Molly and Kristen speak with Jenny Rosenstrach about her family focused approach to food writing. She talks about her long running dinner diary, how her first book was a real time project and what went behind the decision to continue working around that theme. She explains why she includes a 'hook' in her recipes and how she landed on her unique recipe structure as well as the idea of a 'text test' for writing instructions. She shares her approach to recipe development, how she's built an audience with her relatable, inviting voice and the reasoning behind her relaxed approach to photography. Finally she tells us the book she will never write and leaves us with a bit of advice for aspiring food writers.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions

Jenny Rosenstrach

• Website
• Instagram
• Substack
• Cup of Jo column

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

• Dinner a Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach
• Weekday Vegetarians by Jenny Rosenstrach
• Weekday Vegetarians get Simple by Jenny Rosenstrach
• The New York Times Cooking No-Recipe Recipes by Sam Sifton
• That Sounds So Good by Carla Lalli Music

Kate and Kristin speak with Nicola Lamb her debut cookbook, Sift, and writing the book you want to read. Nicola talks about her passion for baking, learning and teaching before diving into the book creation process. She shares the lengthy proposal writing process, working from her Substack and a post-it wall, the importance of trusting your team and the resources she used while writing. She also speaks on the differences in releasing a book in the US versus the UK, some insights into the Americanization of the project and some astute advice for enjoying the everyday process.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions

Nicola Lamb

• Website
• Instagram
• Kitchen Projects Newsletter
• Bibliography
  

Episode 74: Crafting a Drinks Book with Danny Childs

Episode 102: Lara Hamilton of Book Larder

Episode 31: Catch an Agent's Attention with Sally Ekus

Episode 94: Insights from Literary Agent Lori Galvin

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

• Sift by Nicola Lamb
• Advanced Bread and Pastry by Michel Suas
• Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat
• On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee
• How Baking Works by Paula Figoni

Molly and Andrea speak with Joe Yonan, the Food and Dining Editor at the Washington Post, about his new book, Mastering the Art of Plant Based Cooking. As they discuss the idea behind creating an authoritative resource, Joe explains why he wanted to write this particular book and concentrate on this topic as a cuisine instead of a lifestyle choice. He shares why he wanted to shift the narrative around this often polarizing topic and how he used his lifetime of experience and expertise to create it. We get a behind the scenes glimpse into its creation including project management, recipe testing, time management and cover process as well as how he went about creating a consistent voice with multiple contributors.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions

Joe Yonan

• Website
• Instagram
• Washington Post Column
  

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

• Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking by Joe Yonan
• Cool Beans by Joe Yonan
• Eat Your Vegetables by Joe Yonan

Kate and Andrea speak with the editor in chief of New York Times Cooking, Emily Weinstein, about all things recipe writing and recipe curation for the new book Easy Weeknight Dinners. They chat about what makes a great recipe, what are missteps, if there is a formula and all the formatting considerations involved in writing recipes. Emily talks about curating this collection, the idea behind the book, avoiding 'dull and dutiful recipes' and why they decided to bring the NYT comment section into print form. Finally, she shares her thoughts on upcoming home cooking trends and a quick tease of future projects.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions

Emily Weinstein

• Website
• Instagram
• Five Weeknight Dishes Newsletter

New York Times Cooking

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

• Easy Weeknight Dinners by Emily Weinstein
• The New York Times Cooking No-Recipe Recipes by Sam Sifton
• Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz

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.

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

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

Kate and Molly speak with blogger, writer and MasterChef alum Hetal Vasavada about her atypical career journey. She shares stories and lessons learned from her time on the tv show, how she got around the limits of her contract after it aired and why it was important to foster a community. Hetal talks about the differences between book one and book two, the advice she got during recipe development and how she learned food photography skills to shoot her own books before diving into the design process. She discusses working with the designer, choosing a title, her unique brand of flavor combinations that yields dishes that have minimal effort but maximum payoff and leaves us with a few of her ideas for book number three.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Hetal Vasavada

• Website
• Instagram

Would You Write a Cookbook for Next to Nothing?

Swasti Creative

Milk & Cardamom Linen Collaboration at Kaapus Co.

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

• Desi Bakes by Hetal Vasavada
• Milk & Cardamom by Hetal Vasavada

Today things get a little bit spicy and steamy as Kate and Molly speak with debut romance writer Sarah Chamberlain. Sarah shares her experience working to "American-ize" foreign cookbooks and how she brought that food world expertise to her fiction writing. She discusses stepping into the romance world (reading and writing), the inspirations for her novel and how she landed on the cookbook details that were central to the plot and character development. Finally, she talks about the role food can play in fiction and where she sees this done well before giving us a sneak peak at her next book and some advice she has for aspiring writers in the food world.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions

Episode 63: On Rejection and Recovery

Sarah Chamberlain

• Website
• Instagram

Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Marian Keyes

Sarah MacLean

Mhairi McFarlane

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

• The Slowest Burn by Sarah Chamberlain
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
• Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
• My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
• All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
• Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto
• Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Kristin, Andrea and special co-host Elsa chat with Priya Krishna about her fresh and unique kid's cookbook 'Priya's Kitchen Adventures'. Priya talks about approaching this project without kids of her own and why she wanted to create a physical book instead of going the video/social media route. She shares how writing for kids made her a better recipe developer, how she decided on the format, recipe titles, difficulty levels and cuisines to highlight while Elsa talks about the specifics she appreciated and enjoyed in the book. We learn about the recipe testing process and photoshoot that both involved kids and Priya talks about how she fit writing this book in with her New York Times work. Finally, she talks about the different approach to promotion that this called for and why she feels this may be her last cookbook, though hopefully not her last book.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions

Priya Krishna

• Website
• Instagram
• New York Times
  

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

• Priya's Kitchen Adventures by Priya Krishna
• Indianish by Priya Krishna
• Cooking at Home by Priya Krishna