Books and food have much in common – they nourish your soul, body, and mind with myriad flavours, textures, and the ability to traverse cultures without ever leaving your house. Books that combine food with reading can be truly mouthwatering – enough to have the book in one hand and Zomato on speed dial on the other. However, some stories do more than just use food and eating as plot devices. In these books, food is Food – a separate character that supports and adds to the story, more than just a background element. Food does more than just make us hungry; it also inspires us to think and crave a world beyond our home kitchens. Here, we explore some of those books, and hope that you find your next great read or meal right here on this list.
A quietly devastating memoir about the author’s relationship with her mother, Crying in H-Mart is slowly on its way to becoming a seminal classic in Korean-American literature. Drawing on anecdotes from her life, Zauner discusses growing up with a conservative Korean mother in an American suburb. The book is littered with references to Korean food and the ubiquitous H-Mart, the local Korean supermarket. As the book proceeds, Zauner becomes her mother’s caregiver and finds solace in traditional Korean home-cooking, and treats us to the vivid descriptions of soul food, which will leave your mouth watering and your eyes tearing up.
A Nobel Prize-winning 2007 novel, expertly translated by Deborah Smith, The Vegetarian is the story of Yeong-hye, a South Korean woman who suddenly stops eating meat after having vivid, dark dreams—or nightmares. In a predominantly meat-eating society, vegetarianism is received as bewildering at best, outlined by the fact that her husband and family don’t quite know what to do with her once she makes the switch. With its dark and poetic prose, The Vegetarian interweaves the stronghold of a patriarchal culture with a woman stepping out of line to create her own destiny and the dire consequences of that fact.
You cannot have a listicle around books and food without an Italian romance, and this book hits just the spot. With delectable descriptions of Italian ingredients across Sicily, Tuscany, and Liguria, this book is the beach read you need for your next European vacation. Combined with a steamy love story and a bittersweet ending, the story about Olive and Leo is impossible to put down. The food abounds and the booze flows, just be ready to order your pasta al dente with a limoncello on the side.
For those with a slightly grotesque side, The Dead Husband Cookbook edges you right till the very end, keeping you on tenterhooks about celebrity chef Maria Capello’s intentions and motives, while making you crave what you might not have the guts to try. The secret ingredient is the thread that connects the book and its characters; just try not to lose your appetite at the end.
The Palestinian Table, Reem Kassis
Though this is, at its heart, a cookbook, it is a valuable addition to this list. Palestinian and Indian cooking have joint roots. From using instinct to cook to family-style eating, and even watching the women in our families cook for one and all, Indian’s share a similar social fabric with the Palestinian people. Kassis’ book is interspersed with anecdotes ahead of each recipe, emphasising the importance of love in cooking. Love for the ingredients, for the culture it rises from, and for the people who will eventually enjoy the meal you prepared.
With 13 authors telling their stories from their kitchens and cultures, this anthology of short stories is like a big plate of pakodas on a rainy day – comforting and warm. A Life in Cookers by Rachel Roddy explores her life’s journey – a different stage in different cookers, which made me yearn for my granny’s old Crusader stove-top with built-in oven (a novelty in her time). Mayukh Sen’s Our Grief Books tells the story of the relationship that we cultivate with food after the loss of a loved one, especially as eaters more than cooks. The last story, Food is a Bridge to Community by Julia Turshen, sums up the anthology perfectly. Food and cooking are in her DNA, as they are for many of us. Her reflections on the bond between community, food, and politics conclude that food is a tool of thoughtfulness and togetherness. One cannot endure without the other, as fond memories of food and eating come through across the stories in this anthology.
