Gift Guide: Books, Books, Books
Catch me and Jenn de la Vega at the Greenpointers Holiday Market on December 10th! She’ll be making random sandwiches and I’ll have some weird cookies for sale — shiitake cookies, black sesame oatmeal raisin (just sent out my recipe for paid subscribers), and spiced ginger molasses — plus my five-spice granola in cute gift bags. Vegan and gluten free options. We’ll also have copies of the sold-out Lao Gan Magazine. More info here!
I have a pretty respectable cookbook collection (thanks in part to the employee discount when I was working at Archestratus) and I’ve read so many excellent fiction and nonfiction books about food, but I realize I’ve never written about them here. So here’s a list, written in the style of a gift guide, of my favorite cookbooks and books about food.
I would love to hear about your favorite books as well. Leave a comment below!
The Cookbooks I Actually Use
A cookbook doesn’t always teach you how to cook. Many of them are world-builders, drawing you into a fantasy with pictures and stories and instructions to supposedly build your own version of it. There are many worlds I love to dip into this way, but what follows is a list of the cookbooks I actually use to cook or to learn about cooking. They’ve taught me dishes that became part of my repertoire or techniques that stuck with me. None of these are new cookbooks, but I’ve used them over and over so I can vouch for their greatness.
For anyone who wants to get better at cooking (and doesn’t already own it):
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, by Samin Nosrat
This one taught me more about cooking than anything I’ve read. It’s almost a science textbook (though delightfully written and illustrated) that starts out with lessons about the four eponymous elements and then uses recipes to demonstrate them. Samin Nosrat is charming, and so much less annoying than that other guy who occupies the science-of-cooking space.
For that guy/girl who “never uses recipes”:
The Vegetarian Flavor Bible, by Karen Page
This is a compendium of flavor pairings, sort of like reading the index of an enormous cookbook. It’s what I go to for inspiration for a salad or when I want to come up with a totally new cake. It beats using Google Image Search for “asparagus and walnuts.” This book was the follow-up to The Flavor Bible, which of course you could get if you’re not vegetarian, but I think it’s so much more interesting to read long sections on different kinds of mushrooms and pages upon pages about how you could approach carrots.
For your anarchist punk librarian roommate who plays music too loud at seven in the morning:
Superiority Burger Cookbook, by Brooks Headley
If you’ve been reading this newsletter for any length of time then you know how I worship Superiority Burger, and I feel the same way about the cookbook. The recipes can be deceptively complex, since some involve multiple sub-recipes (see: the Burnt Broccoli Salad), but every element stands on its own, so once you’ve made a few complete recipes, you can mix and match the elements you like.
For the cousin whose IG looks like a Better Homes and Gardens spread but it’s because she grows all her own food and has a gift for flower-arranging:
Six Seasons, by Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg
I honestly didn’t cook vegetables much until this cookbook. Maybe it just showed up at the right time in my life, but this is the one that changed my cooking style to center vegetables, with carbs and protein on the side. The information about how to select, prepare, and store different vegetables is also invaluable.
For the cottagecore friend who makes restorative tonics, is frequently surrounded by small mammals, and might be a witch:
Forage, Harvest, Feast, by Marie Viljoen
Marie Viljoen skips through nature greeting every plant by name and fits more food in her knapsack than physics allows. She has one of those Instagrams that’s so pretty that you think the food must be awful, but having tried it, I can assure you it’s extremely good. Her cookbook is dense with recipes, ways to modify them, and detailed knowledge about wild plants. Read about my walk with her here.
For the “mom” of your friend group (gender/reproductive status notwithstanding):
Curried Favors, by Maya Kaimal
It was after the 12th time that I texted Sonali for her recipe for spinach paneer/egg curry/chana masala/etc that she went and got me a copy of the cookbook she’s been using since she moved away from home. This is simple South Indian cooking that tastes homey and comforting whether or not it resembles the home you grew up in. It scales well for dinner parties, and everyone from toddlers to sophisticated grown-ups will like it.
For your crush:
Sweet + Salty, by Lagusta Yearwood
There’s so much in this cookbook that’s not in the recipes, from meditations on ethical consumerism to the sugar supply chain to the experience of losing a mother. The recipes themselves are wild and inventive, but also give you a solid foundation in working with chocolate and sugar.
Books about food and foodways:
No Recipe, by Edward Espe Brown
A small beautiful volume that vibrates with wisdom in every anecdote. I loved this book so much I based my cooking workshop off of it.
No Meat Required, by Alicia Kennedy
I wrote a whole piece about Alicia Kennedy’s history of veganism in the US. It’s scholarly but still personal and conversational, like Kennedy’s newsletter.
My Year of Meats, by Ruth Ozeki
Pair this with the one above! The livestock industry is the setting for Ruth Ozeki’s debut novel, which is about storytelling and self-discovery and cross-cultural translation, but it is also about meat. I love everything Ozeki has written.
The Secret Life of Groceries, by Benjamin Lorr
This is a solid piece of reporting that goes deep into different aspects of the grocery supply chain, taught me a lot of stuff I didn’t know about Trader Joe’s, and never felt dense or repetitive.
The Mushroom at the End of the World, by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing
I’ve been talking about this one for years, and it is academic and it isn’t really about mushrooms most of the time, but it is about the people who interact with them and it’s really about every person living on this planet and trying to wrap our minds around our future with it.
Nourishment, by Fred Provenza
Provenza is a professor of Behavioral Ecology who has studied ruminants (grazing animals like cows and sheep) and how they choose what to eat. What follows from that is a theory of innate nutritional wisdom that applies to humans as well. This book is more academic than pop science-y, but full of insight and made me think about my body and its relationship to the world in a new way.
The Botany of Desire, by Michael Pollan
Before Michael Pollan became MICHAEL POLLAN, I think he was a pretty good writer. This book is a fascinating history of four desirable plants, and Pollan doesn’t tell you how to eat.
Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger, by Lisa Donovan
I still have scenes from this book seared in my memory, even though I devoured it in a couple sittings because it was so gripping. Donavan is a terrific writer.
Arsenic and Adobo, by Mia Manansala
Mia Manansala has a whole series of murder mysteries with a Filipino-American baker at the center of them. They’re fun and silly and have exquisite descriptions of food. I didn’t know about “cozy mysteries” until this book.
