As the year comes to a close, we can’t help but get into holiday mode. While some have travel plans, many prefer to stay at home and vegetate. But the one thing everyone is saying is “I can’t wait to read a book.”
The last few days of the year tend to be a holiday for almost everyone and we all leave our reading goals for the very last minute (guilty as charged).
From inhaling a book a week at the very minimum, I’ve been finding it more and more difficult to get my reading hours in after a long day of work. This year, I compiled a list of the books that marry my two loves – food and literature. From educational to emotional, this is the ultimate list of food books you should be reading.
Warning: Make sure to keep a snack handy.
We all know Padma Lakshmi in her current avatar as a world-famous host of Top Chef or Salman Rushdie’s ex-wife. But in this brutally honest autobiography, what really stands out is her undeniable love affair with food. It plays such a pivotal role in every single memory from her childhood that her descriptions of simple staples like curd rice and chaat will leave you craving.
Published by: Ecco Press
What is the one thing every food lover would rather die without? Taste. In this heartbreaking memoir, Tucci takes us through this grueling tryst with oral cancer and his loss of taste. We read about his childhood in a large Italian family, his favourite meals and what it takes to relearn how to taste again. If you love a good cry, I highly recommend this one. Bonus: There are also some really great recipes in this one that you can try while reading.
Published by: Fig Tree
One of my favourite Chinese cookbooks, Every Grain of Rice, is by Dunlop. Her knowledge of China’s culinary history, philosophies, traditions and techniques is unparalleled and in this book she takes us through each course as we are invited to sit at her banquet. As I devoured this beautiful book, I couldn’t help but marvel at just how little we know about one of the world’s most popular global cuisines.
Published by: Particular Books
‘This is the food my parents ate and their parents ate . . . It is an acquired taste, especially one acquired through centuries of discrimination.’ One of the most groundbreaking translations in the Indian market, this part-memoir part-cookbook is the first-ever chronicle of Dalit culinary traditions in India. Without ever having access to upper-caste luxuries like ghee, milk and oil, Patole weaves the ingenious and flavourful recipes of the community into this well-researched book. I highly recommend everyone read this book to understand how political every morsel of food we eat is.
Published by: Harper Collins India
If you’re a history buff, this book is the perfect addition to your bookshelf. Imagine what it would be like to be at the grand feasts of the great Mughals. In this book of Empress Nur Jehan’s recipes, we go back in time to the kitchens from Jahangir’s time filled with spicy lamb curries to sugary sweet treats. Translated from the Persian for the very first time, this is more than just a cookbook but a document of great significance. They say it might have been the first cookbook ever written!
Published by: Penguin Books
If you haven’t heard of this book, or the Netflix show based on it, you might just be living under a rock. And yet, no book list for foodies would be complete without it. Samin Nosrat is a genius in this book full of her encyclopedic knowledge of the ingredients and techniques that make food taste good – Salt, Fat, Acid and Heat. It is so accessible and beautifully written that I have read it like a bedtime story many times. Did I mention that it is also the perfect gift for anyone you know that loves to cook or even just starting out?
Published by: Canongate Books
Calling all fans of ‘The Bear.’ If you loved viewing the behind-the-scenes working of a bustling high-end restaurant, you will love this novel. When a young girl, Tess, moves to New York City, she finds herself working at the most coveted restaurant in the city. With that same edgy, fast-paced, chaotic action that you might expect comes also the most stunning descriptions of food and wine as Tess finds herself learning about this completely new world she has found herself in.
Published by: Oneworld Publications
When you want to curl up in bed with something that is the book equivalent of a big bowl of soup on a cold winter day, it is this book you need. Only the Japanese could come up with such an ingenious idea of a food detective – someone who will recreate a dish purely based on your memory of it. Wholesome, heartwarming and full of delicious Japanese food, this book reminds us that our meals and memories are often interlinked.
Published by: Pan Macmillan Publishing
