This week, we're excited to welcome Emily Kaiser Thelin to SALT + SPINE, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

Thelin is the author of Unforgettable: The Bold Flavors of Paula Wolfert's Renegade Life, a culinary biography of renowned cookbook author Paula Wolfert, featuring more than 50 recipes.

PURCHASE THE COOKBOOK: Bookshop

Wolfert, who spent five decades writing about food and producing nine groundbreaking and hugely influential cookbooks, is credited for introducing couscous, preserved lemons, chicken tagine and countless other Mediterranean ingredients and recipes to American home cooks. In recent years, Paula’s relationship with food has taken on new meaning, as she adapts to living with Alzheimer’s.

“There’s a real craving now for cookbooks and life stories of real weight and [Paula’s] story is so renegade, and she’s such a self-made woman. I think it resonates on a lot of levels.”

Emily’s deep friendship with Paula was the framework for this truly unforgettable work, a deep dive into the story of Paula Wolfert’s life, the global cuisines she so lovingly and expertly adopted, and the lessons we can learn from her renegade life. From more than 50 interviews with Paula—as well as with those who she influenced, from Alice Waters and Thomas Keller to Diana Kennedy and Jacques Pépin—the cookbook and biography came together via crowdfunding on Kickstarter, and was photographed by Eric Wolfinger and edited by Andrea Nguyen.

We sat down with Emily at San Francisco's The Civic Kitchen cooking school to talk about the stories behind Unforgettable.

* Emily is the author of Unforgettable: The Bold Flavors of Paula Wolfert's Renegade Life.

* Who Is Paula Wolfert? A New Biography Gives an Answer, by Mayukh Sen // Food52

* Her Memory Fading, Paula Wolfert Fights Back With Food, by Kim Severson // New York Times

* Paula Wolfert on Her Inspiring New Biography-Cookbook, by Elyssa Goldberg // Bon Appetit

From the Vault with Celia Sack:

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saltandspine.substack.com/subscribe