The Edit with Page Berger

from bookseller to interviewer of chefs and recipe testing, discover Four Top by Page Berger

Jun 04, 2026

with Page Berger

Professionally, I’m a book collaborator and event moderator. I work with organizations to plan benefit programs, book clubs, and author panels and host at-home literary and cookbook salons. A former independent bookseller and events director, I’ve had the time of my life being in conversation with a wide range of makers, chefs, writers, and artists. If I’m not at my desk, you’ll find me slinging food in the kitchen, testing recipes, and puttering around a rather productive New England vegetable garden. I also dig hanging out with my green-thumb husband and three preteen/teenage kids.

Years behind the cash wrap — chatting with bookstore customers, writing shelf talkers, and a bi-weekly shop newsletter — honed my recommendation skills. As I transitioned away from the bookstore to a freelance writing lifestyle, I missed having a space where I could chat about books and all manner of cultural miscellany. I started my newsletter to continue that conversation.

About Four Top

In a crowded landscape, Four Top offers a curated menu of culinary and cultural curiosities other people aren’t talking about. If you like food and books and books about food, chances are you’ll like what’s on offer.

My work includes

Long-form essays: Literary lions love their Mickey D’s.

Interviews with creatives doing outrageously interesting things: Welcome to the table, Megs Senk.

Curated lists that include a miscellany of cultural recommendations: It’s all about who you know .

Signature monthly roundups (for paid susbscribers) chock-full of books worth their salt, long-form articles, recipes worth staying home for, podcasts, and music to get you where you’re going, poems, songs, films, unexpected finds, and other miscellany that strikes my fancy: January, Linked.

What I’m Reading

MOVIEPUDDING by Elissa Suh | This one is SUCH fun, a food and movie newsletter from film critic and culture writer Elissa Suh. I’ve gleaned all sorts of interesting cinematic insights from Suh’s work. Whenever I’m at a loss for what to watch next, I check in with the Moviepudding archives. I’m a sucker for onscreen feasts Bonus: she pens short reviews of NYC restaurants.
Jacqui Devaney’s Dinner Music | Jacqui is a writer and DJ based in Austin. Every Monday, she releases “left-field grooves and retro gems” that fuel my work week. In addition, she signs off with a recommended recipe and/or wine pairing plus a tidbit or two of cultural luminescence.
Feed Me: I’ve been on board with Emily Sundberg since the beginning. Business, NYC, and great food coverage to boot.

Substack Roll Call

The Dinner Plan by Maggie Hoffman | You may know Maggie as the author of Batch Cocktails, The One-Bottle Cocktail, or from her writing for San Francisco Chronicle, Food + Wine, or Bon Appétit. On her podcast and related newsletter, The Dinner Plan, Maggie talks to a cooking expert about finding inspiration in the kitchen, their go-to cookbooks and weeknight recipes, and pantry favorites. My favorite part of her Substack site is the master list of beloved cookbooks recommended by each guest.
The Kitchen Shrink by Tamar Adler | I’ve been a fan of Tamar’s since I first read An Everlasting Meal, many moons ago. I had the dream assignment of interviewing her at an intimate dinner celebrating The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z. I read her newsletter, religiously, for a calm, clear-eyed approach to common kitchen quandaries. (Also, if you don’t yet have a copy of her latest book, Feast On Your Life, what are you waiting for?).
Vittles | If you’re looking for fine food writing, this is it. Vittles is a food and culture magazine based in the UK and India that publishes “essays about all aspects of food culture, from deep dives to polemics, from personal essays to reported journalism, as well as restaurant recommendations, recipes, and reviews.” I never miss an issue.
Everything Cookbooks: As a book collaborator, I consider this an essential resource. I mostly consume the Fab Four in podcast format but you can keep updated on their conversations via Substack as well.