Everything Cookbooks

This is a live conversation recorded in April 2026 during the first Cookbook Week in San Francisco, a city-wide event co-founded by Brian Hogan Stewart (of the Salt + Spine podcast), Jodi Liano, and Leslie Jonath. Here, Leslie leads the conversation with Jenny Wapner, publisher of Hardie Grant North America, and Kate Leahy, an author, to discuss all things cookbooks. Jenny and Kate share how they got their start, what their day to day tasks look like and the recent projects that have most resonated with them. They all speak about the frantic, trend-focused nature of publishing, how the current political climate can affect a book and those glorious instances of unexpected success that keep them excited about the industry. The panelists highlight a few of their recent favorite projects and end by taking a few questions from the audience.
Hosts: Kate Leahy + Molly Stevens + Kristin Donnelly + Andrea Nguyen
Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions
Brian Hogan Stewart
Salt & Spine Podcast
Salt & Spine Substack
Instagram

Cookbook Week
Episode 65: Podcasting about Cookbooks with Brian Hogan Stewart
Episode 145: Eva Kolenko on Photographing Cookbooks
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Visit the Everything Cookbooks Bookshop to purchase a copy of the books mentioned in the show
My Egypt by Michael Mina with Kate Leahy
Hand Taste by Esther Choi
Feed your People by Leslie Jonath
Elvira's Cookbook from Hell by Cassandra Petersen
Full Belly Farm & Kitchen by Jenna Muller and Amon Muller
Cookbooking by Debbie Berne
The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen

Happy New Year! Molly, Kristin, Kate and Andrea take a look at the past year in cookbooks and share their thoughts on the trends they predict for 2025. They discuss how the pandemic affected the cookbook market, how they see production costs and finances changing and share some insights from editors and agents about what publishers are looking for in 2025 (hint: platform!). They talk about speciality markets, single subject expertise, branded and restaurant books before sharing a few teasers of our upcoming season. [Originally aired 1/1/2025]

Hosts: Kate Leahy + Molly Stevens + Kristin Donnelly + Andrea Nguyen

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

 

 

Mentions

110: Sarah Fennel on bringing an online platform to the page

Attention Economy Substack

The Dinner Plan Podcast

 

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Visit the Everything Cookbooks Bookshop to purchase a copy of the books mentioned in the show

Champagne by Peter Liem

The Bean Book

King Arthur Baking Company

The Red Boat Fish Sauce Cookbook

The Cake Bible

Africali

Islas

Kalaya's Southern Thai Kitchen: A Cookbook

The French Laundry Cookbook

Coastal

Molly and Kate speak with Lara Hamilton, the owner of Book Larder Seattle's community cookbook store. Lara shares the motivations behind opening the store, why Seattle was the perfect base and how she sees the connection between food and books. We learn the origins behind the name, location and design of the store as well as some behind the scenes insights into ordering, event planning and curating its unique selection. Lara talks about her thoughts on trends, author platforms and building a space that is a must stop on author tour before revealing her most anticipated Fall titles. [Originally aired 9/25/2024]

Hosts: Kate Leahy + Molly Stevens

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

 

Mentions

Book Larder

Website

Instagram

Podcast

YouTube Channel

 

Book Larder Podcast: Molly Stevens

Book Larder Podcast: Kate Leahy

 

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Visit the Everything Cookbooks Bookshop to purchase a copy of the books mentioned in the show

Bodega Bakes by Paola Velez

Easy Wins by Anna Jones

What Goes with What by Julia Turshen

A Splash of Soy by Lara Lee

Chinese Enough by Kristina Cho

Sift by Nicola Lamb

Bake with Benoit Blin by Benoit Blin

My Life in France by Julia Child

Butter by Asako Yuzuki and translated by Polly Barton

We're back and starting off Season 6 with grab bag of topics with all our hosts. Kristin, Molly, Kate and Andrea discuss the pros and cons of the (potentially overfull) Fall cookbook season and how to emotionally prepare but keep expectations realistic on pub day while prioritizing celebration. We share our insights and experiences on contracts, printed errors, correction pages and wade into some existential territory as we discuss optional ingredients in recipe writing before diving back into one of our favorite topics, platform. Finally, we talk about the the current cookbook trends we're loving, upcoming releases we're looking forward to and court some potential controversy with our thoughts on pumpkin spice. [Originally aired 9/18/2024]

Hosts: Kate Leahy + Molly Stevens + Kristin Donnelly + Andrea Nguyen

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

 

Mentions

Monique of Hardcover Cooks

The Bojon Gourmet Pumpkin Spice Mix

Cookbook Chronicles: The Science and Art and of Recipe Development, by Martin Sorge

If Desired, by Joy Manning

The Truth About Platform, by Kathleen Schmidt

Kristin Donnelly's Newsletter

 

52: Matt Sartwell of Kitchen Arts and Letters

100: Advice from Our Listeners and Season 5 Wrap-Up

42: How to Write Recipe Titles

93: The Secret of Cooking with Bee Wilson

69: Writing a Menu Cookbook with Amy Thielen

Subscribe to our weekly Substack newsletter for more information about each episode and a peek at what's coming up.

 

Visit the Everything Cookbooks Bookshop to purchase a copy of the books mentioned in the show

Hungry Authors: The Indispensable Guide to Planning, Writing, and Publishing a Nonfiction Book by Liz Morrow and Ariel Curry

Banjan: 60 Korean American Recipes for Delicious, Shareable Sides by Caroline Choe

The Chinese Way by Betty Liu

Molly and Kristin speak with Sarah Kwak, a senior editor at Harvest an imprint of Harper Collins, to find out what the editing process is like. Sarah shares how she ended up at her current role, the focus Harvest has for cookbooks and what authors should keep mind regarding their proposal assembly before submission. She discusses her thoughts on comp titles, overcoming past book sales, multifaceted ways to grow a platform and what compels her to spend over two years working on a specific project. Finally, she talks about trends in the food world, the changes in the economy of publishing and her advice along with the books she is excited to release this year. [Originally aired 5/8/2024]

Hosts: Kate Leahy + Molly Stevens + Kristin Donnelly + Andrea Nguyen

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

 

Mentions

Sarah Kwak

Harvest an imprint of Harper Collins

Episode 09: Cookbook Editing Tips from Jennifer Sit

Episode 48: Abi Balingit on Learning as You Go

Subscribe to our weekly Substack newsletter for more information about each episode and a peek at what's coming up

 

Visit the Everything Cookbooks Bookshop to purchase a copy of the books mentioned in the show

Mayumu by Abi Balingit

The Book on Pie by Erin McDowell

Jacques Pépin Art of the Chicken by Jacques Pépin

Hot Sheet by Olga Massov and Sanaë Lemoine