Everything We Know About Alison Roman's New CNN+ Cooking Show

If you have an Instagram account, you're likely familiar with bestselling cookbook author Alison Roman. Known for her viral recipes and highly opinionated, self-deprecating humor, Roman's appealing yet approachable food has made her popular among home cooks of all ages, but particularly millennials, Insider explains. The former New York Times Cooking columnist gained more fame during the pandemic-imposed quarantine period. According to Vox, some of Roman's signature recipes, including her caramelized shallot pasta and her salted chocolate chip shortbread cookies, have become so widely recognized that people know them simply as "the Pasta" or the "the Cookies."

As The New Yorker puts it, "part of the appeal is her grasp of her audience." Roman assures her primarily thirty-something fanbase that it's OK if you don't have perfect tableware or seating; what's really important is the act of sharing a meal together without the pomp and circumstance. If you're a fan of Roman's YouTube "Home Movies" series, you're about to see even more of her onscreen: This year, Roman is debuting a brand-new cooking series on CNN+.

Roman's upcoming cooking show is one of several original programs joining CNN's highly-anticipated streaming service, as revealed in a press release sent to Mashed. The show promises to be a bit different from instructional cooking shows; not only will the series feature Roman in the kitchen whipping up her signature recipes, but it will also include snippets of her exploring the real-world inspiration behind her dishes. "I've been dreaming about bringing a new sort of cooking and food show to life for years," Roman, who is also an executive producer of the project, said. A CNN executive said they tapped Roman to host the exclusive program for her "unique style and tone." 

The name and release date of Roman's new series have not been specified yet, but the announcement shares that it will premiere in spring of 2022. As Variety points out, it's being produced in partnership with Zero Point Zero Productions, which worked on the Anthony Bourdain CNN series, "Parts Unknown." To catch Roman's show later this year, you'll have to subscribe to CNN+.