181: Debbie Berne on Cookbooking: A Fan's Guide
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This episode is quite special. In fall 2025, Kristin and Kate spoke with longtime book designer Debbie Berne about her work in progress, Cookbooking: A Fan's Guide. She told us about the book in 2024, and we knew back then that it was a book for us. Author Michael Chabon called it a “theme-park ride through Cookbookland" — and he's right: the book is crammed with stories about food fads, hippy cooking, books for dudes, cooking "bibles," and so much more.
While Debbie was writing Cookbooking, she was also grappling with a form of incurable brain cancer. We recorded this interview when we did so she could tell us about the book in her own words. She passed away in December 2025, but her indomitable spirt and humor lives on in the pages of Cookbooking.
Hosts: Kate Leahy + Molly Stevens + Kristin Donnelly + Andrea Nguyen
Editor: Abby Cerquitella
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Debbie Berne
Visit the Everything Cookbooks Bookshop to purchase a copy of any books mentioned in the show
Cookbooking: a Fan's Guide by Debbie Berne
The Design of Books by Debbie Berne