Lifestyle

Hardcover | Ambrosia | 304 pages

 

Go from “what the heck is this” to “how does it taste so good” in this celebration of misfit vegetables.

Maybe you just discovered celery root (a lumpy, softball-sized bulb), at the grocery store. Or perhaps you received watermelon radishes in a CSA package. Did a parsnip catch your eye at the farmers’ market? Even vegetables you think you know, like cabbage or brussels sprouts, will reveal next-level flavor with the right recipe. Becky Selengut has made it her mission to take less popular—or even outright scorned vegetables like beets and okra—and cook them into irresistible dishes. It’s all about knowing how to cook or serve them and what herbs and spices to incorporate. In Misunderstood Vegetables, Selengut highlights 25 vegetables, with recipes alongside history, step-by-step preparation, and storage tips. Organized by season, recipes include Feta and Citrus Salad, Charred Chard with Spicy Chile Oil, and Celery Root Gratin. A must-have for the plant-curious, this cookbook will have readers seeking out unusual and underused produce like never before.

Hardcover | Countryman Press | 272 pages

 

An exciting and unexpected collection of 100 recipes that re-examines Chinese American food

Jon Kung grew up as a "third-culture" kid: Born in Los Angeles, raised in Hong Kong and Toronto, and now living in Detroit, Jon learned to embrace his diasporic identity in the kitchen after pivoting his career from law school graduate to being a cook. When the pandemic shut down his immensely popular popup, he turned to social media—not just as a means of creative expression, but as a way to teach and inspire.

Over time, Jon discovered that expressing himself through food not only reflected his complicated identities, it affirmed them. From dumplings to the most decadent curried mac and cheese, Jon inspires millions through his creative recipes and content.

In Kung Food, he breaks the boundaries of flavors in chapters such as:

• Snacky Snacks, Bites, and Cravings (Sesame Shrimp Toast, Vegan Fried Chicken Sandwich)
• Noodles & Dumplings (Ginger Scallion Noodles, Buffalo Chicken Rangoon, Lamb Curry Dumplings)
• Rice & Congee (“Clay Pot” Rice Tahdig, Mushroom Fried Rice)
• Stir Fries (Szechuan Paneer, Faygo Orange Chicken)
• Kung Foo Means “with Effort” (Hong Kong Chicken and Waffles, Dan Dan Lasagna)

Through stunning, playful, and high-energy photos and Jon’s wit and humility, he brings forward a collection of recipes that blend cultural traditions, ingredients, and flavors with his ultimate goal of redefining what Chinese American food can be.

 

Hardcover | Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed | 288 pages

 

 

An acclaimed food writer and cook celebrates the many cuisines found in Lagos, Nigeria's biggest city, with 75 recipes that mirror her own powerful journey of self-discovery.

The city of Lagos, Nigeria, is a key part of a larger conversation about West African cuisine and its influences throughout the world. My Everyday Lagos consists of 75 dishes that are all served in recipe developer and food stylist Yewande Komolafe's fast-paced, ever-changing home city of Lagos. These recipes reflect the regional cooking of the country and reveal two complementary qualities of Nigerian cuisine—its singularity and accessibility. Along the way, through informative essays that place ingredients in historical context, Yewande explains how in a country where dozens of ethnic groups interact, a cuisine has developed that transcends tribal boundaries.

Yewande's personal narrative is woven throughout the book and cautions against being burdened by notions of authenticity. To those in the African diaspora, this book highlights food that may have been adapted and integrated into the cuisines of the places they live. The bukas of London, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Toronto, and Newark all have their unique vision of Nigeria and are reflected in their food. The recipes, including classics like Jollof Rice, Puff Puff, and Groundnut Stew, are a starting point for the home cook, allowing them to trust the ingredients and achieve the variety of textures and flavors Nigerian food is known for. Beautiful photographs of the city and its people invite readers into the energy and pulse of Lagos, while the food photography entices them to make each and every dish in the book.

This stunning cookbook is Yewande Komolafe's in-depth exploration of a cuisine as well as the definitive book on Lagos cuisine that reveals the nuances of regions and peoples, diaspora and return—but also tells her own story of gathering the scattered pieces of herself through understanding her home country and food.

 

Hardcover | Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed | 288 pages

 

The Arabesque Table

Contemporary Recipes from the Arab World

Author: Reem Kassis

'The Arabesque Table is full to the brim with dishes which are rooted in tradition and at the same time creatively (and deliciously!) transcend it. It is wonderful!' - Yotam Ottolenghi

'Refreshing is … the best word to describe Ms. Kassis's book … The Arabesque Table zooms out, examining both the history and the evolution of Arab dishes, suggesting another, richer approach to understanding food.' - Wall Street Journal

Much-loved author and James Beard nominee Reem Kassis presents an acclaimed and unique collection of original contemporary recipes tracing the rich history of Arab cuisine.

The Arabesque Table takes inspiration from the traditional food of the Arab world, weaving Reem Kassis's historic research and cultural knowledge with her contemporary interpretations of an ancient, remarkably diverse cuisine.

In her personal, engaging voice, Reem bridges past and present to open up the world of Arabic cooking today, showcasing a mosaic of 130 delicious, accessible home recipes. Organized by primary ingredient, the recipes and vivid photographs bring the dishes to life while her narrative offers not only a sense of taste, but a sense of time and place as well.

More than just a compilation of modern Arabic recipes, The Arabesque Table celebrates the evolution of Arab cuisine and the stories of cross-cultural connection it recounts, paying tribute to the history and journey that have led to this point.

With the past on full display in this intensively researched and exciting book, you will find dishes from the Golden Age of Islam: such as Narjissiya (a fava bean and egg hash) and Makmoora (a layered chicken, onion and pine nut pot pie), as well as contemporary and globally inspired interpretations: such as Tahini Cheesecake and Caramelized Butternut Squash Fatteh with Za'atar, revealing a cuisine that is vibrant, nourishing, and exciting, but above all, reminding us of how powerful food is in defining the relationship between people, place and identity.

 

Hardcover | Phaidon | 256 pages

 

This new classic of American country cooking proves that the food of Deep Run, North Carolina—Vivian's home—is as rich as any culinary tradition in the world. Organized by ingredient with dishes suited to every skill level, from beginners to confident cooks, Deep Run Roots features time-honored simple preparations alongside extraordinary meals from her acclaimed restaurant Chef and the Farmer. Home cooks will find photographs for every single recipe, alongside a storytelling voice that "will keep your soul fed for weeks" (Garden and Gun).

In 2006, Vivian opened Chef and the Farmer and put the nearby town of Kinston on the culinary map. But in a town paralyzed by recession, she couldn't hop on every new culinary trend. Instead, she focused on rural development: If you grew it, she'd buy it. Inundated by local sweet potatoes, blueberries, shrimp, pork, and beans, Vivian learned to cook the way generations of Southerners before her had, relying on resourcefulness, creativity, and the traditional ways of preserving food.

Deep Run Roots is the result of years of effort to discover the riches of Eastern North Carolina. Like The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, The Art of Simple Food, and The Taste of Country Cooking before it, this is landmark work of American food writing.

Recipes include family favorites like

• Blueberry BBQ Chicken
• Creamed Collard-Stuffed Potatoes
• Fried Yams with Five-Spice Maple Bacon Candy
• Chicken and Rice
• Country-Style Pork Ribs in Red Curry-Braised Watermelon
• And show-stopping desserts like Warm Banana Pudding, Peaches and Cream Cake, and Pecan-Chewy Pie.

You'll also find 200 more quick breakfasts, weeknight dinners, holiday centerpieces, seasonal preserves, and traditional preparations for all kinds of cooks.

 

Hardcover | Little, Brown and Company | 576 pages

 

The grande dame of African American cookbooks and winner of the James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award stakes her claim as a culinary historian with a narrative history of African American cuisine.

Acclaimed cookbook author Jessica B. Harris has spent much of her life researching the food and foodways of the African Diaspora. High on the Hog is the culmination of years of her work, and the result is a most engaging history of African American cuisine. Harris takes the reader on a harrowing journey from Africa across the Atlantic to America, tracking the trials that the people and the food have undergone along the way.

From chitlins and ham hocks to fried chicken and vegan soul, Harris celebrates the delicious and restorative foods of the African American experience and details how each came to form such an important part of African American culture, history, and identity. Although the story of African cuisine in America begins with slavery, High on the Hog ultimately chronicles a thrilling history of triumph and survival. The work of a masterful storyteller and an acclaimed scholar, Jessica B. Harris's High on the Hog fills an important gap in our culinary history.

 

Paperback | Bloomsbury USA | 304 pages

 

 

Hardcover | Harvest | 320 pages

 

 

Hardcover | Amistad | 464 pages

 

Senegal

Modern Senegalese Recipes From the Source to the Bowl

Author: Pierre Thiam


Senegal will transport you deep into the country’s rich, multifaceted cuisine. You’ll feel the sun at your back and the cool breeze off the Atlantic, hear the sizzle of freshly caught fish hitting the grill, and bask in the tropical palm forests of Casamance. Inspired by the depth of Senegalese cooking and the many people he’s met on his culinary journey, these recipes are Pierre Thiam’s own creative, modern takes on the traditional. Learn to cook the vibrant, diverse food of Senegal, such as soulful stews full of meat falling off the bone; healthy ancient grains and dark leafy greens with superfood properties; fresh seafood grilled over open flame, served with salsas singing of bright citrus and fiery peppers; and lots of fresh vegetables and salads bursting with West African flavors.

Pierre’s first book, Yolele!, introduced Senegalese food to the world, and now Senegal takes a deeper dive, showcasing the ingredients and techniques elemental to Senegalese cooking, the food producers at the heart of its survival, and the unique cultural and historical context it exists in. You’ll meet local farmers, fishermen, humble food producers, and home cooks each with stories to tell and recipes to share and savor, with evocative photography from Evan Sung. You won’t just be learning to make a few dishes, you’ll learn about the Senegalese people, the stories of their past, and importantly, the issues they face today and tomorrow. This is the food of Senegal, from the source to the bowl.

Hardcover | Lake Isle Press | 320 pages

 

Hardcover | Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed | 352 pages

 

Chef Tee's Caribbean Kitchen

Vibrant recipes that bring the joy of island cooking to your home

Author: Chef Tee

Bring the joy of Caribbean cooking to your kitchen and discover 80 varied and exciting recipes, from street food grills to one-pot stews, salads, and rum-based cocktails.

Caribbean cuisine offers a world of flavor from Jamaica to Trinidad and Tobago and everything in between, all the islands have their own unique dishes and cooking styles. In this sunshine-filled book you’ll find recipes for mouth-watering hot sauces, spice rubs, fragrant marinades, and cool chutneys as well as vibrant salads, wood grills, and slowly simmered braises. Food is often eaten on the go from beach shacks or street vendors, who cook up fresh bites every day. Satisfying curries are always on the menu and are traditionally served with rice or Indian-style roti breads for wiping your plate clean, and vegetable sides. Meat is a big feature, often marinated, and fresh fish is readily available, particularly on the smaller islands, but there are plenty of vegetarian and vegan dishes to enjoy too. And let’s not forget the rum-based cocktails! Celebrate the fresh and vibrant colors and tastes of the Caribbean in your own kitchen with delicious and easy recipes, filled with lip-smacking flavor, guaranteed to transport you to paradise.

Hardcover | Ryland Peters & Small | 192

Through 80 spice-infused recipes, spectacular images, and a mouthwatering culinary journey along the ancient spice trail, award-winning author Eleanor Ford's luscious new volume reveals how centuries of spice trading and cultural diffusion changed the world's cuisine and how to best stock and enjoy spices in your own home.

From humankind's earliest travels, people have followed and sought out the spice routes. These maritime trading trails acted as the central nervous system of the world, enabling the flow of goods and ideas.

In this richly illustrated volume, Eleanor Ford uses recipes as maps as she takes readers on a culinary journey that weaves through history and around the world. She explores both the flavor profiles and the spread of spices--from cardamom to cinnamon, ginger to sumac--and provides fascinating insights such as how nutmeg unites the spice blends Indian garam masala, Lebanese seven spice, French quatre epices, Moroccan ras el hanout, and Middle Eastern baharat, lending its bittersweet, fragrant warmth to them all.

This unparalleled volume provides 80 flavorful recipes for entrees, appetizers, sides dishes, and more, enabling you to make a divine garlic clove vegetable curry, jasmine tea-smoked chicken, Indonesian seafood gulai, as well as staple spice pastes and mixtures to have on-hand. The result will enable you to stock up and to have a home kitchen rich in international flavor and fragrance.

 

Hardcover | Apollo Publishers | 256 pages

 

Learn to make authentic, delicious, and easy Dominican meals with Vanessa Mota, creator of the popular food blog My Dominican Kitchen.

In The Dominican Kitchen, Vanessa Mota, creator of the popular blog My Dominican Kitchen, brings the everyday dishes she grew up with in the Dominican Republic to your busy life. Made with easy-to-find ingredients and featuring traditional comfort foods, the 80 recipes incorporate the delicious flavors of la comida criolla dominicana (Creole food), with influences from the Taíno, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and China. Enjoy snacks, sandwiches, salads, sides, mains, desserts, and drinks, including: 

• Arepitas
• Chulitos
• Chimi burgers
• Plátanos fritos
• Sancocho
• Pollo guisado
• Empaguetadas
• Flan de coco
• Morir soñando
• and more

Complete with step-by-step instructions, stunning photos, stories from the DR, and information for stocking your pantry, The Dominican Kitchen will have you enjoying this exciting cuisine right in your own home.

 

Hardcover | Quarto |  208 pages

 

Hardcover | Harvest | 544 pages

 

Ama finds inspiration from regional Mexican cuisine and beyond with influences from the American South, Germany, Poland, and Morocco to help you bring more diverse and delicious flavors into your kitchen.

Bring big and bold Tex-Mex flavor to the table: Tex-Mex is a delicious, irreverent cuisine that combines the deep traditions of Texan and Mexican cooking. Think meaty stews, breakfast tacos, tres leches cake, crunchy salads, slow-cooked meats, and fresh cocktails—home cooks will learn how to make them all.

• Features over 100 recipes from San Antonio native and Los Angeles chef and restauranteur Josef Centeno
• Organized into chapters by type of food—including breakfast, vegetables, main courses, desserts, and a super nacho party—so it's easy to find your go-to recipe for any occasion
• Presented in a colorful package with more than 100 food and atmospheric photos that are bright, mouthwatering, and truly inspiring.

Ama offers a collection of recipes that represents down-home cooking and grilling at its most inspiring. Fans of Taqueria, Tartine, and American Sfoglino will also enjoy the cultural delights found in this Tex-Mex cookbook.

Appetizing recipes featured in Ama include Huevos Rancheros, Carne Guisada, Ama's Guacamole, Blueberry Cobbler, and so many more.

This cookbook is a hands-on winner for anyone who loves big flavors, casual parties, and firing up the grill.

Josef Centeno is the chef-owner of the Centeno Group, which includes the award-winning restaurants Bäco Mercat, Bar Amá, and more. He is the co-author of the cookbook Bäco. Betty Hallock is a journalist, food writer, and former deputy food editor of the Los Angeles Times. She is the co-author of Bäco. Ren Fuller is a Los Angeles–based food and lifestyle photographer.

 

Hardcover | Chronicle | 272 pages

 

Vibration Cooking was first published in 1970, not long after the term “soul food” gained common use. While critics were quick to categorize her as a proponent of soul food, Smart-Grosvenor wanted to keep the discussion of her cookbook/memoir focused on its message of food as a source of pride and validation of black womanhood and black “consciousness raising.”

In 1959, at the age of nineteen, Smart-Grosvenor sailed to Europe, “where the bohemians lived and let live.” Among the cosmopolites of radical Paris, the Gullah girl from the South Carolina low country quickly realized that the most universal lingua franca is a well-cooked meal. As she recounts a cool cat’s nine lives as chanter, dancer, costume designer, and member of the Sun Ra Solar-Myth Arkestra, Smart-Grosvenor introduces us to a rich cast of characters. We meet Estella Smart, Vertamae’s grandmother and connoisseur of mountain oysters; Uncle Costen, who lived to be 112 and knew how to make Harriet Tubman Ragout; and Archie Shepp, responsible for Collard Greens à la Shepp, to name a few. She also tells us how poundcake got her a marriage proposal (she didn’t accept) and how she perfected omelettes in Paris, enchiladas in New Mexico, biscuits in Mississippi, and feijoida in Brazil. “When I cook, I never measure or weigh anything,” writes Smart-Grosvenor. “I cook by vibration.”

This edition features a foreword by Psyche Williams-Forson placing the book in historical context and discussing Smart-Grosvenor’s approach to food and culture. A new preface by the author details how she came to write Vibration Cooking.

 

Paperback | University of Georgia Press | 256 pages

 

Introduce rich, complex Indian flavors to your everyday cooking with 80 easy recipes and ingenious guidance from Julia Child Best First Book Award winner Maya Kaimal.
In Indian Flavor Every Day, Indian cooking authority Maya Kaimal proves it’s possible to experience the joy of this cuisine with minimal time and a handful of special ingredients like ghee and dried chilis. She distills essential flavor-building methods, like creating spice blends and tempering whole seeds in oil to release their essence, and applies these techniques to accessible, flexible main ingredients any home cook has on hand. With many vegetarian, gluten-free, and wholesome, hearty offerings, Indian Flavor Every Day includes both simplified classic dishes and new twists. Recipes like Golden Noodles with Tarka Crunch, Roasted Asparagus with Tamarind and Crispy Shallots, Potato Bonda Burgers, and deeply flavorful Chettinad Chicken with Black Pepper Coconut Masala are designed to build your confidence and spark inspiration, so incredible new flavors can become an everyday pleasure.

Embrace the simple tips in this book, purchase a few ingredients for your pantry, and Maya promises you will soon have a comfort level with Indian food you didn’t know was possible.

 

Hardcover | Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed | 240 pages

 

Motherland

A Jamaican Cookbook

Author: Melissa Thompson

 

From the publisher:

A cookbook charting 500 years of influence on the vibrant cuisine of Jamaica, written by acclaimed food writer Melissa Thompson.

Acclaimed food writer and chef Melissa Thompson takes us on a journey to this Caribbean jewel through 80 recipes and more than 500 years of history and influences. The recipes include classic Jamaican favorites, such as Jerk Pork, Braised Oxtail, Ackee & Saltfish, and Peanut Punch, as well as original dishes created with Jamaica’s abundant natural larder and twists on classics.

This beautiful cookbook features in-depth research into the evolution of Jamaica’s food. It charts the contribution of indigenous Jamaicans, the Taino. It follows the impact of colonization, and how the periods under Spanish and British rule left an indelible mark on the nation’s gastronomy, without shying away from their brutality: Eyewitness accounts describe the barbarity of the colonial powers. And it recounts how enslaved men and women from West and Central Africa brought inspiration from home and familiar cooking techniques to create legacy dishes that are still celebrated today. The contribution of Indian and Chinese indentured workers is also examined. These stories are woven into the recipes, so the reader is invested in the dishes they cook.

Hardcover | Interlink Books | 304 pages

 

Author: Mandy Yin

From the publisher:

Sambal Shiok is a brilliant collection of 75 Malaysian-inspired recipes that were handed down from Mandy Yin’s mother as well as those that she has developed for her cult London restaurant. The recipes – such as Malacca Nyonya curry laksa, Penang assam laksa, Malaysian fried chicken, prawn fritters, spiral curry puffs, flaky roti canai, beef rendang, KL golden fragrant clams, sambal mapo tofu, and the perfect steamed rice – can be made for a weekday family meal, a dinner party or celebration.

Malaysian food results from the unique merger over centuries of Indigenous Malay ingredients with Indian spices and Chinese techniques. Every dish delicately balances sweet, sour, salty with chilli heat and a hint of bitter. With Mandy’s evocative look at Malaysian food culture, her recipes, and the basics of a Malaysian pantry (shrimp paste, lemongrass, tamarind and coconut milk), you can easily enjoy the most delicious Malaysian meals at home.

 

Hardie Grant Books | Hardcover | 256 pages

Author: Tanya Holland

From the publisher:

 

Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed | Hardcover | 256 pages