with him and our youngest—our oldest was at a sleepover. It was easy and so good.
Why Dinner Last Night? Why did you decide to focus on dinner and families in your podcast?
Emma & Dimity: We’ve always wanted to collaborate—ever since we were kids in the bath, practicing Disney songs for our future girl band dreams. Dinner Last Night grew out of that same spirit of curiosity and connection. The idea was actually Dimity’s; when our kids were little, she’d constantly ask other parents at the playground, “What did you make for dinner last night? I need ideas!” It turned out to be the perfect icebreaker, and we realized it could open up bigger conversations.
On the podcast, we ask parents around the world that very question. Dinner becomes a lens for talking about family rhythms, culture, and the daily struggles and joys of getting food on the table. For us, food has always been about more than eating—it’s about connection. Growing up as first-generation Americans in a big Italian family, with summers spent abroad, we were exposed to all kinds of traditions. We saw how families everywhere gather differently, yet share the same challenges. That’s what we love highlighting: the universality of dinner, and the comfort of knowing none of us are alone in figuring it out.
Do your kids help with dinner?
Dimity: Usually no—but it’s changing. My oldest sometimes helps chop veggies or grate cheese for soup. My youngest just got really into cooking eggs—he made an egg sandwich for me one morning, then two more eggs for brunch, and even more later! He’s got a whole method: oil in the pan, salt and pepper in the oil, whisked eggs, then Cholula on top. I’m hoping this sparks more interest in helping with dinner.
Any family meals or food traditions from childhood that stuck with you?
Emma & Dimity: Cow’s tongue. We know—it sounds wild—but it was our favorite growing up. Emma just hesitated to say it, but that’s the one we always talk about. Our mom would slice it super thin and serve it with this incredible green sauce, kind of like an Italian chimichurri with parsley, garlic, olive oil, salt, and anchovies. We loved it so much that in third grade, Emma even listed “cow’s tongue” as her favorite food on a school worksheet.
And then, of course, meatballs. Our mom made them constantly—fried, with paper towels underneath to soak up the grease. We’d sneak them right off the plate before they ever made it to the table.
Any recent meal that stood out as funny or memorable?
Emma: Yes! Last Friday morning, my daughter said, “We’re out of bread!” So I decided to bake challah for Shabbat. Now, even though our dad was raised as an Orthodox Jew, he didn’t pass on many Jewish traditions to Dimity and I growing up. But when I married my husband, who is also Jewish, I brought some of my favorite traditions into our home – like making challah! But it’s not something I do very often. So when a friend came over for dinner that evening – with a loaf of challah – we were all so surprised and delighted by the sweet coincidence and feeling connected by this tradition.
Dimity: Recently, we hosted my husband’s family for his birthday. As always, my mother-in-law brought so much food—coleslaw, potato salad, hot dogs, burgers, corn. It suddennly dawned on me that I married innto a very “American” family. These were their favorite comfort foods and traditions; vastly different than the ones I grew up with.
One Potato is about family, nourishment, and food. What is it like working together, as not just sisters, but twin co-hosts?
Dimity: We’ve mostly outgrown any challenging dynamics we had. I think Emma and I put each other on a pedestal. She’s an incredible writer, and I admire her creativity. As for Dinner Last Night – it’s a passion project at the moment. And I think we’re doing a great job dividing and conquering the work while balancing very busy lives.
Emma: I always think of Dimity as my backbone. She’s organized, professional, and tech-savvy. The list goes on. Just knowing she’s in my life makes me more confident in the world, and we always push each other in complementary ways. I wrote about this in more detail in a recent note.
How do you decide what questions to ask on the podcast?
Dinner is really just the entry point—it gives us a familiar place to start. From there, the conversation often expands into bigger themes like family dynamics, feeding kids, and the emotional labor of daily life. We want guests to feel comfortable and open, so we keep the questions organic and always let them know they can skip anything they’d rather not discuss. The goal is for it to feel like a real conversation, not a formal interview.
What have you learned from your podcast guests that you’ve adopted at home?
Emma: One tip that really stuck with me was from Rachel Tidd’s Dinner Last Night episode (Ep. 04: Rachel Tidd). She calls it the “bedtime carrot.” The idea is simple: when kids say they’re hungry after refusing dinner, you can either give them the plate you saved—or offer a carrot. That’s it. I love the clarity of it, because it sets a boundary without turning food into a big power struggle. Also, a tip we’ve shared with many guests, that they’ve loved, is playing table games. Table games are a great way to take the focus off the food, help everyone stay at the table longer, and ultimately, make dinner more connected and fun. We recently shared a newsletter with 11 Genius Mealtime Table Games.
Dimity: Yeah, and I’d add that I’ve gotten a lot out of the conversations around language at the table. Leisha, for example, talked about teaching kids how to say, “I don’t care for this,” instead of “yuck” or “gross.” (Ep. 03: Liesha McKinley-Barnett) It’s not about shutting them down, it’s about reminding them: this is practice for the real world. You wouldn’t sit at a friend’s house or in a restaurant and insult the food, right? That perspective really clicked for me. And like Emma said, I think the bigger theme that comes through over and over is that “pickiness” is often just a developmental stage. Each guest leaves us with something new, and we end up shifting what we do week to week—sometimes leaning into boundaries, sometimes trying flexibility. We’re learning alongside everyone else.
Where to find Dinner Last Night:
Dimity: Our website is dinnerlastnightpod.com. You can find the podcast, our Substack newsletter, and giveaways for each episode. It’s on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and a few other platforms.
Emma: Every episode is announced via Substack. Subscribers are automatically entered to win cookbooks and other goodies!
