My land is bare of chattering folk
The clouds are low along the ridges
And sweet's the air with curly smoke
From all my burning bridges
–Dorothy Parker

The urge for destruction is also a creative urge.
–Mikhail Bakunin

Richard Eaglespoon is not my nom de guerre: it’s just a name for a website that has long outgrown its original mandate of being a fictional restaurant website. I’m Joe Rosenthal, and Richard Eaglespoon is a presentation of my recipes, my clickbait trash, a bit of vapid consumerism, and my reporting on inequity in the food world and beyond. I use the title Food Antagonist to represent my reporting work—it’s a tongue-in-cheek reference to those upset with my work, who view me as a villain to the toxic status quo in which they’re comfortable. Much of my past work can also be found on my Instagram, particularly in my story highlights.

I’m originally from upstate New York, and I’m now based in the Twin Cities, where my spouse, Abby, is a computer science professor. Abby says that I’m to food what the Phantom of the Opera is to Opera. I don’t disagree. I’m a mathematician, and I did my PhD in mathematics, focused on building mathematical models related to Alzheimer’s disease. I now lead an effort to build software focused on improving cancer diagnostics.

Cooking ought to be fun and not be burdensomely complicated. My recipes are designed with reproducibility in mind. Reproducibility not only means being able to convey the steps needed to reproduce a food, but also presenting the methodology in a manner that makes someone want to reproduce a food and designing a methodology that sets readers up for success.

I want to provide recipes designed to support ideal outcomes—in pizza this means dough that’s easy to handle and stretch and that starts round and stays round. I believe that anyone can make truly great food at home if they just take a deep breath, interrogate their preconceived notions, and don’t fail through their own gutlessness. That’s the driving philosophy behind Richard Eaglespoon. I want people to be less stressed about cooking, and at the same time, empower themselves to make better food.

You can read more about my background and my work in the food world across some of the following articles and interviews: