Jun 1, 2026 · 58 min · 13 segments
On this episode of **Eat My Globe, our host, Simon Majumdar** talks to author of **"The Secret Life of Chocolate Chip Cookies,"** food writer, and cookie expert, **Marissa Rothkopf Bates**. They…
Simon MajumdarHost
Now let's get this straight, shall we? First of all, you tell us the difference between the American cookies and the British biscuits.
'Cause a lot of people, both in Britain and here, just say they're the same, and they're, they're not, are they?
I think the British biscuit is its very own very special, unique thing.
I think people like to narrow it down and make b- people like black and white, and, not black and... just black and white cookies, which is a whole other topic.
But people, people like, um, to say British biscuits are crunchy and American cookies are soft, which is of course not true.
And so koekje means little soft cake, which you have to imagine, like the word little soft ca- I should change my name to Little Soft Cake.
Um, anyway, so I think that's why people will say, "Oh, American cookies are soft." But what's the most famous American cookie, right? We have the chocolate chip cookie in the, like the homemade version, can be partly soft, but also crunchy.
And then you have the Oreo, which the world over is known as a crunchy sandwich cookie, so.
... and I, to be honest, when I went there for Food Network, which used to be there, I, I never realized that [laughs] 'cause I'd just run in, go to the studio, and go out again, 'cause it was always so busy.
Uh, well, I worked in Chelsea Market as well when I worked for Oxygen Network.
But for me it was so exciting 'cause I, to me, it was the Nabisco factory.
Now let's get this straight, shall we? First of all, you tell us the difference between the American cookies and the British biscuits.
'Cause a lot of people, both in Britain and here, just say they're the same, and they're, they're not, are they?
I think the British biscuit is its very own very special, unique thing.
I think people like to narrow it down and make b- people like black and white, and, not black and... just black and white cookies, which is a whole other topic.
But people, people like, um, to say British biscuits are crunchy and American cookies are soft, which is of course not true.
And so koekje means little soft cake, which you have to imagine, like the word little soft ca- I should change my name to Little Soft Cake.
Um, anyway, so I think that's why people will say, "Oh, American cookies are soft." But what's the most famous American cookie, right? We have the chocolate chip cookie in the, like the homemade version, can be partly soft, but also crunchy.
And then you have the Oreo, which the world over is known as a crunchy sandwich cookie, so.
... and I, to be honest, when I went there for Food Network, which used to be there, I, I never realized that [laughs] 'cause I'd just run in, go to the studio, and go out again, 'cause it was always so busy.
Uh, well, I worked in Chelsea Market as well when I worked for Oxygen Network.
But for me it was so exciting 'cause I, to me, it was the Nabisco factory.
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