Kate and Molly speak with Domenica Marchetti about her newest book and finding a niche in the crowded Italian cookbook category. Domenica shares how she got her start as a food writer, bringing her journalistic background and other interests and experiences together in a unique way, and then talks about the personal importance of some of her early work. She gets into how a cookie captured her imagination, inspiring this new cookbook all about the history, stories and bakeries that create singular Italian cookies. We discuss her research, recipe development and writing process as well as the adventure of baking all of the cookies for the photoshoot (!). And we conclude with a discussion about how her newsletter figures into her professional life.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions

Domenica Marchetti

• Website
• Buona Domenica Substack
• Instagram

Glorious Soups and Stews of Italy, by Domenica Marchetti

Food Friends Podcast Newsletter

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

• Italian Cookies, by Domenica Marchetti
• Preserving Italy, by Domenica Marchetti
• Ciao Biscotti, by Domenica Marchetti
• The Glorious Pasta of Italy, by Domenica Marchetti
• Everyday Italian Cookbook, by Domenica Marchetti
• The Italian Baker, by Carol Field

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