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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To kill a cook
Akers, W. M.
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER Tender at the Bone meets Finlay Donovan is Killing It in this hilarious, fast-paced mystery about a feisty food critic in 1970s NY who finds her chef friend murdered and realizes she might be the only one to find the killer.
Be my guest : reflections on food, community, and the meaning of hospitality
Basil, Priya
Paper Book
A thought-provoking meditation on food, family, identity, immigration, and, most of all, hospitality--at the table and beyond--that's part food memoir, part appeal for more authentic decency in our daily worlds, and in the world at large. Be My Guest is an utterly unique,...
The particular sadness of lemon cake : a novel
Bender, Aimee.
Paper Book
The wondrous Aimee Bender conjures the lush and moving story of a girl whose magical gift is really a devastating curse. On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the periphery of schoolyard games and her distracted parents' attention, bites into her...
Hungry hearts : 13 tales of food & love
Chapman, Elsie
Paper Book
"A briliant multicultual collection that reminds readers that stories about food are rarely just about the food alone." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) A stunning collection of short stories about the intersection of family, culture, and food in the lives in teens,...
Fatty fatty boom boom : a memoir of food, fat, and family
Chaudry, Rabia
Paper Book
"A delicious and mouthwatering book about food and family, the complicated love for both, and how that shapes us into who we are . . . I absolutely loved it!" --Valerie Bertinelli Rabia Chaudry--known from the podcast Serial and her be...
Our lady of perpetual hunger : a memoir
Donovan, Lisa
Audiobook
Named a Favorite Book for Southerners in 2020 by Garden & Gun  "Donovan is such a vivid writer--smart, raunchy, vulnerable and funny-- that if her vaunted caramel cakes and sugar pies are half as good as her prose, well, I'd be open to even...
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...
Be ready when the luck happens : a memoir
Garten, Ina
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * In her long-awaited memoir, Ina Garten--aka the Barefoot Contessa, author of thirteen bestselling cookbooks, beloved Food Network personality, Instagram sensation, and cultural icon--shares her personal story with readers hungry for a seat at her table....
Setting a place for us : recipes and stories of displacement, resilience, and community from eight countries impacted by war
Hassan, Hawa
Paper Book
An enthralling, intimate collection of essays and over 75 recipes exploring the history of eight countries to understand the impact of geopolitical conflict and its outcomes on cuisine and food system, from Somali refugee and James Beard Award-winning author of In Bibi's Kitchen. ...
The Kamogawa food detectives
Kashiwai, Hisashi
Paper Book
The Kamogawa Food Detectives is the first book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Japanese series, for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold. What's the one dish you'd do anything to taste just one more time? Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto...
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...
My life in recipes : food, family, and memories
Nathan, Joan
Paper Book
A NYT BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * A SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE BEST BOOK ABOUT FOOD OF THE YEAR * A SAVEUR BEST COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR A new cookbook from the best-selling and award-winning author that uses recipes to look back at her life and family history--and at her personal journey...
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...
Save me the plums : my Gourmet memoir
Reichl, Ruth
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "A delicious insider account of the gritty, glamorous world of food culture."--Vanity Fair In this "poignant and hilarious" (The New York Times Book Review) memoir, trailblazing food writer and beloved restaurant critic Ruth...
Mother sauce : Italian American family recipes and the story of the women who created them
Scala Quinn, Lucinda
Paper Book
From home cook and author Lucinda Scala Quinn, a cookbook containing 100 iconic and beloved Italian-American recipes from the last century. Named a Best Cookbook of 2025 by Real Simple and The Strategist  In America today,...
Cellar rat : my life in the restaurant underbelly
Selinger, Hannah
Paper Book
Town & Country's Best Books of Spring 2025 | Kirkus Reviews's Most Anticipated Nonfiction of Spring 2025 | Amazon's Best Books of the Month | American Writers Museum's Staff Picks What happens when a career you love doesn't love you back? ...
Radha & Jai's recipe for romance
Sharma, Nisha,
Paper Book
To All the Boys I Loved Before meets World of Dance in this delectable love story that combines food, dance, and a hint of drama to cook up the perfect romance. Radha is on the verge of becoming one of the greatest kathak dancers in the world . . . until a family...
More, please : on food, fat, bingeing, longing, and the lust for "enough"
Specter, Emma
Ebook
ONE OF TIME 100'S MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2024 * A DEBUTIFUL BEST BOOK OF 2024 * FEATURED IN NYLON * W MAGAZINE * GLAMOUR * BOOK RIOT * HEYALMA * BUSTLE * ELECTRIC LITERATURE * ROMPER * AND MORE! "Tender, funny, angry, and sharp as hell. This is an essential book for anyone with a body, anyone...
Taste : my life through food
Tucci, Stanley
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Named a Notable Book of the Year by NPR and The Washington Post From award-winning actor and food obsessive Stanley Tucci comes an intimate and charming memoir of life in and out of the kitchen.
Praisesong for the kitchen ghosts : stories and recipes from five generations of Black country cooks
Wilkinson, Crystal
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER . A lyrical culinary journey that explores the hidden legacy of Black Appalachians, throughpowerful storytelling alongside nearly forty comforting recipes, from the former poetlaureate of Kentucky."With Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts,...
Care and feeding : a memoir
Woolever, Laurie
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times Bestseller! A candid, funny, and occasionally devastating culinary memoir of a woman making her way through the food world, navigating addiction, a cultural reckoning, and an unexpected tragedy In this moving, hilarious, and insightful...
Land of milk and honey
Zhang, C Pam
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK  Finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Award Longlisted for the Carol Shields Prize Longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary...

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