Today’s guest is Padma Lakshmi—TV host, executive producer, bestselling cookbook author, and longtime friend of Cherry Bombe. Padma has a brand new show debuting Wednesday on CBS—“America’s Culinary Cup.” Not only is she the host, but she’s also the creator and executive producer of what she hopes will become America’s most prestigious culinary competition. One talented chef contestant will not only take home bragging rights, but a $1 million prize and a gleaming gold trophy.

Padma joins host Kerry Diamond to discuss her return to culinary competitions after 19 seasons of “Top Chef,” the unique touches that make “America’s Culinary Cup” distinctive, how she chose judges Michael Cimarusti and Wylie Dufresne, and why you won’t see her on “Survivor” any time soon.

Click here for Padma’s Tagine-Inspired Chicken recipe from her new cookbook, “Padma’s All American.”

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More on Padma: Instagram, "America's Culinary Cup", “Padma’s All American” cookbook
More on Kerry: Instagram, “So You Want To Open A Restaurant” Substack series

Today’s guest is Ella Quittner, journalist, mom-to-be, and the author of the wildly inventive cookbook “Obsessed With the Best: 100+ Methodically Perfected Recipes Based on 20+ Head-to-Head Tests.” Ella is known for her rigorous (some might say obsessive) recipe testing and her sharp, funny writing, which has appeared everywhere from The New York Times and New York Magazine to Food52, where her “absolute best” tests first gained a cult following.

Ella joins host Kerry Diamond to talk about leaving a high-powered Wall Street career for food media, why arguing about the “best” way to make something is actually a gift to curious cooks everywhere, and how her brilliant and quirky cookbook came together.

Ella also shares about writing screenplays, working in a TV writers’ room, growing up with journalist parents, her lifelong tendency toward obsession, and the joyful chaos of promoting a debut cookbook while expecting her first baby.

Ella’s Braised Tomato-Butter Cabbage recipe
Our new Mom’s the Bombe issue
The Jubilee Business Owners Pass application

Visit cherrybombe.com for subscriptions, tickets to upcoming events, and more.

More on Ella: Instagram, “Obsessed With The Best” cookbook
More on Kerry: Instagram, “So You Want To Open A Restaurant” Substack series

Today, we’re re-airing one of our favorite Radio Cherry Bombe episodes. Ina Garten joins host Kerry Diamond to talk about her memoir, “Be Ready When The Luck Happens.” Ina shares what she learned about herself while writing the memoir, why she included stories about her unhappy childhood, overcoming hardships with her husband Jeffrey, and their decision not to have children. She also talks about her “leap before you look” philosophy, how Oprah Winfrey inspired the title of the book, the early Barefoot Contessa days in the Hamptons, and why she’s “the worst kind of childless cat lady.”

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More on Ina: Instagram, website, “Be Ready When The Luck Happens” memoir
More on Kerry: Instagram, “So You Want To Open A Restaurant” essay