Rooted in the Kitchen

Are you hungry yet? Check out these delicious books about food, kitchens, and all things culinary. This list includes foodie favorites, tasty novels, chef memoirs, and much more. Plant a seed, read!

Updated May 11, 2026
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Breadcrumbs : coming of age in post-Soviet Poland
Babis, Katarzyna
Paper Book
An NPR Best Book of the Year This moving graphic memoir is a coming-of-age story set in Poland as the country transitions from communism to capitalism. Perfect for fans of Persepolis! In the late 1980s, Poland faces debilitating food shortages, worker...
The joy of snacking : a graphic memoir about food, love & family
Campbell, Hilary Fitzgerald
Paper Book
New Yorker cartoonist and author of Murder Book Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell returns with a riotous and radically candid comic memoir about snacks, connection, and developing a taste for freedom. From standup comedian, New Yorker ...
Best served hot
Elliot, Amanda
Paper Book
Two restaurant critics learn their opposing tastes might make for a five-star relationship in the next foodie romantic comedy from the author of Sadie on a Plate. By day, Julie Zimmerman works as an executive assistant. After hours, she's @JulieZeeEatsNYC, a social media...
Strong roots a memoir of food, family, and Ukraine
Hercules, Olia
Paper Book
A sweeping and poignant account of a woman's life and her family history in Ukraine -- from the dark years of Soviet rule to the Russian invasion in 2022--and a beautiful, intimate portrait of a country's fight against erasure and the solace found through family, art, beauty,...
Pakistan: Recipes and Stories from Home Kitchens, Restaurants, and Roadside Stands
Jillani, Maryam.
Paper Book
BEST COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR: The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Bon Appétit, Epicurious, NPR, Serious Eats, The Strategist  The first major cookbook on Pakistani food, featuring breathtaking photography and over 100 delicious, achievable recipes.<...
The Kamogawa food detectives
Kashiwai, Hisashi
Paper Book
" A bestseller in Japan, The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai is a celebration of good company and the power of a delicious meal. The Kamogawa Food Detectives, translated from Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood, is the first book in...
Eat, drink and drop dead
LoTempio, T. C.
Paper Book
A former chef gets mixed up in murder when she moves back to her Southern home town in the first Tiffany Austin food blogger mystery - a culinary cozy that will make your brain work and your stomach rumble!"I was hooked from start to finish!" Laura Childs, New York Times bestselling author of the...
Food-related stories
Melian, Gaby
Paper Book
"Gaby Melian tells so many stories through her relationship with food-about love, about loss, about hard work, and about finding her passion. The pages are dripping with delicious smells and tastes, and will give you a new way to look at both cooking and what it means to have a plan." -Molly...
How to share an egg : a true story of hunger, love, and plenty
Reichert, Bonny
Paper Book
An "absolutely transformative" (People) culinary memoir about the relationship between food and family-sustenance and survival-from a chef, award-winning journalist, and daughter of a Holocaust survivor. "Beautifully written, heartbreaking and hopeful."-Ruth Reichl, New...
Hunger like a thirst : a memoir of obsession, anonymity and eating the world
Rodell, Besha
Paper Book
Hunger Like a Thirst is a bold and deeply personal memoir from Besha Rodell; chief restaurant critic for The Age, New York Times contributor, and one of the most respected voices in food writing today. When Rodell moved from Australia to the...
Radha and Jai's recipe for romance
Sharma, Nisha
Paper Book
Radha was on the verge of winning the world's biggest kathak dancing competition when a family betrayal shattered her dreams, and her confidence. Now, she's made a deal with her mum- study dance for a year at the Princeton Academy of Arts and Sciences and then leave that world forever. But if she's...
Taste : my life through food
Tucci, Stanley
Paper Book
Before Stanley Tucci became a household name with The Devil Wears Prada, The Hunger Games, and the perfect Negroni, he grew up in an Italian American family that spent every night around the table. Taste is an intimate reflection on the intersection of food and life, filled with...
Care and feeding : a memoir
Woolever, Laurie
Paper Book
Laurie Woolever - co-author of bestsellers Appetites and Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography - traces her path from a small-town childhood to working at food publications and revered restaurants in New York and around the world with two of the most powerful men in the business:...
Land of milk and honey
Zhang, C Pam
Paper Book
" The award-winning author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold returns with a rapturous and revelatory novel about a young chef whose discovery of pleasure alters her life and, indirectly, the world A smog has spread. Food crops are rapidly...

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