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

Kristin, Molly and Kate chat all about that often dreaded activity, networking. They talk about the stressors involved, their individual approaches and what they focus on to build relationships and why re-framing these as learning opportunities can help with imposter syndrome. They discuss some specific resources and advice along with some personal experiences that they've learned from to build a community of mutual support before ending with their Thanksgiving plans and traditions.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions

"How to Network When You're an Introvert" by Kristin Donnelly

Episode 107: Caroline Choe on Banchan

Episode 32: Co-Authoring Cookbooks with JJ Goode

Episode 106: Caroline Chambers on Building a Substack Platform

IACP

Cherry Bombe Membership

How to be a Cookbook Author Facebook Group

The American Institute of Wine & Food

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

Kate and Kristin speak all things platform building and content creation with Sarah Fennel as we learn what should come first, the audience or the book? Sarah shares her definition of 'content', her path from hobbyist blogger to business owner and what areas she focused on on to build her platform. She speaks about tipping points in her career, how she balances creating persona forward vs food forward content and why she decided now was the best time to write a cookbook. Finally, she talks about shooting the photos for the book, working with her team and leaves us with some wise and inspiring advice and a hint into what she is working on next.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions

Sarah Fennel

• Website
• Instagram
• TikTok

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

• Sweet Tooth by Sarah Fennel
• Hungry Authors by Liz Morrow and Ariel Curry
   

Kristin and Molly speak about the newest release from America's Test Kitchen "When Southern Women Cook" with its editor, Morgan Bolling, and its forward writer, Toni Tipton-Martin. This is a newer format for ATK so Morgan and Toni share its journey from idea to publication, where the concept and title came from and how late night conversations inspired its creation. They talk about working with a historical consultant, the process of balancing over 300 recipes with all of the contributing essays and how it was almost split into two volumes. They share the lessons learned for the future, how investigative curiosity is involved in both recipe development and story writing and the pride they felt in bringing the expertise of so many individuals to this project.
 

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions

Southern Foodways Alliance

Cook's Country

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

• When Southern Women Cook by ATK, foreword by Toni Tipton-Martin, edited by Morgan Bolling
• Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking by Toni Tipton-Martin
• Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice by Toni Tipton-Martin
   

We're pleased to share our very first live show with all of our listeners! Kate, Andrea and Kristin spoke with Toriano Gordon and Anna Voloshnya at the Napa Valley Cookbook Fest earlier this year where they spoke about their individual cookbook journeys and career paths, the challenges that came with their projects and the ways the process felt fulfilling. They share their goals of representing and sharing the people, places and culture they came from, the importance of community and all about recipe creation, writing and naming. Finally they share a few instances of editorial pushback, their cover stories and the one question they encourage aspiring authors to ask themselves before starting their own cookbook journey.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions

Napa Valley CookbookFest

Episode 25: Inside a Ukrainian Kitchen with Anna Voloshyna

Toriano Gordon

Anna Voloshnya

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

• Vegan Mob by Toriano Gordon
• Budmo! by Anna Voloshyna

Kristin and Kate speak with chef, artist, teacher and writer Caroline Choe about her debut cookbook, Banchan. Caroline shares her career journey and how her teaching experience and art background informs her work today. After a confluence of events caused her to declare that she was quitting the industry, ultimately she was hired to write this cookbook and brought her personal story, family recipes and illustration skills into the project. She talks about the importance of including family photos, not compromising on the title and jumping into the brand new experience of a cookbook photoshoot as well as her dedication to prioritizing working with women and the AAPI community.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions

Caroline Choe

• Instagram

Episode 63: On Rejection and Recovery

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

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

Molly and Andrea speak with Substack's number one food and drink writer, Caroline Chambers, about her experience building a successful following that led to the release of her new cookbook, What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking. Caroline shares how the pandemic spurred her shift from freelance recipe developer to newsletter writer in spite of past rejections of her cookbook proposal. She talks about her ethos, writing voice, building an audience, why she prioritizes instruction and how she balances realism and professionalism within the newsletter along with the most important piece of advice she has for aspiring platform builders.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions

Caro Chambers

• Substack
• Instagram
• Podcast
• Website

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

• What to Cook When you Don't Feel Like Cooking by Caroline Chambers

Kate and Molly speak about cookbook clubs and career shifts with debut author Bebe Carminito. Bebe shares what inspired her love of food and her various career changes, from makeup artist to pastry assistant to food stylist to cookbook author. She followed her curiosity, gathering contacts, classes and experience over the years which eventually led to a beautiful full circle moment with this book, The Curated Board. She talks about starting a cookbook club and how that led to joining, or starting, four others as well as the ins and outs of running them and what grabs her attention when selecting a title. She discusses the experience of styling her own book, working with her photographer and with contributors for the book's recipes before leaving us with some truly inspirational advice.
 

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions

Bebe Carminito

• Website
• Instagram

Mechanics Cookbook Club

qb Cucina

The Proof Collective

Mimi Thorisson

The Whisk and Spoon

Leslie Jonath

Lauren Ruben

Susan Spungen

Shelley Lindgren

Christine Gallary

The Jam Lab

Marie Reginato

Kim Laidlaw

Anna Voloshyna

Emily Cooper

Molly DeCoudreaux

Anne's Toum

Balcony People by Joyce Landorf Heatherley

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

• The Curated Board by Bebe Black Carminito