Tanya Bush—writer, baker, and author of Will This Make You Happy?—joins Laura Federico to talk about hunger as a form of desire, and why being hungry can feel more alive than being satisfied. They discuss appetite as self-knowledge, the younger self Tanya writes toward in the book, and how desire once drove her toward baking, romance, travel, and reinvention all at once.

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Will This Make You Happy?

Cake Zine

Laura Federico

The Cycle Book

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04:33 — Is it better to desire, or be desired?

05:36 — Appetite as self-knowledge

06:07 — Writing toward her younger self

07:24 — Baking, Italy, and wanting everything

09:08 — Making pleasure by hand

13:07 — Hard doesn’t always mean meaningful

14:06 — Tuscany and the fantasy of transformation

15:02 — The “intern in paradise” trap

18:30 — Compassion for the former self

19:40 — AI in baking and writing

20:15 — Why community still matters

21:30 — What’s real online anymore?

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Our music, Hit Her Up, is written by Nakisso Peralta and performed by Chillers.

Episode ID: 1000757347911

GUID: e139f25f-9f35-464f-a7f9-f5d082898999

Release Date: 25/03/2026, 19:21:26