This week host Rumaan Alam talks to cookbook author Julia Turshen about her career as a professional home cook and her new book Simply Julia: 110 Easy Recipes for Healthy Comfort Food. In the interview, Julia explains why she was drawn to cookbooks from a young age and how she later managed to combine her love of writing and her love of cooking into one career. She also talks about the deeply personal details in Simply Julia and discusses why she’s trying to get readers in and out of the kitchen “as easily and as efficiently as possible.” 

After the interview, Rumaan and co-host June Thomas dig into Julia’s advice to “only write the book that only you can write.”

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Julia helps Rumaan out of his cooking rut. 

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Podcast production by Cameron Drews.

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