Everything Cookbooks

Kate and Kristin speak with Ifrah F. Ahmed about how the culmination of her expertise in a culture and a cuisine led to her debut cookbook, Soomaaliya. Ifrah shares how a trip to Somalia inspired her to leave law school, create a magazine dedicated to Somali women and start a wildly successful pop-up before turning her attention towards a book. She takes us through her deeply intentional cookbook process from coming up with the idea, getting an agent, writing the proposal, the drama of a publisher auction to the writing, recipe development, photography and design process. She talks about her goal, her primary audience and their reactions as well as how she decided to weave together history, interviews, personal essays with the recipes. Finally she touches on her decision of how much of herself to include in the book and the very special interactions she's had while writing it.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

 

Mentions

Food Friends Podcast Newsletter

Ifrah F. Ahmed

Website

Instagram

Milk & Myrrh pop up

This Is TASTE 728: A Delicious Deep Dive Into Somali Food with Ifrah F. Ahmed

Somali Cuisine by Barlin Ali

 

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

Soomaaliya by Ifrah F. Ahmed

Kate and Andrea speak with cookbook author Natasha Pickowicz about her second book, how it differed from her first and what she learned during the process. Natasha takes us on her journey from the kitchen to the keyboard as she talks about how her first book came to be, the false starts it went through and the role the pandemic played in its evolution. She then shares some behind the scenes on her second book; how publishers reacted to her topic shift, its structure, the historical inclusions and its single subject concentration. We learn about working with her parents on the book, how it deepened their connection and what they each brought to the project. Natasha gets into the challenges of the photoshoot, how she created recipes for a 'recipe-less' meal and what she's learned this time around before leaving us with some advice for other writers embarking on their sophomore books.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

 

Mentions

Episode 150: Entertaining Cookbooks

Natasha Pickowicz

Website

Instagram

Substack

Bake Sales

 

Food Friends Newsletter

 

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

More than Cake by Natasha Pickowicz

Everyone Hot Pot by Natasha Pickowicz

Andrea and Molly speak with Alison Roman and Britt Cobb, the designer of her new book, Something from Nothing about their collaboration. Alison speaks about her unique approach to her work, how she leans into personhood instead of branding and why this new book is different than her previous works. Alison and Britt describe how they connected and then get into the nitty gritty of working together; from the idea phase to the process of choosing everything from font styles, cover color, pairing illustrations with photography to trim size, prop selection and paper texture. They each share their views on the longevity and tactile nature of book creation and some insights on their design choices, tastes and ideas.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

 

Mentions

How Not To Write a Cookbook, by Brooks Headley in Bon Appétit

 

Alison Roman

Website

YouTube

Newsletter

Britt Cobb, Cobbco Design

Chris Bernabeo, photographer

Rosie McGuinness, illustrator

The Skinny Font Taking Over Tech Companies and the White House - The Wall Street Journal

Food Friends Newsletter

 

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

Something From Nothing, by Alison Roman

Sweet Enough, by Alison Roman

Nothing Fancy, by Alison Roman

Dining In, by Alison Roman

Molly and Kate speak with Rachel Brown, acquisitions editor at Appetite, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada, about her career journey and insights into the Canadian cookbook landscape. Rachel talks about her education and early editing experience before taking us behind the scenes about Appetite titles specifically. She shares what types of books they publish, how the team works, what they are looking for in a proposal and how Canadian readers love to support local authors. She talks about working with other countries' markets, the upcoming books she is excited about and the themes she'd like to see more of before leaving us with a few words of advice for those who aspire to work in the editing sphere.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

 

Mentions

Appetite by Random House

Mary Berg

136: Cooking the Food of Nigeria with Ozoz Sokoh

Jason Hudson

Food Friends Newsletter

 

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

My Cypriot Table, by Irene Matys

To kick off Season 9 Molly, Andrea, Kate and Kristin discuss e-cookbooks vs physical editions before diving into front matter; all of the sections of a cookbook that come before the recipes. They talk about the purpose, process and planning that goes into the preface, prologue, forward, introduction and pantry section and ask whether these are even necessary. Each of them talk about their own experiences and approach to front matter as well as the unique ways other books have utilized these sections. They speak about the differences between the sections, their frustrations and rejections, how front matter has evolved and the importance of being creative and (sometimes) going rogue to keep readers interested and not intimidated to dive into the rest of the book.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

 

Mentions

Why the Cookbook Endures by Shaan Merchant in Taste

Episode 28: All About Recipe Headnotes

Food Friends Newsletter

 

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

Classic Indian Cooking, by Julie Sahni

Rice is Life, by Caryl Levine, Ken Lee, Kristin Donnelly 

Down South + East by Ron Hsu

Something from Nothing by Alison Roman

Chop Chop by Ozoz

All About Roasting by Molly Stevens

All About Braising by Molly Stevens

Sunday Suppers at Lucques by Suzanne Goin

Ghana to the World by Eric Adjepong, Korsha Wilson