Can cookbooks be a vehicle for social change? What can or should cookbook writers offer readers beyond recipes? Writer and cookbook author Julia Turshen takes her roles very seriously. She crafts accessible, affordable recipes and coaches readers via social media. She uses her platform to build community, foster equity, honor identity, and pay homage to the cooks and writers who came before her.
Julia Turshen credits friend and fellow writer Sara B. Franklin with coining the term “quiet power of cookbooks.”
Sara Brooke Curtis thanks kitchen manager Cheryl McGahan at Angel Food East for her warm welcome. Thanks also to Grace Bonney, Roger Weiss, and Diane Lown for allowing me to hang out and record them during their sacred Thursday morning shift.
Sara Brooke Curtis is an award winning radio producer. Her work has aired on The Splendid Table, KCRW’s UnFictional, KCRW’s Good Food, CBC’s Love Me, BBC’s Short Cuts, among others. She lives in western Massachusetts and loves recording sounds of everyday life and producing sonic worlds for listeners to surrender to and delight in.
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Interested in learning more? Check out:
Julia’s podcast, Keep Calm and Cook On
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Music from this episode is:
“Taoudella” by Blue Dot Sessions
“Santre” by Blue Dot Sessions
“Sunday Lights” by Blue Dot Sessions
“Hickory Interlude” by Blue Dot Sessions
“Vibe Drive” by Podington Bear
“Pretty Build” by Podington Bear
“Southside” by Lee Rosevere
“Thoughtless” by Blue Dot Sessions
