Ina Garten: Cooking Is Hard

The food guru explains why she hated dinnertime growing up, and how she learned to love it. And we dig into the craft of reading an audiobook with a master of the form.
Portrait of Ina Garten in a kitchen.

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With the help of countless viral videos and her Food Network program “Barefoot Contessa,” Ina Garten has become a household name. An essential element of her success is her confiding warmth, and her encouragement for even the most novice home cook. She talks with David Remnick, a longtime friend, about her new book, and why her own childhood experiences at dinner were filled with dread. We take a look at the craft of narrating an audiobook with a master of the form, Robin Miles, who has lent her voice to hundreds of titles from “Charlotte’s Web” to Isabel Wilkerson’s “Caste.” And Susan Orlean, in an installment of her column “Afterword,” remembers a Texas man with a passion for rattlesnakes.

Ina Garten: Cooking Is Hard

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The food guru explains why she hated dinnertime growing up, and how she learned to love it. Garten takes questions from listeners on everything from bay leaves to her scarves.


An Audiobook Master on the Secrets of Her Craft

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What kind of accent does a fantasy villain speak in? Robin Miles—who has recorded more than four hundred audiobooks—shares her secrets with Daniel Gross.


Susan Orlean Remembers Eugene DeLeon, Who Loved Rattlesnakes

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The founder of Snakebusters Snake Handlers liked providing a service for his neighbors in Texas. And, for whatever reason, he just loved rattlesnakes.


The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.