Rooted in the Kitchen

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

Updated June 21, 2026
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To kill a cook
Akers, W. M.
Paper Book
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.
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...
Be my guest
Basil, Priya
Paper Book
A meditation on the meaning and limits of hospitality today, from the shortlisted author of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize.
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...
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 cartoonist, and...
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 BertinelliRabia Chaudry--known from the podcast Serial and her bestselling book, Adnan's Story, as well as her own wildly popular...
Death comes in through the kitchen
Dovalpage, Teresa
Paper Book
Havana, Cuba, 2003: Matt, a San Diego journalist, arrives in Havana to marry his girlfriend, Yarmila, a 24-year-old Cuban woman whom he first met through her food blog. But Yarmi isn't there to meet him at the airport, and when he hitches a ride to her apartment, he finds her lying dead in the...
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. ...
Strong roots : a memoir of food, family, and Ukraine
Hercules, Olia
Paper Book
JAMES BEARD AWARD NOMINEE * When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, award-winning Ukrainian chef and food writer Olia Hercules decided it was finally time to tell her story. Strong Roots is the story of a century in Ukraine told through four...
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
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...
The temporary bride : a memoir of love and food in Iran
Klinec, Jennifer.
Paper Book
A relationship was a mathematical formula: the correct variables of age, beauty, morality and finances were entered and the output was a successful, peaceful marriage. It couldn't be, therefore, that their Iranian son could feel desire for someone six years his senior, someone who didn't come to...
Cheesecake : a novel
Kurlansky, Mark
Paper Book
From New York Times bestselling author Mark Kurlansky, a delectable novel following one Manhattan block as an ancient cheesecake recipe-and a conniving landlord-change the Upper West Side forever. West 86th Street knows its desserts. It's the 1970s, and poppyseed strudel...
Cod : a biography of the fish that changed the world
Kurlansky, Mark.
Paper Book
'Who would ever think that a book on cod would make a compulsive read? And yet this is precisely what Kurlansky has done' Express on Sunday The Cod. Wars have been fought over it, revolutions have been triggered by it, national diets have been based on it, economies and...
Interstellar megachef
Lakshminarayan, Lavanya
Paper Book
Masterchef in Space! A fun, satirical, thought-provoking novel by the critically-acclaimed author of The Ten-Percent Thief Looking for your one shot to rise to the "top of the pots" in the cutthroat world of interstellar cuisine? Look no further--you might have...
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...
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...
The coincidence of coconut cake
Reichert, Amy E.
Paper Book
A charming romantic comedy about a talented chef and the anonymous food critic who nearly destroys her restaurant--only to fall for her in real life--in this delightful enemies-to-lovers love story set in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In downtown Milwaukee, Lou works tirelessly to build...
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...
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...
Mother sauce : Italian American family recipes and the story of the women who created them
Scala Quinn, Lucinda
Paper Book
Home cook and author Lucinda Scala Quinn shares 100 iconic and beloved Italian-American recipes from the last 100 years. In America today, nonna's cooking is everyone's favorite food with spaghetti, lasagna, and pizza some of the most popular dishes. Yet this is a cuisine that...
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...
More, please : on food, fat, bingeing, longing, and the lust for "enough"
Specter, Emma
Paper Book
An unflinching and deeply reported look at the realities of binge-eating disorder from a rising culture commentator and writer for Vogue. Millions of us use restrictive diets, intermittent fasting, IV therapies, and Ozempic abuse to shrink until we are sample-size acceptable....
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, through powerful storytelling alongside nearly forty comforting recipes, from the former poet laureate of Kentucky."With Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts...
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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