Ivan Ramen: Love, Obsession, and Recipes from Tokyo's Most Unlikely Noodle Joint


Ivan Orkin - 2013
    In the food-zealous, insular megalopolis of Tokyo, Ivan opened a ramen shop. He was a gaijin (foreigner), trying to make his name in a place that is fiercely opinionated about ramen. At first, customers came because they were curious, but word spread quickly about Ivan’s handmade noodles, clean and complex broth, and thoughtfully prepared toppings. Soon enough, Ivan became a celebrity—a fixture of Japanese TV programs and the face of his own best-selling brand of instant ramen. Ivan opened a second location in Tokyo, and has now returned to New York City to open his first US branch. Ivan Ramen is essentially two books in one: a memoir and a cookbook. In these pages, Ivan tells the story of his ascent from wayward youth to a star of the Tokyo restaurant scene. He also shares more than forty recipes, including the complete, detailed recipe for his signature Shio Ramen; creative ways to use extra ramen components; and some of his most popular ramen variations. Written with equal parts candor, humor, gratitude, and irreverence, Ivan Ramen is the only English-language book that offers a look inside the cultish world of ramen making in Japan. It will inspire you to forge your own path, give you insight into Japanese culture, and leave you with a deep appreciation for what goes into a seemingly simple bowl of noodles.

The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South


Michael W. Twitty - 2017
    In this unique memoir, culinary historian Michael W. Twitty takes listeners to the white-hot center of this fight, tracing the roots of his own family and the charged politics surrounding the origins of soul food, barbecue, and all Southern cuisine. Twitty travels from the tobacco and rice farms of colonial times to plantation kitchens and backbreaking cotton fields to tell of the struggles his family faced and how food enabled his ancestors' survival across three centuries. He sifts through stories, recipes, genetic tests, and historical documents, and visits Civil War battlefields in Virginia, synagogues in Alabama, and black-owned organic farms in Georgia. As he takes us through his ancestral culinary history, Twitty suggests that healing may come from embracing the discomfort of the South's past. Along the way, he reveals a truth that is more than skin deep-the power of food to bring the kin of the enslaved and their former slaveholders to the table, where they can discover the real America together.

Dear Scarlet: The Story of My Postpartum Depression


Teresa Wong - 2019
    Equal parts heartbreaking and funny, Dear Scarlet perfectly captures the quiet desperation of those suffering from PPD and the profound feelings of inadequacy and loss. As Teresa grapples with her fears and anxieties and grasps at potential remedies, coping mechanisms, and her mother’s Chinese elixirs, we come to understand one woman's battle against the cruel dynamics of postpartum depression. Dear Scarlet is a poignant and deeply personal journey through the complexities of new motherhood, offering hope to those affected by PPD, as well as reassurance that they are not alone.

Ovenly: Sweet and Salty Recipes from New York's Most Creative Bakery


Erin Patinkin - 2014
    As self-taught, curious cooks, Agatha Kulaga and Erin Patinkin have a straight-talking approach that is never too fussy and always encourages experimentation. Above all, they believe that cooking (and eating!) should be an adventure.With tips and anecdotes, exquisite photos, and pantry and kitchen tool essentials, Ovenly contains experimental yet perfected recipes for the most inventive and out-of-this-world breakfast pastries, desserts, and snacks.

Super Natural Cooking: Five Delicious Ways to Incorporate Whole and Natural Foods into Your Cooking


Heidi Swanson - 2007
    Using a palette of natural ingredients now widely available in supermarkets, Super Natural Cooking offers globally inspired, nutritionally packed cuisine that is both gratifying and flavorful. With her weeknight-friendly dishes, real-foodie Heidi Swanson teaches home cooks how to become confident in a whole-foods kitchen by experimenting with alternative flours, fats, grains, sweeteners, and more. Including innovative twists on familiar dishes from polenta to chocolate chip cookies, Super Natural Cooking is the new wholesome way to eat, using real-world ingredients to get out-of-this-world results.An inspiringly stylish introduction to nutritional superfoods, with an emphasis on whole grains, natural sweeteners, healthy oils, and colorful phytonutrient-packed ingredients.Features 80 recipes, a comprehensive pantry chapter, and 100 stunning full-color photos.Shows how to build a whole-foods pantry with nutrition-rich ingredients like almond oil, pomegranate molasses, and mesquite flour--each explained in detail.Winner of the 2005 Webby Award for best personal website, Heidi Swanson's recipe blog (www.101cookbooks.com) attracts close to 500,000 page views a month, making it one of the most widely read recipe journals online.

The French Laundry Cookbook


Thomas Keller - 1999
    The most transformative cookbook of the century celebrates this milestone by showcasing the genius of chef/proprietor Thomas Keller himself. Keller is a wizard, a purist, a man obsessed with getting it right. And this, his first cookbook, is every bit as satisfying as a French Laundry meal itself: a series of small, impeccable, highly refined, intensely focused courses. Most dazzling is how simple Keller's methods are: squeegeeing the moisture from the skin on fish so it sautées beautifully; poaching eggs in a deep pot of water for perfect shape; the initial steeping in the shell that makes cooking raw lobster out of the shell a cinch; using vinegar as a flavor enhancer; the repeated washing of bones for stock for the cleanest, clearest tastes. From innovative soup techniques, to the proper way to cook green vegetables, to secrets of great fish cookery, to the creation of breathtaking desserts; from beurre monté to foie gras au torchon, to a wild and thoroughly unexpected take on coffee and doughnuts, The French Laundry Cookbook captures, through recipes, essays, profiles, and extraordinary photography, one of America's great restaurants, its great chef, and the food that makes both unique. One hundred and fifty superlative recipes are exact recipes from the French Laundry kitchen—no shortcuts have been taken, no critical steps ignored, all have been thoroughly tested in home kitchens. If you can't get to the French Laundry, you can now re-create at home the very experience Wine Spectator described as “as close to dining perfection as it gets.”

Persiana: Recipes from the Middle East & Beyond


Sabrina Ghayour - 2014
    A celebration of the food and flavours from the regions near the Southern and Eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, with over 100 recipes for modern and accessible Middle Eastern dishes, including Lamb & Sour Cherry Meatballs; Chicken, Preserved Lemon & Olive Tagine; Blood Orange & Radicchio Salad; Persian Flatbread; and Spiced Carrot, Pistachio & Coconut Cake with Rosewater Cream.

The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook


America's Test Kitchen - 2015
    Everyone knows they should eat more vegetables and grains, but that prospect can be intimidating with recipes that are often too complicated for everyday meals or lacking in fresh appeal or flavor. For the first time ever, the test kitchen has devoted its considerable resources to creating a vegetarian cookbook for the way we want to eat today. The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook is a wide-ranging collection of boldly flavorful vegetarian recipes covering hearty vegetable mains, rice and grains, beans and soy as well as soups, appetizers, snacks, and salads. More than 300 recipes are fast (start to finish in 45 minutes or less), 500 are gluten-free, and 250 are vegan and are all highlighted with icons on the pages. The book contains stunning color photography throughout that shows the appeal of these veggie-packed dishes. In addition, almost 500 color photos illustrate vegetable prep and tricky techniques as well as key steps within recipes.

Linda's Kitchen: Simple and Inspiring Recipes for Meals Without Meat


Linda McCartney - 1995
    In the six years since her first enormously successful vegetarian cookbook was published, there has been a huge increase in the number of people who choose not to eat meat. Linda's Kitchen, which contains over 200 delicious and inspiring new recipes, offers a blueprint for a vegetarian way of life but is also perfect for the thousands of people who are simply cutting down on meat for health reasons.The recipes have evolved from the kind of good food Linda cooks for her family and friends. They are simple to prepare and wonderful to eat. The dishes are healthy too: nutritionally well balanced and low in saturated fats. Many are suitable for vegans.For the newcomer to vegetarianism the seasonal menu-planning section, packed with ideas for different sorts of occasions - from family suppers to teenagers' parties, summer barbecues to a warming Sunday lunch - will show how easy it is to put together a vegetarian feast. The great recipes for Italian, Indian, Chinese and Mexican meals prove beyond a doubt that non-meat-eaters don't have to miss out on the fun of modern food.This is the cookbook for the way we are today!

A Literary Tea Party: Blends and Treats for Alice, Bilbo, Dorothy, Jo, and Book Lovers Everywhere


Alison Walsh - 2018
    There's nothing quite like sitting down to a good book on a lovely afternoon with a steaming cup of tea beside you, as you fall down the rabbit hole into the imaginative worlds of Alice in Wonderland, The Hobbit, and Sherlock Holmes . . .Fire up your literary fancies and nibble your way through delicate sweets and savories with A Literary Afternoon Tea, which brings food from classic books to life with a teatime twist. Featuring fifty-five perfectly portioned recipes for an afternoon getaway, including custom homemade tea blends and beverages, you will have everything you need to plan an elaborate tea party. Cook up and enjoy:Turkish Delight while sipping on the White Witch's Hot Chocolate from The Chronicles of NarniaDrink Me Tea with the Queen of Hearts's Painted Rose Cupcakes from Alice in WonderlandEeyore's "Hipy Bthuthday" Cake with Hundred Acre Hot Chocolate from Winnie the PoohHannah's Sweet Potato Bacon Pastries and Jo's Gingerbread from Little WomenTom Sawyer's Whitewashed Jelly Doughnuts from Tom SawyerAnd more! Accompanied with photographs and book quotes, these recipes, inspired by the great works of literature, will complement any good book for teatime reading and eating.

Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health


Gene Stone - 2011
    Their answer? Eat a whole-foods, plant-based diet—it could save your life. It may overturn most of the diet advice you’ve heard—but the experts behind Forks Over Knives aren’t afraid to make waves. In his book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn explained that eating meat, dairy, and oils injures the lining of our blood vessels, causing heart disease, heart attack, or stroke. In The China Study, Dr. Colin Campbell revealed how cancer and other diseases skyrocket when eating meat and dairy is the norm—and plummet when a traditional plant-based diet persists. And more and more experts are adding their voices to the cause: There is nothing else you can do for your health that can match the benefits of a plant-based diet. Now, as Forks Over Knives is introducing more people than ever before to the plant-based way to health, this accessible guide provides the information you need to adopt and maintain a plant-based diet. Features include:Insights from the luminaries behind the film—Dr. Neal Barnard, Dr. John McDougall, The Engine 2 Diet author Rip Esselstyn, and many othersSuccess stories from converts to plant-based eating—like San’Dera Prude, who no longer needs to medicate her diabetes, has lost weight, and feels great!The many benefits of a whole-foods, plant-based diet—for you, for animals and the environment, and for our futureA helpful primer on crafting a healthy diet rich in unprocessed fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains, including tips on transitioning and essential kitchen tools125 recipes from 25 champions of plant-based dining—from Blueberry Oat Breakfast Muffins and Sunny Orange Yam Bisque to Garlic Rosemary Polenta and Raspberry-Pear Crisp—delicious, healthy, and for every meal, every day.

Tom Kerridge’s Best Ever Dishes


Tom Kerridge - 2014
    I like getting the balance of taste and texture just right, using familiar ingredients and creating big, intense flavours. Now, I hope you'll use my recipes to make some best ever dishes of your own.' Tom KerridgeAs the most down-to-earth but high-flying chef on the food scene, Tom Kerridge has become known for his big flavours and beautifully crafted yet accessible food. And with more than 100 of his favourite recipes, Best Ever Dishes brings this spectacular cooking to the home kitchen.Tom starts with classics we all love such as tomato soup, chicken Kiev and rice pudding (plus a few new ideas of his own), then refines and elevates them to the best version that he has ever tasted. Give the Kerridge twist to a simple lasagne, and you'll discover that every mouthful is a taste explosion. Put a special spin on a chocolate tart, and you'll transform it into an exceptional, melt-in-the-mouth pud of the gods. With stunning photography by Cristian Barnett, this book really will change the way you cook.

Mayim's Vegan Table: More than 100 Great-Tasting and Healthy Recipes from My Family to Yours


Mayim Bialik - 2014
    Mayim Bialik has teamed up with Dr. Jay Gordon to help parents face those challenges head on. Interested in providing nutritious, delicious meals for your kids? Take their advice. Because, believe it or not, your child will eat greens if you just try a fruit-sweetened green smoothie.From dispelling myths about a vegan diet to tackling the food pyramid, Bialik and Gordon outline how your family can eat healthier even on your busiest days. But don’t mistake this for a diet diatribe: this lively book offers 125 fuss-free recipes that will please everyone from the pickiest eaters to the savviest palates. This comprehensive guide helps parents set a foundation for lifelong healthy and delicious eating.

A Baker's Life: 100 fantastic recipes, from childhood bakes to five-star excellence


Paul Hollywood - 2017
    Each chapter is filled with bakes that represent a different decade – learning the basics at his father's bakery; honing his pastry skills in the finest hotels; discovering the bold flavours of the Middle East while working in Cyprus; and finding fame with the phenomenally popular Great British Bake Off television series.Thanks to this book (and its clear step-by-step instructions), recipes that Paul has spent years perfecting can be recreated at home. Favourites include garlic baguettes; feta and chive bread; chorizo and chilli Scotch eggs; mum's ginger biscuits; double chocolate Danish twists; and hazelnut cappuccino cake.With photographs from personal family albums, plus many professional insights into and anecdotes that reveal what makes a great baker, A Baker's Life will show you how to bring the baking skills Paul has learnt over a lifetime into your own home kitchen.

Over Easy


Mimi Pond - 2014
    After being denied financial aid to cover her last year of art school, Margaret finds salvation from the straightlaced world of college and the earnestness of both hippies and punks in the wisecracking, fast-talking, drug-taking group she encounters at the Imperial Café, where she makes the transformation from Margaret to Madge. At first she mimics these new and exotic grown-up friends, trying on the guise of adulthood with some awkward but funny stumbles. Gradually she realizes that the adults she looks up to are a mess of contradictions, misplaced artistic ambitions, sexual confusion, dependencies, and addictions.   Over Easy is equal parts time capsule of late 1970s life in California—with its deadheads, punks, disco rollers, casual sex, and drug use—and bildungsroman of a young woman who grows from a naïve, sexually inexperienced art-school dropout into a self-aware, self-confident artist. Mimi Pond’s chatty, slyly observant anecdotes create a compelling portrait of a distinct moment in time. Over Easy is an immediate, limber, and precise semi-memoir narrated with an eye for the humor in every situation.