Hi there, happy Tuesday! This week, Nicole Taylor joins us in studio to talk Watermelon & Red Birds. Plus: We chat with Carla Lalli-Music later in the week—and bring you featured recipes and highlight new release cookbooks. Read on!
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Episode 138: Nicole Taylor
Nicole Taylor—author of Watermelon & Red Birds—joins us this week to #TalkCookbooks.
A Georgia native, Nicole pivoted to a career in food media when she relocated to Brooklyn with her husband in 2008. Her Heritage Radio Network podcast, Hot Grease, brought 162 episodes with an emphasis on highlighting Black food personalities and “reclaiming culinary traditions & celebrations, cooking at home and eating as a political act.”
That led to a couple of cookbooks: first, writing The Last O.G. Cookbook (yes, the cookbook-companion to the Tracy Morgan TBS comedy), and Nicole’s first solo project, The Up South Cookbook: Chasing Dixie in a Brooklyn Kitchen, which pairs her Georgia culinary roots with New York influences.
After a stint at a major media company, Nicole embarked on her latest cookbook, Watermelon & Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations.
In the book, Nicole explores the history of Juneteenth—a history full of complexity, difficulty, and sorrow. Federal recognition of a holiday long recognized by Black communities in America only came in June 2021, amidst the pandemic, a national focus on long-standing racial inequality, and the unjust deaths of Black folks at the hands of police. As Nicole writes in her introduction, “Black joy often emanates from Black sorrow, and so it has been with that small Texas tendril of freedom, which has continued to spread and strengthen.”
This cookbook is not just a historical text; it’s quite modern, and Nicole hopes it will be part of the ongoing conversation around Black food in America. Not only as a chronicle of the ways that Black ingenuity and cooking have shaped America’s food scene, but also how it will shape the 21st Century.
In today’s episode, Nicole tells about growing up in Georgia, making the leap into food writing professionally, working with past S+S guest George McCalman to design a book that “breaks all the rules,” and the importance of finding joy where it has not always been afforded.
I hope you enjoy my chat with Nicole.
Bonus Content + Recipes This Week
RECIPES!!!
This week, paid subscribers will receive. two featured recipes from Nicole Taylor’s Watermelon & Red Birds: the Southern-ish Potato Salad and a Sweet Potato Spritz inspired by Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. A sneak peek:
THE FRIDAY NOTE!!!
Carla Lalli Music joins us this week for “The Friday Note” with Salt + Spine producer Clea Wurster, in which Carla shares some insights into how she approaches recipe development and what she’s been cooking lately.
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This Week’s New Cookbook Releases
Here are a few of the new cookbooks on shelves this week:
Fresh Midwest: Modern Recipes from the Heartland by Maren Ellingboe King
Homage: Recipes and Stories from an Amish Soul Food Kitchen by Chris Scott
Evolutions in Bread: Artisan Pan Breads and Dutch-Oven Loaves at Home by Ken Forkish
How To Cook Everything Fast Revised Edition by Mark Bittman
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, 30th Anniversary Edition by Marcella Hazan
More Mandy's: More Recipes We Love by Mandy & Rebecca Wolfe
Don't Worry, Just Cook: Delicious, Timeless Recipes for Comfort and Connection by Bonnie Stern & Anna Rupert
Chinese Homestyle: Everyday Plant-Based Recipes for Takeout, Dim Sum, Noodles, and More by Maggie Zhu
Northern Soul: Southern-Inspired Home Cooking from a Northern Kitchen by Justin Sutherland
World Cocktail Adventures: 40 Destination-Inspired Drinks by Loni Carr & Brett Gramse
Coming Soon!
Don’t miss our next live podcast recording!
Food52’s Kristen Miglore joins us on Oct. 1 at Omnivore Books in San Francisco to discuss her latest book, Simply Genius. Come hear Kristen and Brian record an episode of the show, get your book signed, and support local bookstores. Details are below—hope to see you there!
Nicole Taylor on building legacy, centering Black joy in food media