Keep Calm And Cook On With Julia Turshen

On this special bonus episode, Julia shares the recording of her live interview with the cookbook author Priya Krishna in celebration of her new book Indian-ish which she coauthored with her mother, Ritu Krishna. Indian-ish is Priya’s loving tribute to her mom’s “Indian-ish” cooking—a trove of one-of-a-kind Indian-American hybrids that are easy to make, clever, practical, and packed with flavor. Think Roti Pizza, Tomato Rice with Crispy Cheddar andWhole Roasted Cauliflower with Green Pea Chutney. Priya’s mom, Ritu, taught herself to cook after moving to the U.S. while also working as a software programmer—her recipes merge the Indian flavors of her childhood with her global travels and inspiration from cooking shows as well as her kids’ requests for American favorites like spaghetti and PB&Js. The book is not just a collection of well-tested, approachable recipes, it’s also so much about taking pride in where and who you come from. For more about Priya and Indian-ish, head here.

Kelly Fields is the force behind Willa Jean, a restaurant and bakery named after her grandmother, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Originally from Charleston, South Carolina, Kelly started cooking and baking when she was young and studied under the legendary chef Susan Spicer. She worked at a number of prestigious restaurants and traveled extensively to work with lots of different chefs before she opened Willa Jean in 2015. Her hard work has been celebrated by pretty much every food media outlet there is and just a couple of weeks ago, Kelly took home a James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef. In this episode, she reflects with Julia about New Orleans, about Hurricane Katrina, about mentorship and leadership, about mental health and therapy and fishing, about identity and queerness, about her dog, chocolate chip cookies, and more. There are also answers to listeners' questions and a shoutout to SheChef, the organization started by Elle Simone Scott. Follow-up links: For more about Kelly, check out KellyField

Vallery Lomas, winner of the 3rd season of The Great American Baking Show, is not only a phenomenal baker, but is also a food writer, blogger, photographer, soon-to-be cookbook author, and former lawyer. She started backing and blogging years ago while she was in law school and while she practiced law, which she did full-time for 8 years. She was cast on the 3rd Season of the Great American Baking Show, an ABC spin-off of the hugely popular Great British Baking Show. Vallery prepared for, competed on, and won her season, but we never actually got to see it on television. The show premiered on December 7th, 2017 and was pulled off the air shortly thereafter following sexual misconduct allegations against ones of the judges. Julia sat down with Vallery in her apartment in Harlem and talked about her preparation for the show, how she navigated this unexpected turn of events, and what her freelance career looks like now. There are also answers to listeners' questions and a shoutout to Sydnie L. Mosely Dances. Som

Mona Talbott and Kate Arding are the forces behind Talbott & Arding, a cheese and provisions shop, in Hudson, New York. Mona and Kate approach their food, shop, and community with intention and love. They sat down with Julia to talk about what their lives were like before they opened their business, how they navigate running it together as a couple, and more. Mona has over 25 years experience in the culinary industry. She began her cooking career as a camp cook in remote logging camps in her native Canada, formalizing her training at the Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon where, in 1993, Talbott graduated with highest honors. She was a cook at Chez Panisse for five years before she launched Mona Talbott Catering and began cooking exclusively for “A” list private clients and catering events both in the United States and Europe working within the fine arts, media and entertainment industry. Her ongoing collaboration on special culinary projects with Alice Waters eventually led her to Italy, whe

Cécile McLorin Salvant is a jazz vocalist who was born and raised in Miami with her French mother and Haitian father. She started classical piano studies at age 5 and began singing in a children’s choir at 8. Cecile moved to France in 2007 to study both classical voice and also law. When she was there, she began learning about and singing jazz and recorded her first album, Cécile. She soon won the prestigious Thelonious Monk competition. Her second album, WomanChild was nominated for a Grammy. Her third album,* For One To Love*, her fourth, Dreams and Daggers, and her fifth, The Window, have all won Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album. She joined Julia for a conversation about everything from food to music, desire to criticism, poetry, and more. Follow-up links: For more about Cécile and her music, head here. For Cécile's Tiny Desk Concert, head here. For more about H.E.L.P., head here. For more about this show's sponsor Lulu & Georgia, head here (and use the code ‘KEEPCALM10’ for 10% off of your fir

Elazar Sontag, a cookbook author, freelance writer, and editor at Serious Eats, talks to Julia about cooking, writing, anxiety, Guy Fieri, and more. There are also answers to listeners' questions and a shoutout to The Trevor Project. Some follow-up links! For more about Elazar, head here. For more about Elazar's book* Flavors of Oakland*, head here. For Julia's recipe for Charoset Quinoa from Now & Again, featured by Great Jones, head here. Don't forget to use your discount code for your Great Jones order! For more about The Trevor Project, head here. For the interview between The Trevor Project's CEO Amit Paley and comic Cameron Esposito on her podcast Queery, head here. For more about Julia and her work, head here.

Julia speaks with writer and editor Hali Bey Ramdene about her career and the nuances of telling stories about food. Hali holds a Masters in Gastronomy from Boston University and after school she moved to Des Moines, Iowa where she was the Associate Food Editor at Better Homes and Gardens for three years. She then returned home to Albany, NY where she worked from home for The Kitchn, first as a Food Editor and then as the Food Director. Hali is now happily freelancing. She and Julia talked about the nuances of print and digital, about the differences between writing and editing, and the differences between making a story and telling a story. For more about Hali and her work, head here. For Hali's post about her mom's eggs, head here. For more about Feet in 2 Worlds, head here. For more about Julia and her work, head here.

Julia kicks off the second season of Keep Calm and Cook On with Cecile Richards, who was the president of Planned Parenthood for more than a decade and who Vogue magazine has called a “heroine of the resistance.” Cecile’s late mother, the incredible Ann Richards, was the Governor of Texas and Cecile so clearly follows her mother’s meaningful footsteps doing work fighting for social justice and women’s rights. As she wrote about in her book Make Trouble, Cecile has been an activist ever since she was taken to the principal’s office in 7th grade for protesting the Vietnam War. As a young woman, Cecile worked as a labor organizer and went onto do more advocacy work in various progressive leadership roles. One thread through Cecile’s work is that she brings other women along with her. Lauren Peterson, the coauthor of Make Trouble, joined Cecile and Julia for this episode. Before working with Cecile on her book, Lauren wrote speeches for both Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and President Barack Obama’

This episode features the first official Equity at the Table event. It is a recording of a panel conversation moderated by Klancy Miller, an EATT Advisory Board member and author of Cooking Solo. Host Julia Turshen was the author on the panel and was joined by Kara Rota, a cookbook editor, Cindy Uh, a literary agent with Thompson Literary Agency, and Heami Lee, a photographer who shoots cookbooks plus other work. They cover everything from book proposals to writing, shooting, and promoting a book. The goal of this event was to try and create some transparency and to foster community. The publishing industry is really opaque and so much of book publishing, and definitely cookbook publishing, is relationship-based. Familial terms abound— for example, publishing companies are referred to as publishing houses. The agent-author relationship is often discussed like dating— about finding the right match. Authors refer to books as their babies. Relationships between authors, editors, photographers, and even readers o

On this special bonus episode of Keep Calm and Cook On, Julia shares a recording of the final event for her Now & Again book tour— a panel conversation at the Atlanta History Center with Rosalind Bentley (of the Atlanta Journal Constitution), Kim Severson (of the New York Times), Deborah VanTrece and Lorraine Lane (of Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours), the cookbook author Virgina Willis, and the literary agent and consultant Lisa Ekus. In the conversation, the women share their experiences and explore what it means to be a queer-identified woman in food today. Thanks to the Atlanta History Center for hosting, Tiffanie Barriere for making cocktails, Arepa Mia for providing arepas. For more about Equity at the Table, head over to EquityAtTheTable.com. For more about Julia, head to JuliaTurshen.com. If you're enjoying the show, please subscribe, rate + review the show...better yet, tell a friend!

Julia sits down with two of the women behind the scenes at Oxo. Becca Del Monte is a Product Engineer who works mostly on fruit and vegetable tools and Lua O’Brien is a Product Category Director for food storage. They discuss how they got into their careers, what goes into making products (literally and emotionally), and what excites them about their work. For more about Oxo: Oxo.com. For more about Julia: JuliaTurshen.com.

Liz Alpern is passionate about bringing people together through food. She is the creator of Queer Soup Night. Each QSN a time to feel welcome who identify as queer to not feel like an exception in the room. There are now Queer Soup Night communities across the country. Liz is also the co-founder of The Gefilteria and co-author of The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods. Liz and her co-founder Jeffery’s mission for their work is to reclaim and revolutionize Ashkenazi cuisine. In all her free time, Liz is also a faculty member at the International Culinary Center's Culinary Entrepreneurship program in New York and consults for the national food justice organization Fair Food Network. Liz and Julia talk about the work Liz does, the intention she brings to it, and the intersection of their shared queer and Jewish identities. There's also a shoutout to the Third Wave Fund and answers to listeners' questions. For more about Julia and her work, head here.

Hawa Hassan (of Basbaas, a line of Somali condiments) and Beth Linskey (formerly of Beth's Farm Kitchen) join Julia for a conversation about friendship and mentorship and how both can transcend age, race, and place. Hawa started her company Basbaas because she wanted to shift the narrative about being Somali. In her words, “What could be a better way to do that than through food?” To get her company off the ground, she enlisted her mentor Beth. Beth is the creator of the New York-based jam company Beth’s Farm Kitchen, which she founded in 1981. She ran the company for 35 years before selling it in 2016. While it's been noted that mentorship helps drive success, but we don’t hear enough about how people find their mentors or what the mentors themselves get out of the relationship. In sharing some insights about their relationship, Hawa and Beth show us a really beautiful example of what mentorship can look like. It’s not just good for business, it’s also good for humanity. The show also includes answers to lis

Award-winning cookbook author and former human rights campaigner Yasmin Khan sits down with Julia to talk about her new book, Zaitoun, and the logistics of a career transition, the importance of rest, the way food can be an entry point to conversation, and why we have to hold onto hope. Yasmin's first book, The Saffron Tales, includes recipes and stories from the Persian Kitchen. It’s a very personal book as Yasmin grew up between Iran, where her mother is from, and England. The Saffron Tales won tons of awards and opened the door for her newest book, Zaitoun, which came out in the UK a few months ago and just was published in the US. Zaitoun is all about Palestinean cooking. In only a week since publication, it’s been celebrated in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post and more. There are also answers to listeners' questions (including an answer from the wonderful baker Cheryl Day) and shoutouts to Jewish Voice for Peace and Be the Match (#TeamElise).

Ashley Christensen cares as much about people as she does about food. The Raleigh-based chef and restaurateur started cooking when she was in college and now runs an empire of restaurants in the Triangle in North Carolina including Poole’s Diner which she opened over a decade ago. She employs over 200 people and is known for not being afraid to speak up. Ashley’s cooking, restaurants, and cookbook have been celebrated by outlets like Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, The New York Times, and Eater and she’s the recipient of a James Beard Award. She sat down with Julia to talk about her career, her restaurants, her leadership and communication style, her commitment to community, and her support system. There are are also answers to listeners' questions and a shout out to the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. For more about Julia Turshen and her work, head here.

Jamaican sisters, cookbook authors, and restauranteurs Suzanne and Michelle Rousseau join Julia for a conversation about the spirit they bring to their work and the experiences that have informed how they approach life. It’s a conversation about learning to trust your own voice, to embrace fear, to be your own champion, and to just keep going. Michelle and Suzanne have a long history of collaboration. They’ve run a boutique, a catering business, restaurants; they’ve appeared on television and have co-authored two cookbooks. Their first, Caribbean Potluck, came out in 2014 and their latest, Provisions: The Roots of Caribbean Cooking, came out in December of 2018. It’s not just a book of contemporary vegetarian recipes— and it is a great one!— it’s also the history of Caribbean cooking, which is the history of women and the dual legacies of slavery and colonization. It’s a book about what was available, what wasn’t, and how women have sustained their communities despite all odds. The episode also features answe

Sara B. Franklin is a writer, teacher, oral historian, and a home cook. She teaches food culture and writing at both NYU and at the Wallkill Correctional Facility. Her first book, Edna Lewis: At the Table with An American Original, came out in 2018. Before the book came out, Sara finished her dissertation based on a series of oral history interviews she conducted with Judith Jones, the famous editor who worked not only with Edna Lewis who but also Julia Child and so many more— she also, remarkably, took The Diary of Anne Frank out of the reject pile. Sara joins Julia for a conversation centered on Edna Lewis, Judith Jones, and also Sara’s own mother. This episode is all about how critical it is to celebrate the older women in our lives, to name their challenges out loud, and to listen to them when they share their stories. There's also a shoutout to the Kingston YMCA Farm Project (for more about them head here) and answers to listeners' questions. For more about Sara B. Franklin, head here. For the Overnight

Asha Gomez, the chef and cookbook author, sits down with Julia for a conversation that casts a wide net and covers everything from switching gears to finding your own voice and using it. They discuss her venue, The Third Space, and the impetus behind it. They talk about finding out what works by first finding out what doesn't. They talk about how Asha continuously explores her two Souths— the area of Southern India where she’s from and the area of the American South where she calls home. They also discuss the perception, and misconception, of Indian food in America. The conversation closes on Asha’s advocacy work and finding the power of her own voice. For more about the Third Space, head here. For The New York Times article about Asha by Kim Severson, head here. For more about CARE, head here. And for more about Julia Turshen and her work, head here. For the Italian Flag Baked Pasta from Now & Again that Julia mentions, head here.

Jody Williams and Rita Sodi— the women behind Buvette, I Sodi, and Via Carota and the upcoming Bar Pisellino— join Julia for a personal conversation about their partnership, both personal and professional. They talk about how they feel about labels, what they hope to instill in their employees, and the energy and feel they work to create in their restaurants. "We want to make a place that we miss," said Jody. There are also answers to listeners' questions and a shoutout to God's Love We Deliver (find out more about the organization here). For more about Buvette, head here. For more about Via Carota, head here. And for more about Bar Pisellino, head here. For more about Julia Turshen and her work, head here.

Sara Elise, who runs the catering company Harvest & Revel and the creative brand Blind Seed, and Yemi Amu, the co-founder of Oko Farms and specialist in aquaponics, join Julia for a personal conversation about how to create your own path from the ground up. The conversation centers on figuring out careers in and around food and features honest reflections from both Sara Elise and Yemi about being Black women in food in Brooklyn. There are also answers to listeners' questions and a shoutout to Fresh Future Farm (find out more about the organization here). For more about Sara Elise, check out Harvest & Revel. For more about Yemi Amu, check out Oko Farms. And for more about Julia Turshen and her work, head here.