And, I have a giveaway! 📚🎁 My friends at Hardie Grant are generously offering a copy of Cookbooking to three lucky Headnotes subscribers. Here’s how it works: follow @hardiegrantusa and me, and leave a comment on this post—bonus points if you tag a cookbook author you admire, or mention your favorite cookbook. The giveaway is open to anyone residing in the US, and the winner will be selected at random shortly after the giveaway closes on Friday, August 28th, 2026.
Cookbooking is published by @hardiegrantusa and The Design of Books is published by @uchicagopress. I thank them both for allowing me to share Debbie’s work in today’s post. Photos of Debbie by @jesslynngoss and @vbarad
#headnotes #cookbooks #bookdesign #cookbooking #giveaway
2 months agorickycaker
What a beautiful tribute, @debbiebernedesign, to us cookbook fans and readers. I myself am a HUGE cookbook collector, and I often enjoy cooking from my collection. The author who has resonated most with me in recent years is @sarah_c_owens. Although all of her naturally fermented cooking/ baking books are great, Heirloom is my personal favorite. I sure do love a cookbook organized by season.
2 months agosarahloudinthomas
This looks to be a GEM of a book. Thanks for celebrating it. I currently have Great Bakes by @martinsorge on my nightstand. (I'll take it to the kitchen eventually 😊)
2 months agorurban24
I love this interview with Debbie. It has made me realize just how much I wish I had known her. Her description of what she found interesting in cookbooks mirrors my own interests, supporting the guidelines I’ve used in building my collection. I’m reading this immediately after Jenna Helwig’s interview with Jenny Wapner discussing her collaboration with Debbie on Cookbooking, and this is like finding the cup that goes with the saucer. Both my mother and grandmother were librarians, so the ethos of curation was baked in from an early age. I’ve managed and grown the collection to 8,200+ (and growing about 35 @ month) while strictly following a set of parameters focused on authors with distinctive voices making significant contributions to culinary culture. The scope is global, though English based, and the range is 1880 to the present. I finally launched a Substack (Cookbook Chronicles' Culinary Archive) early this year to help provide visibility to writers and works that deserve a wider audience. I would love to have shared this with Debbie. Oh, to have gone on those walks. - - Rick / Cookbook Chronicles “Cookbooks feed your head”
2 months agochris.wise.craft
Love the idea of @debbiebernedesign book. I have a small, coveted collection of well used cookbooks (and have designed two.)
2 months agokarablakechin
Thank you for sharing about Debbie's work. I'm so sad to hear such a creative soul is no longer with us. It was so inspiring and I'll definitely read her first book too. I loved learning about Debbie's process as a writer and a designer and how she blended the two when writing Cookbooking. The conversation about cookbook trends was so neat too. My grandma gave me a lot of cookbooks that just had illustrations such as Mary's Soup and Bread Basket which is out of print but how I learned to make bread. 🥰
2 months agomyberkeleybowl
@debbiebernedesign was one of my all-time favorite humans, and I’m so lucky to have gotten to work with her on mine. @deborahmadison #vegetableliteracy is one of my faves. @ottolenghi #plenty changed how I think about cookbook organization and remains a favorite. @alicelouisewaters everything are daily favorites. But my family cookbook made by my late mom @livelytranslation is my absolute go-to. Debbie, I sure do miss you and the radiant light you shined upon the world, and we’re so glad to have this piece of you to hold onto!
2 months agodavejoachim
Loved the interview on your substack and hearing from one of those people behind the scenes in the cookbook world (there are so many!). I got Debbie's Design of Books book as soon as it came out. My son's a graphic designer so I thought he'd enjoy it too. Can't wait to thumb through Cookbooking.
2 months agoglassydarkness
This book looks utterly perfect and I'm so sad to hear that Ms. Berne passed away. I would love a chance to add this to my collection. Very difficult to pick a single favorite cookbook author, but I will say that @emcdowell's Savory Baking and @zaynab_issa's Third Culture Cooking are both currently on heavy rotation in my kitchen.
2 months agojanethendrick
How am I just now coming to know Debbie Berne?? Thank you @francesbacadesign for the introduction and I look forward to inhaling her Cookbooking book.
2 months agoayabrackett
👏👏👏👏 I always look back at the Rose Bakery cookbook with the lime green cover as a special moment in time 💚
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