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Excellent Books About Food

I try to avoid shopping for groceries when I’m hungry, but I’ve learned that sometimes reading while hungry can be equally dangerous. Great food writing has a way of jumping right off the page and straight to the belly—and if it’s really good, to the heart as well.

Here are a few books, both fiction and nonfiction, that do this well. All are excellent books about food that may leave you hungry for more.

Excellent books about food

Memoirs

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. This memoir contains so much: Zauner’s identity growing up Korean American, the grief over losing her mother to cancer, and the love language that she and her mother shared—food. What made her story exceptional to me was the way she seamlessly weaves these parts of her life together. I left this book both hungry and with the desire to go hug my mom.

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. I’ve been a fan of Bourdain’s since I first saw him on the Food Network in its early years. I found his irreverence and sense of adventure so appealing–such a contrast to my planning, rule-following ways. I was heartbroken when I heard about his death, and yet I’m thankful he left behind a legacy of great work, including this honest memoir about restaurant life (that he narrates himself on the audio version). It is funny and fascinating. As someone who loves to cook but wouldn’t dream of trying to hack it in a restaurant kitchen, I loved immersing myself in that life as I listened.

Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi. You may recognize Onwuachi from Top Chef, but this memoir is so much more than a young chef’s reflections of his time in the spotlight. Instead, it’s his story of how food came to play such a formative role in his life, from his mother’s Louisiana cooking to what he ate with his family in Nigeria when his mom sent him there to “learn respect.” With honesty, humility, and at times, pride, he tells the story of how his experience selling both drugs and candy bars led to his determination and grit as an entrepreneur. By the age of 27, Onwuachi had run his own catering company and opened (and unfortunately, closed) one of the most high-profile restaurants in Washington D.C. I loved his story; it was filled with passion, relatability and inspiration (and really good food!).

Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl. This is Reichl’s memoir of her experience at Gourmet magazine, from its heyday to its eventual decline. I always think of her when I think of Gourmet, but that wasn’t always the case. She was offered top position there before, according to Reichl herself, she was qualified for it, but she ended up taking the magazine from old-fashioned to a must-read for foodies. She also vulnerably shares her story of what happened next, when magazines were forced to compete with the ever-changing content served up on demand, on computer screens. Her story is fascinating, and if you enjoy food writing (or just food!) I recommend it.

Delancey by Molly Wizenberg. In Delancey, Wizenberg shares the journey of opening a pizza restaurant with her husband, from her initial disbelief in her husband’s follow-through, to Delancey’s public debut. While this story solidified my belief that I definitely do not have what it takes to open a restaurant, I loved every minute of being immersed in Delancey’s birth story. The only downside of listening on audio was that each chapter ended with a recipe, and I’d much rather see the printed version of those. I recommend this for anyone who has ever daydreamed about opening a restaurant or really anyone who loves to eat!

My Life in France by Julia Child. I adore Julia Child and this memoir only deepened my affection for her. I loved her descriptions of France, and of food. I also just find her so inspiring. She didn’t “follow her dreams” in the traditional sense, instead it seems like she stumbled upon them. And I don’t remember her exact age when she began at the Cordon Bleu, but I’m pretty sure she was in her mid 30s. For someone like me, who has done a lot of stumbling around when it comes to a career path, her story is very reassuring.

Fiction

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. Upset over their mother’s death, Benny and Byron are puzzled by what she leaves behind: a traditional Caribbean black cake from her family recipe, and an audio recording that they’re instructed to listen to—together. Like the cake recipe itself, this story mixes together history, culture, and tradition, with a heaping portion of family secrets (and stories about food!) stirred in. While I didn’t make this connection while I was reading it, the structure of the story—short chapters, multiple points of view, past and present timelines—feels like the waves of the ocean, which also plays such an important role in this book. I am impressed with the way Wilkerson was able to create such a moving, cohesive story with so many different elements. It never felt confusing or over-the-top, despite all the characters and timelines.

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo. When I saw it was available on audio at my library, I picked this one up after enjoying Clap When You Land by the same author. Acevedo tackles serious topics, like teenage motherhood and financial hardship, but I loved the way Emoni’s love of food and cooking was the true heartbeat of the story.

Sourdough by Robin Sloan. If you spent 2020 quarantine baking and you love a smart, quirky female narrator, you’ve got to read Sourdough. I adored this story of Lois, a software engineer who never baked a day in her life, and a sourdough starter she inherited that changed her life. Books like this one are my sweet spot: light but not fluffy, compelling yet just a little zany. Also, I’ve never attempted making sourdough before, but this book made me want to try!

The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller. Ahh, this book was the equivalent to a cup of hot chocolate and a piece of pie, in book form. I don’t usually reach for books on the lighter, fluffier end of the spectrum–for whatever reason I lean towards more dark and serious books–but this was wonderful. Pastry Chef Olivia Rawlings leaves her job at a posh Boston hotel after literally setting the place on fire. She escapes to a small Vermont town and reluctantly takes a job at an inn, whose owner is on a mission to re-establish her blue ribbon status in a pie contest. The cover description sounded a bit cheesy, but it wasn’t at all. The characters were well written and complex, and I ended up caring so deeply for just about all of them.

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal. To me, this is one of those books that is better read without knowing much about it. It reads more like a collection of short stories than a novel, with each story focusing on different events and characters in protagonist Eva Thorvald’s life. I enjoyed the unique way the story of Eva’s life was told, and the way that food played a central role in every story.

Are you hungry yet? What food-centered books would you add to this list?

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