How a Cookbook Gets Made

This is such a delight of an episode! We’ve been wanting to do a big cookbook conversation since the start of the podcast, and when America’s Test Kitchen emailed to see if we’d be interested in talking to Sarah Ahn about Umma— the cookbook she put together with her mom (!!!) documenting the Korean recipes that have defined her past and present life— we were thrilled. We just wanted one more layer: what if we had a cookbook editor as well? Enter: Adam Kowit, editoral director of all books at America’s Test Kitchen. You’re going to learn so much about the making of this cookbook (which, as you’ll see in the episode, I cannot shut up about) but also how cookbooks just generally go from a handful of recipes to an actual text. Again: what a delight, and I can’t wait for your thoughts.

Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

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Show Notes:

• Buy Umma today!!!! (Chances are very high we’ll do this as a future Culture Study Cooking Club Pick, fwiw!)

• Follow Sarah Ahn’s incredibly popular Instagram account (and look at those tour dates near you)

• A few posts we reference:

• One we don’t reference but I found so fascinating:

• Follow America’s Test Kitchen on Instagram

• In the AAA, Anne references this newsletter from January

We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

• TATE MCRAE (who is she, how did she get so popular, why is calling her the New Britney imprecise, take this wherever you want)

• SoCal Culture (broad, I know, but whew there’s so much)

• WTF is going on with contemporary/everyday men’s fashion (will Dockers make a comeback? How should we think about the business casual fleece/puffer vest? What’s going on with swimwear? HATS? I’m so excited for this one, with the great Jason Diamond)

• Dark Academia (as in, the literary genre)

• Van/Skoolie/RV Life

• PERIODS (and specifically, period pain) with Kate Helen Downey, host of Cramped

• Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!

• As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here

For this week’s discussion: What part of the process was the most illuminating? What do you still want to know even more about?