Alyse Whitney Of “Big Dip Energy” On Joy & Body Positivity

Radio Cherry Bombe

The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network

Restaurants, 591312, Business, Arts, Food Radio, Interviews, Kerry Diamond, Female Chefs, Radio Cherry Bombe, Entrepreneurs, Society & Culture, Women, Careers, Women In Food, Food, Cherry Bombe Magazine, Talk Radio, Chefs, Restaurateurs

4.6 • 592 Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today’s guest is Alyse Whitney, the author of “Big Dip Energy,” a celebration of dips for parties, dinner, dessert, and everyday life, and a host and judge on food TV shows including “Easy-Bake Battle,” “Pressure Cooker,” and “Chopped.” Alyse joins host Kerry Diamond to talk about her path from entertainment journalism to food media and how her love of hosting and feeding people became the foundation for her career. They also discovered on air that they both went to the State University of New York (SUNY) at Plattsburgh (go, Cardinals!), and they reminisce about college life near the Canadian border, Montréal adventures, and, of course, poutine. Alyse shares the story behind her cookbook, what it was like working on Chrissy Teigen’s Cravings, her signature joyful style, and her approach to entertaining that’s all about fun, flavor, and not taking things too seriously. In the second half of the episode, we’re sharing Alyse’s powerful solo talk from Cherry Bombe’s first-ever Jubilee conference in Los Angeles, where she opens up about identity, perception, fatphobia, and what it means to take up space—on the page, on TV, and in real life—exactly as you are. Order The Cake Issue Pre-order our Galentine’s Day Issue Bombesquad Bazaar tickets here Jubilee NYC 2026 tickets here Subscribe to our Substack Check out Cherry Bombe on ShopMy Visit cherrybombe.com for subscriptions, tickets to upcoming events, and more. More on Alyse: Instagram, “Big Dip Energy” cookbook More on Kerry: Instagram, “So You Want To Open A Restaurant” essay

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, everyone. You're listening to Radio Cherry Bomb, and I'm your host, Carrie Diamond, coming to you from Newsstand Studios at Rockefeller Center in the heart of New York City.
0:14.3	Today's guest is Elise Whitney, writer, TV personality, author of the cookbook Big Dip Energy, and all-around joyful human being.
0:23.2	Elise has worked as a journalist and editor from more than a decade, including a stint as
0:27.6	Cosmopolitan's first ever food columnist, where she wrote about easy, joyful food, and
0:32.6	entertaining. You may also recognize her as a host and judge on food TV shows like Easy Bake Battle,
0:38.5	pressure cooker, and chopped. Her book Big Dip Energy is a celebration of dips for parties,
0:44.2	dinner, dessert, and everyday life. I mean, really, is there any food more fun than dips?
0:49.6	It's no surprise, Elise is the queen of dips. She and I also discover that we went to the same college and had
0:55.4	absolutely no idea. I am just a little older than Elise, so there is that. But we are both
1:00.6	graduates of the State University of New York at Plattsburgh and had fun reminiscing about life
1:05.3	in the North Country. Go Cardinals. Our college is on the border of Canada. So it definitely
1:10.5	prepared me for this crazy cold weather we are having.
1:13.5	I don't know if Elise can handle that weather anymore, having spent so much time in Los Angeles.
1:17.8	Speaking of Los Angeles, in the second half of the show, we're sharing Elisa's talk from our recent Jubilee, which took place in the city back in September.
1:25.9	She kicked off the conference with a very personal and moving solo talk about identity,
1:30.6	perception, and loving yourself, just how you are.
1:34.0	Stay tuned for my conversation with Elise Whitney.
1:37.1	We just kicked off a new monthly series on Substack called So You Want to Open a Restaurant.
1:42.4	The first essay is all about my experience owning restaurants,
1:45.6	which was a little rocky, a little isolating. If you're an entrepreneur, you know how that goes,
1:50.7	and a little heartbreaking, or maybe a lot, but it was also beautiful. Any of you who work in restaurants
1:56.1	know how the industry gets in your blood and can work its magic on you. But if you're not careful,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.