This is a live conversation recorded in April 2026 during the first Cookbook Week in San Francisco, a city-wide event co-founded by Brian Hogan Stewart (of the Salt + Spine podcast), Jodi Liano, and Leslie Jonath. Here, Leslie leads the conversation with Jenny Wapner, publisher of Hardie Grant North America, and Kate Leahy, an author, to discuss all things cookbooks. Jenny and Kate share how they got their start, what their day to day tasks look like and the recent projects that have most resonated with them. They all speak about the frantic, trend-focused nature of publishing, how the current political climate can affect a book and those glorious instances of unexpected success that keep them excited about the industry. The panelists highlight a few of their recent favorite projects and end by taking a few questions from the audience.

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

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions

Brian Hogan Stewart

• Salt & Spine Podcast
• Salt & Spine Substack
• Instagram

Cookbook Week

Episode 65: Podcasting about Cookbooks with Brian Hogan Stewart

Episode 145: Eva Kolenko on Photographing Cookbooks

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

• My Egypt by Michael Mina with Kate Leahy
• Hand Taste by Esther Choi
• Feed your People by Leslie Jonath
• Elvira's Cookbook from Hell by Cassandra Petersen
• Full Belly Farm & Kitchen by Jenna Muller and Amon Muller
• Cookbooking by Debbie Berne
• The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen