Community is at the heart of what we do at Everything Cookbooks, but most of the time, we're referring to community in the abstract, the virtual communities we create online and through cookbooks, but today's show is something a little different. Welcome to Everything Cookbooks, the podcast for writer, readers, and cooks. I'm Molly Stevens, and today, well, today I'm here all by myself. Earlier this year, the organizers of the Cookbook Fest reached out to Andrea Kate Kristen and me with an invitation to participate in their inaugural event, a three-day festival in Napa Valley that would bring together cookbook authors, podcast hosts, and enthusiastic food lovers. For what they described as Park Book Festival, Park Food and Wine Festival, and Park Music Festival. In other words, a whole lot of fun. Andrea and Kate are both on the West Coast, so they quickly accepted. Kristen had to navigate some pretty complicated travel, but she was able to get there. But sadly for me, I had something going on that weekend, and it wasn't so much a case of FOMO as no-go. There's no way I could get there. So I regretted missing out on the fun and felt a little sorry for myself when I saw all their pictures on social media, but I was happy thinking of my three co-hosts hanging out together, IRL in real life, and I eagerly awaited the recording of their session. Well, today it is my pleasure to introduce the first ever live recording of everything cookbooks from the stage at the Napa Valley Cookbook Fest, where you'll hear Kate, Andrea, and Kristen chatting with two San Francisco-based cookbook authors about community and, as always, cookbooks. Today's guests on the show are Toriana Gordon and Anna Volosina. Toriana is the chef and owner of Vegan Mob, a popular Bay Area restaurant specializing in vegan barbecue and soul food. Toriano recently published his first cookbook, also titled Vegan Mob, and before becoming a chef in 2019, he worked for decades as a recording artist. And longtime listeners will remember Anna Volosina from episode 25 when we spoke with her about her debut cookbook, Budmo, recipes from a Ukrainian kitchen. Born and raised in the Ukraine, Anna moved to the Bay Area in 2011 and began hosting pop-up dinners and working as a food stylist and photographer. And here they are from the stage at the cookbook fest in Napa Valley. Blessing us with their presence on the stage, the co-host of the Everything Cookbooks podcast, Andrea Nguyen, Kate Leahy, and Kristen Donnelly, along with Anna Volosina, author of Budmo and Toriano Gordon, author of Vegan Mob. Give them a round of applause and enjoy. All right. Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for being here. I know the crew of Everything Cookbooks, we are just like, wow, this is our first live recording. And we've got two amazing guests. What we're going to be talking about today is really writing cookbooks that embrace community and express community in really interesting ways. So with no further ado, let's get going. So one of the things that we'll start off talking about are both of your cookbook journeys. And Toriano, I'll start with you. I mean, going into the food business, getting excited about food. I mean, we know it's a tough business. And you've done so many other things. I mean, you are working with at-risk youth. You've been a rapper. And so it's like, why food? I just love food. I always, um, being a fan of food. Like, my mom can tell stories, and she tells this story all the time she would tell it is since I was a teenager, how they found me wanting, you know, would find me in the drawer, like four years old, making like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And I would go down to my uncle's house five, six years old and just make breakfast. And you know, I was seasoned bacon. Like, I don't, you know, they let me get down. My whole family was just full of cooks. And they're, you know, my mom's side from Houston. My dad's side is from Louisiana. And my father that I was raised by, who was my stepfather, his father was a chef, a Moroccan French Moroccan chef. So in own two restaurants in San Francisco, Nipio Cafe and Rula Peak, I just grew up in a restaurant. And I always love food. I would, I look at it like rap. Like, I love to show off when I rap and when I, and if I'm making food, I'm trying to show off for talk on my wife. So you love food, but then like you, but you, when did you decide, make it at your, your work, your business to like cooking as one thing, but to make it for others and how you was another. Yeah, totally. So it's very spiritual for me. I came from rap world and when I was rapping, you know, I was in the streets and I was dealing with addiction and things like that. So I changed my life around and went back to school, got straight a start. I wanted to be a therapist, thought I wanted to be a, yeah, a therapist. And I was in grad school to become a therapist. But then I started reading a lot of books and law of attraction and books of spirituality and it focused on like just happiness and abundance. And I said, what do I want to do? I said, what makes me happy? I said, I like to cook. I like to do music and I like to do social media. And then it all turned into vegan mob. I just, I was led. Wow. Yeah. So you manifested it. I manifested it. Yeah. That's awesome. Like everything is manifested. Yeah, like a Californian, man. Yeah. Well, and speaking of California, I mean, Anna, you're not from California, but I feel like at this point, you do feel like a Californian. I mean, so you come to San Francisco and you're 20 years old, born and raised in Ukraine. What is it like to start over in your 20s in a whole new country, city, food, everything? So I was ready and I definitely manifested that for sure because I love my country. I love Ukraine so much. But you know, I wanted an adventure and coming here definitely was an adventure for me. I didn't expect to find a home here. I did not expect to build a live here. It was like, yeah, let's go try. And if it doesn't work, so what? We're in our 20s, perfect timing. We can experiment, fail and go back home because we have a wonderful life there as well. But I happen to have a passion here. My community, my everything. And now I just go and visit Ukraine. I can actually make a connection between my country and this country and I'm loving it. For both of you, so we have these beautiful books, Budvong and Vegan Mom. Community is so important. You've mentioned that, Anna, and I know you mentioned that, Toriano. And I'm wondering how do you take this 3D thing of a community and turn it into a book that is experienced by one reader on a page? Is that something you thought about? Yes, definitely. I thought about it because I came here and I was surrounded by people who didn't know anything about my culture or they knew something and it was not what I wanted them to know. Oh, Ukraine, yeah, that part of Russia. No, it's not. And I felt like I'm here. Maybe that's my mission to explain what Ukraine is and maybe make a connection. Then I found some people who told me, "Yeah, my parents are from Ukraine. My grandparents are from Ukraine." And my grandma died and I loved that recipe and she didn't give me that recipe before she passed away. Do you know how to make it? And I decided, okay, probably there is a place for a book like that where you bring together all the recipes that people grew up eating that they like and love and make this transition so other people who don't know about my culture at all, they will like it as well. And maybe they will find something interesting in these stories and maybe they will find this book educational. It was an adventure. It was not a lie. It was a hard sell. I heard like 20 notes before I heard one yes. It only takes one yes. Yes, but that was a very strong yes and I'm so happy. I'm so proud that we accomplished this book together. It's not only me. It's Davy who is there. It's story. It's Leslie. It's all the wonderful people who believe in this book and this is definitely a community, a local community of local women who came together, believed in me and helped me to produce this book for everybody else, for every person in America and actually some people from other countries that are like so excited to learn about Ukraine. Oh, that's great. For me, I mean, my community is so much of who I am. Like, I'm from San Francisco, California. I'm from the Fillmore area. You know, we call it Fillmo. And you see how I just represented Fillmo when I talk because it's very important to represent what created me and my people and it's a lot of talent in San Francisco and a lot of black talent in San Francisco, but it's always focused on Oakland because Oakland is looked at the black, I mean, it is the black, make it a base. So it just seems like, oh, here's all the black people was all in in Oakland, but we're in San Francisco too. And we have neighborhoods that have tons of talent and represent the culture very well. And for me, it just and also there's barrier culture in here and community. And I just feel like back to the spirituality part is very important for me to represent people who come from the same struggle as me and represent the same thing as me and to show something positive and show that be leadership, leadership too as well and just make everybody feel good, not just my family, not just me, but my whole community feel good about what I'm doing and let them know they can do it too. You know, the whole thing about veganism in the black community and being a pathway to health, you decided to do that and take that particular path for your business and for your life. It kind of sounds like a missionary kind of work. Do you see yourself kind of like in that preacher role? You definitely, I had a near-death experience. I had septic shock and me being here on the stage right now is a miracle and I feel like if I'm giving a miracle and a second chance at life that I should go about that blessing correctly and representing well, I was I was kept here to do something great and to be of great leadership. And so that's where that comes in. It's like I'm going to leave people the right way that are motivated and inspired by me, you know, and every time I get a chance, that's what I'm going to do. And before I had before, like I said, I came from a negative place. I wrapped about things that weren't so much uplifting for the community. It uplifted the community, but it gave it a different type of energy, you know, and so I feel like I owe this energy, you know, I owe this back. So here's a question for both of you. How has your work for making this book give you a sense of freedom or liberation or achievement because both of your situations, like what I'm hearing, is that Toriana, you had like these challenges that you witnessed, these difficulties, Anna, you know, the situation in Ukraine. Tell us a little bit more about that because, you know, cookbooks are so damn nice, right? But making them is difficult and birthing them is difficult. And selling them is difficult to your community and going beyond that, but there's also a certain fulfillment in that process. So what we're talking about, community, and also the soul. So give us a little sense about how the process of making a book was fulfilling or maybe not or challenging to you. This book, Bojmo was, was written before the full-scale invasion in Ukraine. I was done, I think, a few weeks before. I was just done, it's in print, and then Russia invaded Ukraine. And what we were able to do is use this book as a vehicle for our fundraisers. And I started fundraising, I think March 12th or March 8th, I don't remember exactly, we fundraised for World Central Kitchen because this is the organization that was in Ukraine on the February 25th, feeding people. And this is the first large humanitarian organization that came to Ukraine and made an impact. And we all saw it. I was a mess. And again, talking about community, my community in San Francisco came together and helped me to put this fundraiser for people who needed support. And I wanted to keep spreading the word. Everybody actually, who helped me, they are here. Jody Torrey, Debbie Leslie, everybody, my team from Bojmo, they never left my side. They always were my champions. And I did so many fundraisers, thanks for this book and my wonderful publisher, Rizoli, they donated 10% of pre-sales to World Central Kitchen, only war donated 20% of pre-sales of this book to another Ukrainian organization. I could bring community together just by cooking with them, feeding them, and just giving them a little bit of relief during this horrible timing. I know that many supper clubs all over the world, from Germany and the Netherlands and Australia, they sent me photos of Bojmo when it was published and how they had that supper club and fundraised for Ukraine and send money to some organization to help. This book is the most wonderful thing that could have happened to me. And I'm very blessed that I was able to put it together. And even in this devastating times, it brought some light and hope to people. For me, the challenges were much different. I was just freshly opening a restaurant. It was an unusual restaurant. It was in a pandemic as well. It was a positive challenge, though. If my lines were long and crazy, it was just like nuts. And I'm running this restaurant at the same time that I have to put together this book. But I couldn't tell my publishing company that... Oh, you are hiding things. Yeah, I got to run this restaurant like secret. Because I have to... I want to be... I want to publish another book. So I don't want to be too... You know, I don't want to be too difficult. You know, so I had to squeeze this in. It was midnight and weekends and it was just break times. Whatever I had, I would be doing this book. You know, then my co-writer is on the East Coast. And so without her, it would have been a problem because just imagine how much more I would have to do if I didn't have Korsha. And before Korsha, we're looking at other writers and things like that. And no shade on anybody, but it was like some of them were trying too hard to be hit and talk like me. And so not knowing the full side of who I am. And so some of it might sound ignorant, right? And it wasn't on purpose. I get it. But Korsha kind of just was like, just like perfect fit. And I was a little bit concerned because she was on the East Coast. Yeah. And we talked different. And not just on the time, but on the slangs are different and things like that. But she channeled her Toriano and we worked well really good together in whatever things. And we made it happen. But that was some of the struggles for me is for writing the book and getting the book together. And actually, once again, going back, letting them to let the publisher company know that I'm San Francisco and they want to represent Oakland so bad. And I'm like, now I love Oakland, but I'm from San Francisco, you know. Interesting. I think you like busting a mess. Well, and that's that in your book. You open it up. It says Filmo, like in big letters. And just tell me a little bit more about how you and Korsha worked together so she could understand her voice. Oh, she knew. She knew. She knew. She like, he's he's representing Filmo. He's adamant about where he's from, what he who he loves, where he where he represents. Okay, well, that's what we go do. And she just she just talked to me and found out who I was and knew what to do from there. Like I talked a lot about my grandmother, you know, and she understood this is very important to this book. It's very important to my family and representation of my family and my grandmother who embedded all this stuff into me is very important to talk about. Yeah. So you get me on track too. Yeah, that three hour difference is challenging. And I'm glad you addressed that because Korsha is one of the best writers I know around her bylines often in the New York Times these days. I've known her for many years. So collaborations, Kate and Kristen have done them for how how do they get the recipes out of you? Yeah, chef too. We know how hard that is. You know, like you guys do weird things that you don't always like share for the home cook. And your recipes. I will say when you read, you have a whole section about all the experimentation you did. So I felt like there's probably a lot of development. Yeah. And then you're like, oh, we use this particular brand, right? She's a good sport. Right. She was a good sport. She was like, okay. And then, you know, we would discuss maybe trying something else to make it more creamier or something like what she she just was really good sport. Like I got blessed with a perfect match. And I knew she was one of the best writers. The first writer, honestly, was way more reasonable in pricing. But I didn't care. Cost, man. Yeah. Yeah. I gave up about I gave up a lot of my to give to her. So just I want to make the best book. That's all that's what it's about. I wanted to ask a little bit just about nuts and bolts of cookbook writing. Anna, when you were writing this book, you know, maybe it was almost a good thing that Ukraine hadn't been invaded yet because you could just go in with this pure love and excitement for Ukraine. But some of the challenges I think with writing any cookbook are what do you name the recipes, especially when you're writing recipes that people might not be that familiar with. How did you figure out what to name them? So I understood from the very beginning that not a lot of people are familiar with Eastern European food and culture. And I have a lot of Ukrainian recipes. Most of the recipes are Ukrainian in this book, but I have also Georgian recipes and I have Polish recipes and Hungarian recipes. So I wanted to make justice to the culture that produced the recipe because yes, for Americans, Eastern Europe is kind of like, yeah, similar, but it's not that similar. So I wanted to make sure that we make sure the culture will be mentioned. We will not just unify all the recipes. And I have two names, of course, in English that explain what this thing is. I have a name in Ukrainian and I have the short name, for example, for example, what? I don't know. For example, a giant Hachapuri, but I have explanation. If I don't put it in the recipe title, then I will put it in the notes what Hachapuri is and what type of Hachapuri that is. So I try to educate people because I know that it will not be like that. Oh, yes, of course, I hate that. If your grandmother is not from that part of the world, probably you've tried it maybe once. So that was very, very important to make sure I explained everything. Again, I had a very beautiful copy editor and if I missed something, she would just type it like, what is that? Explain people, just make sure people know and that helped a lot. So, copy editor is a very important person for good book success. Live copy editors? Yeah, for your names. I mean, you have some really creative recipe names. Like, what are your some of your favorite names? You know, it's vegan, right? So, I kind of like stuck to the theme. So, you know, Sumacaroni is already off the menu. And you know, Sumakian is a lot of the theme names are just from like slang and things that, you know, the culture, you know, the mob, gumbo or a bus down breakfast. These are just things. This is how we talk. And so, I just use my lingo, you know, and throw it in there and let people get a piece of that. And another thing is just like connected to what I was trying to represent is the community and the culture and let people, like when I go to other states, I always talk how I talk in the Bay Area. And they'll say, "Oh, where are you from, the Bay Area?" Like, and I love doing that because I'm introducing my culture. And so, that's basically what I did. I just, I just threw the names in there and I explained them. Like I said, Sumacaroni, the cheesesteak is called the Divisidero. And the Divisidero is a block in a neighborhood where I'm from, the Fillmore, you know. And so, I was representing the Divisidero right there, you know. And let people know a little more about the city, where the best cheesesteaks are in the city is on the Divisidero street. I'm actually so curious with the names because they are so fun. And you say it's the way you talk, but like, is it the name comes first and then you do the dish? Does the dish come first? And you're like, "What do I call this?" Or, "How does that work?" It can go both ways. Like, all right, I come up with a name. Like, a lot of these names, I'm not even gonna lie to y'all. I came up with a heck of names and then I just sent it in 'cause I needed 89 recipes and I just came up with a bunch of names and then I just sent it in and they were like, "Oh, this is dope." And I'm like, "What is that?" You're like, "I have to figure that out for you." If some of you are already made and some of them we're not even thought of yet, so... I'm gonna tell you what I'm saying. My main name, like, let's say I went on as, and I work in on recipes that are, you know, we want to represent Ukrainian culture or Vietnamese culture. We're like, "We have to be so damn careful about the translation into English, but I wish I could name my recipes like you do." Like, you do a Vietnamese garlic noodles, for example, in there and you name it differently. And I saw that recipe and I'm like, "Oh, that's like, Toyota's version of Vietnamese garlic noodles, and it sounds so fun!" Then just garlic noodles, which is what I have to call it in Vietnamese. And also sometimes, I don't tend to be pressed because they're my long-time publisher too. There is, like, a list of words that we have to be very careful about using and not using because they can be cultural trigger words. Did they ever give you any kind of push back editorial? Yeah, I'm gonna go for it. No, for me. Yes, they were like, "Can you share? I know Bryant Terry's around, but you know..." I forget what your word it was, but they were like, "Oh, I said something. It wasn't even about my culture. It was about blazing Asian." And they were like, "No, that's not." And I was like, "What?" I'm like, "I'm giving props." But no, you're lighting me on fire or something. I don't know. I'm like, "What?" And I'm like, "My daughter's... My oldest daughter's half Cambodian." And so I'm like, San Francisco culture is a mixed culture. Like all my friends, Asian, Black, Black, white. That's how we get down. And so I'm like, Paul, I'm like... And then I didn't let them... They kept it. And I was like, "No, I don't want to change that." And they were like, "Well, if you feel like I'm not doing anything negative, it's all positive." And they were like, "Alright, let me go." Anna, tell me a little bit just about Borscht because that's a tricky name, the way you spell it. Maybe not. I'm probably not singing it right. So you published book, you don't think too much, the war happens, and then your book's out in the world and then what happens. Like with certain things that you put in the book or certain ways you call them. Yes, excellent question, by the way. I want to comment on that because again, we have war in Ukraine for 10 years. It's not three and a half years that most people think. Full-scale invasion happened. But Ukraine was a part of USSR for, oh my god, 70-something, 70-something. And we were independent from Russia 31 years. And the thing is that we had that culture so intertwined with our recipes. And USSR did such a great job to just make sure that Ukrainian culture will be erased as fast as possible. And then all the cultures in the USSR will be so blended that at some point, nobody will be able to distinguish. Like, oh, which recipe came from which country? And I tried to do my best to explain in my book, Hachapuri, this is native to Georgia, they have, it's their national dish. And this is the same for Ukrainian food. But unfortunately, as many, my fellow Ukrainians before the full-scale invasion, like the war was like on the back burner. We all knew that it's happening, but it was such a proxy war. It was a lot of propaganda. And of course, I'm like always like I'm hardcore Ukrainian. But it was not that bad. But after 24th February, it was just no comeback. And I have a few Russian recipes in my book. And I said the recipe comes from Russia. It was invented there, blah, blah, blah. And some people just hated that. And there was nothing I could do about that because the recipes are already in the book. And it's just maybe two or three. But I had some fights about that. Some people left horrible comments and reviews on Amazon. And that was a tough part. And I tried to explain, of course, the Borsches Ukrainian, Borsch came from Ukraine. But it's so hard to prove that Borsches Ukrainian, because the Cook's books were erased. Lots of things were lost because Ukraine was torn between multiple superpowers. And USSR, they, I think, did the best job to just make sure that Ukrainian culture and identity will be as blended as possible. And right now, only after the full-scale invasion, I think my country is rediscovered its identity. And it's happening in food as well. And if I would write my cookbook right now, it will be a different book. And hopefully I will have a chance to write a second book. I'm working on it. I want it. And right now, it's a renaissance. And the culture is have everything is happening right now. And we are going back 200 days, right? Right. Yes. And I felt it even from here that some magic is happening despite a lot of cruelty and a lot of horrible things. Ukraine is blossoming. The culture is blossoming. And people are as creative as ever. And I just want to bring it to light and show people that we are here. We know who we are. And we want to show it to the world. That's right. There's something you kind of said earlier, Andrea, you said, like, myth perpetuation. And I was thinking for you, Toriano, with, you know, the publisher went to focus a lot on Oakland. And you're like, yeah, but, you know, I'm from San Francisco. And for you, there's so much, like, you were just talking about the myth around Ukrainian food. And I guess I'm wondering, working with the publisher, where, I guess, were there some myths that maybe people have in their heads about the culture where you had to, you did have to push back a bit? Not really. Not really. Just a little bit with the, um, the cover. Oh, tell us about the cover. Tell us about the story. I really love a good cover story. They wanted their illustrator. And we had a vision to represent me. And my wife was another person who was really strong, felt strongly about that. So I had my own graphic designer. And I pushed for that. And they wanted to do it right like this. And I was like, no, you got to write like this. It went, it went for a minute. And then I'm like, trust me. We see it. We see what he does. And I go push back in the end. And they saw it and they were like, we never seen anything like this before like that. They completely loved it. But at first, they wanted to, they just wanted to control. Yeah. So I asked them. What was the first idea? What, what, what did they want? They just had an in-house person. I didn't even see it. I know what I wanted. So it wasn't no shade on the person they had. It was just like, this is what they have to be. Right. Yeah. If this vegan mind, this Toriano, who I represented any other way. And this is a designer you've been working with like most of your. Since I was a kid. Yeah, most of your life. So this designer right here, Photodocks, Photodocks graphics, Shimp, and Evan Shimp is one of my best friends. I've been knowing since I was 13. And he's been designing my cover since I was a kid. He designs all the major Bay Area, West Coast, rap artists. And I knew what I wanted to capture. And I knew what he was good at capture. And if I have him right here, then why not use everybody? It's hard for everybody else to get him. But this is my brother. So Shimp San Francisco went to low high school, grew up in the mission. And so it was all about representing the culture. Once again, the community and the culture. So yeah, that was the pushback right there. And once they got it, they loved it though. One thing too, just in wrapping up our conversation today and thinking about just Toriano, what you're saying about the cover, Anna, you know your culture so well, you know what you want, you see where it's evolving to. It seems to me to write a cookbook these days that has this strong sense of identity. You really need to know who you are as a person and really already know what story you want to tell. And no, you already know what the cover was going to look like, you know. So just tell us like, say if I'm out there in the audience and I want to write a cookbook that really represents me and in my story, what are some words of wisdom? How well do you have to know yourself before you embark on something like this? Or do you learn about yourself while you're writing? I will say that you need to ask one question. Do the world need this book? We have so many beautiful books. Is it just your ego writing the book or you think that this book needs to be in the world? That's very important because if that's your ego and your super successful chef or like personality, you will definitely get that book. But if you are just starting and you want to give your grandmother justice and like, okay, she was the best cook, it's a tough sell. And I would say my cookbook is still in niche cookbook because we are not Italy. Ukraine is not France and not a lot of people will have in mind, okay, I will cook Ukrainian dinner tonight. Maybe after the full-scale invasion, people started to think about Ukraine more. I doubt that it lasted more than a year because the news are changing so rapidly and the world is changing not in a good way. Do we need that book? If you definitely say yes and it will be special, why? Why it will be special? What you will bring into this world? And definitely you need to know yourself and this is my favorite thing to say when you definitely know yourself and you you already set your mind, just do it and don't doubt yourself because the whole world will. Just don't add one more person to that. Just put your head down and do whatever needs to be done. Grow your following. Learn everything. Listen to everything cookbooks. Take a cookbook writing class. We didn't tell you to say that by the way. Oh my god, no. And I'm sending people to the cookbook writing classes left and right. I don't know, at least 10 people already went. Just learn, talk to authors. It's not easy. It's very rewarding in the end of the day. But it's not like a walk in a park and you will probably not make any money off of your first cookbook. So I'm like, it's a tough laugh, but this is true. But if you really, really wanted and you know that the world needs this book, just like work on it, don't doubt yourself and you will have success. Awesome. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Just I know we got a couple of minutes. So just to piggyback on what she said, there's a world need this book. For me, yeah, the world needs this book. It's vegan, mob is changing things. And my culture and other people's cultures and people who grow up with diseases and things of these natures, they need to know that they can eat plant-based food and have delicious food at the same time and not be depriving themselves. And there's healthier alternatives to the traditional dish that they're used to eating that may not be so good for them. And about being yourself is just really what I would say just to conclude it is stay true to yourself. That's all I thought about throughout the whole process is like I got to stay true to myself. That's it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Anna. Thank you, Toriano. Thank you for this great conversation. Thank you for listening to our first live. Yeah, thank you so much for being here and podcast. But I really think hopefully everyone takes away just some inspiration today on how much passion both of these authors have and how you can also pick up their books today too. So thank you so much for being here. Yeah, thanks. Cookbook fast. Yeah. Thank you for listening to Everything Cookbooks. For more episodes and ways to contact us, go to our website, everythingcookbooks.com. The show is available wherever you get your audio. If you like what you hear, please do leave a review. Any books mentioned in the show can be found on our affiliate page at bookshop.org. Thank you as always to our editor, Abi Circatella. Until next time, keep on writing, reading, and cooking. [BLANK_AUDIO]
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.
