“In the case of the cashew, someone, somewhere, a long time ago determined that it had to be roasted. The cashew was once nicknamed the blister nut, because if you try to eat it raw from the tree, your mouth pays the price. The cashew is not a nut, however; it's a seed.”

American novelist and memoirist

Kate Christensen is an American novelist and memoirist. She won the 2008 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for her fourth novel, The Great Man, and is also known for her food-related memoirs. Her fiction includes The Great Man, a novel about a painter and the three women in his life. She has also written Blue Plate Special and How to Cook a Moose; the latter won the 2016 Maine Literary Award for memoir. Her eleventh novel, Good Company, is due from HarperCollins in June 2026.