The Culinarily Curious

To write a cookbook, a good author will go to great lengths to perfect a recipe or understand a cuisine. On this week's show, we meet four food writers who are driven by a deep culinary curiosity. You may know Melissa Clark from her weekly column in the New York Times food section or from one of her 45-odd published cookbooks. We join Melissa in the studio to discuss the art of recipe-making to find out what led the prolific author to a life in food.

We also speak with Vicky Bennison, the creator of the YouTube sensation, Pasta Grannies. The series takes Vicky across Italy into the kitchens of everyday women preparing the signature dish in every possible way. We learn about the British native's book of the same name, and learn what led her to chronicle Italy's aging home cooks.

After years of interviewing an impressive array of American culinary talent for his podcast Flavors Unknown, Emmanuel Laroche compiled these dialogues for his new book, "Conversations Behind The Kitchen Door." The French-born Emmanuel shares with us what he discovered about our nation's food culture today.

Finally, Alabama-born expat Marti Buckley takes us to Spain's Basque region, which she explores in her cookbook "Basque Country." We learn why the culture and cuisine of the Basque people enticed Marti to abandon her Southern roots for a decidedly different kind of life.