I am enjoying this program. Sheila Lukins is quite a character.

Tom, you’re going to have to try harder if you want to get a word in edgewise with Sheila.

Don,
Ottawa

I use the Silver Palate cookbooks all the time. Wow, she is hilarious. She’s impossible to interview! Hysterical listening. Thank God for the callers.

Oh, my goodness!

Is this “tax Tom to the limit” month?

The Silver Palate is a great book. But Sheila hasn’t let Tom finish more than 10% of his sentences.

Sheila’s nothing in comparison to that insufferable Sex and the City author from a few weeks back. Sheila seems quite humble, actually but I’m finding this interview unlistenable.

Good luck with this one, Tom…

Wow, Tom, you have the patience of a saint. Well done for keeping your cool with this guest. Hilarious to listen to.

I can’t listen to this interview. Sorry Tom.

I agree that Shelia is not like that one “Sex and the City” lady, but I had to turn WBUR off and switch to another NPR station for a while.

I’ve been listening to you for years, and I’ve never heard such a rude guest. Listening to her constantly interrupt Tom is absolutely maddening. I’ve always enjoyed her books, but I will think twice before purchasing another one.

Oh, yes, it is hilarious, but I can see she is just quite naive about being interviewed, and is SO enthusiastic about sharing her recipes. Come on — they’re “so delicious”. This does not stop me from checking her cookbooks out, it just shows me that she is not a “personality,” but apparently a real cook. Take it, well, with a grain of salt!

Oy. I have loved the Silver Palate cookbooks, but she is a hellacious interview! Doesn’t seem to know or care a bit about anything that’s happening in the food world. I don’t need her to be Michael Pollan or Deborah Madison, but sheesh — “I just had to do my recipes” “I just had to get my book out” is all she says. It’s particularly disappointing that the way that describes food is so simplistic and not descriptive. How did this interview come to be?!

Congrats Tom. You survived that painful hour. They’re dying for McDonald’s and that’s not our problem??? Talk about a myopic view…

Thanks for taking my call- and listeners get out there and join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) near you!

More info here: http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/csa/csa.shtml

I had a rare day off and caught the middle of the program while in my car and thought…has this person been drinking? All those antelope farmers??? I was somewhat stunned to hear that the guest was Sheila Lukins, I’ve enjoyed her cookbooks since the 80’s. Is she always like that? I think of myself as a foodie, but have never cried about a pork chop casserole as your caller did. Maybe I’m better off at work.

Sheila sounds like a magnificent chef, but her credibility is considably hindered because she is so out of touch with the food industry in its entirety! To be so ignorant as to think spreading fast food globally is not the “fault” of Americans! To know nothing about CSAs, the use of seasonal produce, or organic benefits! Maybe Sheila should be lest selfish, boisterous, and take a minute to actually LISTEN and be aware of current foodie trends.

No, I did not find my courage in the kitchen in the pages of “The Silver Palate”? But, I did like it and still use it. The honor of “my courage in the kitchen” goes to Julia, James, Pierre & Jacques!

Tom, I always love the first hour of your show. The second hour has been quite painful lately. This interview is hard to listen to. The guest is not only cutting you off but is also cutting off callers. I think I have to turn this off as well…I wish you the best.

Echoing responses of a few others – though I’m interested in food and cooking and have had some fine meals derived from Silver Palate – I didn’t find Shiela Lukins to be good company. Grating and consistently cutting off guests and Tom and not too swift on the big picture of food as integral to the times / social policies, health, environment, global impact etc. She seems repetitive without saying much, not too curious and kinda rude.

jeesh! irritating….had to reach for the off button.

That was a delicious interview. Had me in stiches.

This show is in MY top ten – THE WORST OF RADIO. So undelicious. Do you interview guest prior to the show and ask yourself, how does this person sound? Is the voice irritating? Is the proposed guest articulate? Are they going to spend the entire time in a pitch for their book?

Sheila Lukins and Candice Bushnell should never be booked on radio again.

I tried to listen to this interview but finally gave up. I am a serious foodie and was looking forward to the show. what a disappointment. Sheila Lukins was terribly irritating. I think she’s losing it – or has lost it all together. Tom Ashbrook, on the other hand, has shown himself to be a true gentleman. Every job has its down days – my guess is that interview isn’t something Mr. Ashbrook would care to repeat.

I am not surprised to that so many of the above posted comments are so negative. They are all jumping all over Sheila because she did not write a “socially responsible oriented cookbook” Hello, that was not nor intent! That does not mean that you cannot go and source all of the necessary ingredients for her recipes from farmers markets, food coops and Whole Foods Markets. Does she need to say that in the book or in the interview? She wrote a cookbook, not a food policy book. Sheila Lukins has made a major contribution to making cooking and entertaining accessibile and interesting in America. Without which many Americans would still be cooking frozen dinners, eating at McDonald’s and making boring old unhealthy recipes from decades ago. The Chinese know how to cook, food preparation is an integral part of their life. McDonalds is not gong to change that and Liberal Americans should not be policing that! Go Sheila!

Sometimes it’s just enthusiasm and a sense about a person’s creativity and passion that you get from someone that is infectious- if you allow it. I did not mind her, her personality, or her interrupting, or Tom’s good nature showing. So what came through was enough for me to make it interesting. This interview does not need 100% attention… some interviews do.

Invite her back.

I found her hilarious – and had a group of people in stitches as I described the show to them the next day. I would hate it if every guest of On Point was required to be non-irritating, unfailingly polite, politically correct on all issues related to their field of focus and possessing the gift of the gab. I don’t tune into On Point to decide who I am or how I think – I want to hear who other people are and how they think – and I was greatly amused, and in some ways challenged, by both Sheila Lukins and Candice Bushnell.

And I hope Tom was as well – thanks.

Ditto on all the comments about Sheila as a terrible guest to interview. Too bad, because I went out and bought “Ten” and have tried three, wonderful recipes so far!

Tom, I live in Australi, (But I’m from St. Louis) and listen to your pod casts. You do have so much patience. One thing of note, if people think that food is expensive in the US, the price of food in Australia would make them faint — its outrageous. Thankfully, I too visit the Asian markets to find fruit and veg cheaper, but often times, it’sthings like bread and grains that are the killers.

Poor Tom! Put Sheila Lukens and Candice Bushnell in a room together and see who comes out alive. But please, do not waste your talents on interviews such as these. Thanks for doing your best.