Kathy Gunst on Staying Inspired
Teaching, writing, and community-building in the cookbook world
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Kathy Gunst has spent the better part of her career pursuing inspiration. Having left college after freshman year because she found it “very confusing and not inspiring,” she traveled to London to attend Le Cordon Bleu and discovered a passion for food and cooking. After completing the certificate program, Kathy returned to New York City to work in restaurants, but the grind of professional kitchens quickly sapped her newfound zeal for cooking. “I started to lose interest in food, being in the grueling kitchen day in, day out.”
So she took another leap in search of a more inspiring occupation. This time, she landed at a now-defunct travel and lifestyle magazine, Diversion1, where, at age 21, Kathy decided she wanted to be a writer. When she announced this ambition to her new boss, he quickly asked what kind of writer. What did she know? What was her specialty? Her passion? While writing about food hadn’t been what she had in mind when she imagined herself a writer, it was the one thing she really did know, so she replied, “food.” This clear answer led to her first assignment and the discovery that food writing could provide the limitless inspiration that she sought.
“It was so much more than writing about food on the surface. It was all of a sudden that I understood, oh, this is about people. This is about religion. This is about community. This is about anthropology. This is about everything.”
We sat down to talk to Kathy more than 4 decades after this first assignment to ask about her long and fruitful career that includes 16 cookbooks, a 25-year run as the resident chef for NPR’s Here and Now, countless articles in national magazines and top newspapers, multiple awards and acclaim, and, most recently, co-host of food writing retreats in Italy, California, and Maine.
Not surprisingly, much of our conversation returned to strategies for maintaining inspiration and avoiding creative burnout, and how Kathy’s experience around this has influenced her teaching. Even though food writing can offer the potential of infinite inspiration, the pressures of deadlines and assignments can still lead to burnout.
“I seem to hit a dead end every really few months, where I think, you know what, I’m done. I don’t think I have any new ideas. And instead of getting depressed or pushing it, I’d step away. And if I leave it alone, I mean, I think cooking is like a lot of creative arts. I’ve read interviews with painters, sculptors, and filmmakers. And I think if you’re in a creative field, you are bound to hit a wall. You can’t be on and brilliant and thinking up all these incredible new ideas all the time. So when I hit the wall now, I know to step away.”
“You’ve got to walk away until there’s a spark again. You can’t push it.”
Stepping away isn’t always easy, especially when up against a deadline, but Kathy encourages writers to be gentle with themselves and embrace the value of taking a break—even if it’s only for a day or two. She also stresses the importance of looking beyond food for fresh ideas and insights, such as art, music, literature, travel, or community.
This approach to creativity seems to have set Kathy up for the latest turn in her prolific career, running rather dreamy-sounding food writing retreats2. During the episode, we get into the logistics of organizing retreats, the challenges of balancing travel and teaching, and the importance of creating a supportive environment to help writers gain confidence in their voices. We talk about how retreats work for the attendees and for the hosts, so whether you’re considering attending one or organizing one on your own, there’s plenty to learn. It’s a conversation with a lot of passion, and, yes, you guessed it, inspiration.
Links from the episode:
Kathy Gunst Website
Rage Baking by Katherine Alford and Kathy Gunst
Visit the Everything Cookbooks Bookshop to find books mentioned in the show. (Buying books here supports the show, independent bookstores, and authors. A win-win-win! 🏆)
Next up on EVCB:
Saeng Douangdara, a personal chef and academic counselor turned online content creator, and now, cookbook author and food photographer, is on the show to talk about The Lao Kitchen: Lao Flavors & Stories Told Through Family Recipes. We hope you’ll tune in. Until then, keep on writing, reading, and cooking. ✍️📚🍳
Molly and the EVCB crew
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Diversion was originally launched in 1973 and formerly published by Hearst Business Media. It targeted U.S. physicians, covering leisure activities, including food, wine, arts, and finance. The magazine has ceased its print and digital publications.
Kathy’s cohort on the retreats is cookbook author (and recent Everything Cookbooks guest) Domenica Marchetti.
I really enjoyed this podcast episode!! Inspiring to hear her creative process, and I love the idea of writing retreats to find my voice and build confidence in it.