A Tasty Conversation with WordPress Contributors

If you’ve been following WPKitchen over the past few years, you probably know that our mission has always been simple: bringing the WordPress community together through food and drinks.

WPKitchen started with its core program of providing subsidized lunches to WordPress freelancers working in co-working spaces. Over time, however, we realized that many of the people helping shape WordPress are contributors who generously give their time, knowledge, and experience to the project. As WPKitchen evolved, so did our focus. Today, while freelancers remain at the heart of our community, we’re placing greater emphasis on celebrating, supporting, and recognizing WordPress contributors across all of our community programs.

There’s something special about sharing food together.

When the food is good, people stay longer. And when people stay longer, conversations become deeper, friendships grow stronger, and communities become more connected.

I’ve noticed that whenever people gather around lunch or tea, the conversation rarely stays on WordPress for very long. Before long, they’re talking about family, favorite meals, memorable trips, hobbies, childhood memories, gardening, cooking, or the experiences that shaped who they are.

Those conversations led me to a simple question.

Why do most WordPress interviews tell us about the work, but so few tell us about the person?

For years, I’ve enjoyed reading interviews with WordPress contributors. They’ve taught me about products, companies, open source, entrepreneurship, and technical achievements. Those interviews are valuable and have documented the history of WordPress in many wonderful ways.

But after reading so many of them, I realized something was still missing.

We know the plugins contributors build, the companies they founded, the talks they give, and the teams they contribute to. Yet we rarely know what they enjoy cooking after a long day of work, what drink sits beside their keyboard while contributing to WordPress, what grows in their garden, or which family recipe they treasure. Those may seem like simple questions, but I believe they often reveal something much deeper.

They help us understand the person behind the contribution.

That simple thought became Talk Time by WPKitchen.

Rather than creating another interview series that asks the same questions contributors have answered dozens of times before, I wanted to create something more personal.

Of course, we’ll still talk about WordPress, open source, community, contribution, AI, entrepreneurship, and the future of the ecosystem. Those conversations matter. But so do the everyday moments that shape people’s lives.

Because behind every contribution is a person with a story worth telling.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve quietly been inviting WordPress contributors from around the world to participate.

I wasn’t sure how people would respond. After all, this interview asks contributors to share more than their professional journey.

To my surprise, the response has been incredibly encouraging. Some contributors accepted immediately, while others wanted to know more before saying yes. A few apologized for taking longer because they had been travelling or recovering from illness. Today, several interviews are already in progress, and our very first completed interview is waiting to be published.

Reading that first interview reminded me why this project exists.

I discovered stories that I had never heard before, even though I already knew the contributor’s name from the WordPress community.

I learned about childhood memories, favorite meals, gardens, kitchens, hobbies, family traditions, and the people who inspired years of contribution to open source. It reminded me that sometimes the most meaningful conversations begin with questions nobody thought to ask.

That is exactly what I hoped Talk Time would become.

For now, we’re beginning with WordPress contributors.

Open source is built by thousands of people who quietly give their time, knowledge, patience, and experience to help others. Their names appear in release notes, contributor lists, and WordCamp schedules, but their personal stories are rarely told.

Our first Talk Time interview is scheduled to be published on 12 July 2026.

Our first guest has been contributing to WordPress for more than 14 years, and I can’t wait to introduce their story to you.

This is only the beginning.

More contributors have already accepted our invitation, more interviews are underway, and I hope Talk Time gradually becomes a place where the human stories behind WordPress are preserved for years to come.

Thank you to everyone who has already accepted our invitation and trusted WPKitchen with their story.

I hope these conversations help you discover the people behind the contributions you’ve admired for years.

See you on 12 July 2026, together with our very first Talk Time guest.

– Pomy

P.S. Talk Time by WPKitchen is a written interview series, not a podcast or video interview.