With the days getting shorter and the weather getting colder, the end of fall is the perfect time to get cozy and lean into cooking at home. We asked the Harvard Book Store booksellers: What cookbook (or food-adjacent book) would you recommend? We’ve included lightly edited blurbs from the publishers to explain each title
“Heritage Baking” by Ellen King with Amelia Levin and photographs by John Lee
“My skills are so bad that in the past I have been officially forbidden from baking. Even I was able to follow these directions to successfully grow my sourdough yeast starter and turn out a great, tasty loaf. King, Levin and Lee have created an excellent collection of bread and pastry recipes based around their philosophy of supporting heritage agriculture and good food.” – Maddie
A go-to resource for bakers of all skill levels with information and techniques that lead to better loaves and more flavor. These 45 foolproof recipes for delicious, nutritious, good-for-the-gut breads and pastries star a range of artisanal flours available to home bakers. These flours add layers of flavor and texture, and combined with a natural starter and long fermentation, make these baked goods enjoyable even by those who have difficulty with gluten. In-depth tutorials and ways to adjust recipes for different flours are paired with step-by-step photos that help visual learners. Including recipes for one-of-a-kind rolls, scones, muffins, coffee cake, cookies, brownies and more, this is a new take on baking.
“Peaceful Kitchen: More than 100 Cozy Plant-Based Recipes to Comfort the Body and Nourish the Soul” by Catherine Perez
“Vegetables and complex, savory flavors will always be the stars of the show in Catherine Perez’s recipes … and there is so much good stuff in this cookbook.” – Anna Geneva
From nutritionist and social media star @plantbasedrd comes more than 100 nourishing, feel-good and easy-to-follow recipes inspired by Mexican and Dominican flavors for creative, plant-based meals. In her first cookbook, Catherine Perez, a food creator and registered dietitian, proves serenity can be found in a well-balanced, wholesome meal whether the reader is considering a plant-based diet, leading a dedicated vegan lifestyle or just wants some new ways to season and enjoy veggies. From Moro de Habichuelas to Breakfast Tostadas, she shows how eating healthfully doesn’t mean eating blandly.
“The Elements of Pizza: Unlocking the Secrets to World-Class Pies at Home” by Ken Forkish
“Like Forkish’s other books, this book is meticulously detailed and concise, with pretty pictures. It’ll be a wonderful resource to have in your kitchen, which you’ll turn to time and again!” – Michael
“The Elements of Pizza” breaks down each step of the pizza-making process, from choosing a dough to shaping your pie to selecting cheeses and toppings that will work for your home kitchen setup. Forkish offers more than a dozen dough recipes – same-day “Saturday doughs” you can make in the morning to bake pizza that night, levain doughs made from a naturally fermented yeast starter and even gluten-free dough – each resulting in the best, most texturally sublime crust you’ve ever made at home. His clear, expert instructions will have you shaping pies and loading a pizza peel with the confidence of a professional pizzaiolo. And his innovative, seasonal topping ideas will surprise and delight, and inspiring you to create your own signature pies.
“China: A Cookbook: 300 Classic Recipes from Beijing and Canton to Shanghai and Sichuan” by Terry Tan
“The biggest sell of this cookbook is, hands down, the photography. I usually don’t pay attention to cookbooks but I was immediately drawn to this one by all the #foodporn. Each dish looks fantastic, dare I say even elevated. But what keeps you engrossed are the detailed histories and breakdowns of the food by region, of which there are many in China. Chinese food means a lot of different things and I love seeing it laid out in the way it deserves.” – Lily
Looking from bustling cosmopolitan cities to remote rural landscapes, this comprehensive volume explores the varied food and cooking of China with fascinating background information on geography and culinary history. Bringing together classic dishes, from the old imperial kitchens of Beijing to the teahouses of southern China, expert Terry Tan explores the diverse regions and introduces the reader to local ingredients and cooking methods. Chinese food is justifiably loved the world over, but take a closer look there’s much more to the cooking than the dishes offered at many restaurants. From aromatic soups and simple stir-fries, rice and noodle staples and banquet-style roasted meats to congees, dim sum and sizzling street food, this is a must-have reference for anyone passionate about the Mandarin cooking of the north, Cantonese dishes in the south, Sichuan food in the east and Shanghai cuisine in the west. An extensive introduction explores the history and traditions, the ingredients and how to prepare and use them, and clear step-by-step recipes guides cooks to success with evocative images throughout.
“Filipinx: Heritage Recipes from the Diaspora” by Angela Dimayuga and Ligaya Mishan
“Food traditions are so deeply rooted in a culture’s history and pride. Filipinx is much more than a collection of recipes. It’s filled with heart, with personal stories that celebrate the authors’ roots and what it means to be Filipinx.” – Victoria
In her debut cookbook, chef Angela Dimayuga shares her passion for Filipino food with home cooks. “Filipinx” offers 100 deeply personal recipes, many of which define home for her and the more than 4 million people of Filipino descent in the United States. The book tells the story of how Dimayuga grew up in an immigrant family in Northern California, trained in restaurant kitchens in New York City – learning everything from bistro fare to Asian-American cuisine – then returned to her roots, discovering in her family’s home cooking the same intense attention to detail and technique she’d found in fine dining.
“The Hunger of Women” by Marosia Castaldi and translated by Jamie Richards
“Pick up this book, plop yourself down in a café and let it teach you its rhythm. Marosia Castaldi shows how we are not just ourselves but those we came from and the traditions passed to us, we are those we love and hate, we are our towns and neighbors and hobbies and life, cumulatively.” – Summer
A tribute not only to the tradition of women’s writing on hearth and home but to the legacy of such boundary-breaking feminist writers as Gertrude Stein, Virginia Woolf and Hélène Cixous,
“The Hunger of Women” is nothing less than a literary feast. Rosa, midway through life, is alone. Her husband died long ago and her cosmopolitan daughter is already out the door, keen to marry and move to the city. At loose ends, Rosa decides to transplant herself to the flat, foggy Lombardy provinces from her native Naples and there finds a way to renew herself – by opening a restaurant. “The Hunger of Women” is a novel made up of Rosa’s observations, reflections and recipes, tracking a journey to reconnect with her own mother’s age-old wisdom, forward to her daughter’s future and laterally to the world of new lovers and customers.
“The Golden Spoon” by Jessa Maxwell
“A surprising and delightful combination of Agatha Christie and the ‘Great British Baking Show,’ ‘The Golden Spoon’ will sweep you off your feet and into a world of cakes, pies and gruesome murders.” – Alex
Every summer for the past 10 years, six bakers have descended on the grounds of Grafton, the leafy and imposing Vermont estate that is not only the filming site for “Bake Week” but also the childhood home of the show’s famous host, Betsy Martin. The author of bestselling cookbooks and hailed as “America’s Grandmother,” Martin isn’t as warm off-screen as on. She has always demanded perfection and gotten it with a smile, but this year something is off. Things go awry as the competition begins. At first, it’s merely sabotage – sugar replaced with salt, a burner turned too high – but when a body is discovered, everyone is a suspect.
“Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant: A Memoir” by Curtis Chin
“You’ll find a lot to savor here, as Curtis Chin writes about difficult topics – family, race, sexuality – with such warmth, sincerity and humor that you can’t help but wish you could put in an order of Chung’s almond boneless chicken and keep the conversation going just a little bit longer.” – Lori
Nineteen eighties Detroit was a volatile place to live, but above the fray stood a safe haven: Chung’s Cantonese Cuisine, where anyone – from the city’s first Black mayor to the local drag queens, from a big-time Hollywood star to elderly Jewish couples – could sit down for a warm, home-cooked meal. Here was where, beneath a bright-red awning and surrounded by his multigenerational family, filmmaker and activist Curtis Chin came of age; where he learned to embrace his identity as a gay ABC, or American-born Chinese; where he navigated the divided city’s spiraling misfortunes; and where – between helpings of almond boneless chicken, sweet-and-sour pork and some of his own, less-savory culinary concoctions – he realized just how much he had to offer to the world, his family and himself. Served up by the co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and structured around the menu that graced the tables of Chung’s, this is a memoir and an invitation to step inside one boy’s childhood oasis, scoot into a vinyl booth and grow up with him, and perhaps even share something off the secret menu.
“Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs” by Jamie Loftus
“This book opened my eyes to all kinds of regional cultures and cuisines I didn’t know about, the history and fierce debate about the origin of the hot dog and, most importantly, the rampant corruption in the meatpacking industry. A must-read for all hot girls who love hot dogs.” – Julia
Hot dogs: Poor people created them, rich people found a way to charge $15 for them. They’re high culture, they’re low culture, they’re sports food, they’re kids’ food, they’re hangover food, and they’re deeply American, despite having no basis whatsoever in America’s Indigenous traditions. You can love them, you can hate them, but you can’t avoid the great American hot dog. “Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs” is part investigation into the cultural and culinary significance of hot dogs and part travelogue documenting a cross-country road trip researching them as they’re served today. From avocado and spice in the West to ass-shattering chili in the East to an entire salad on a slice of meat in Chicago, Loftus, her pets and her ex eat their way across the country during the strange summer of 2021 to dig into the delicious and inevitable product of centuries of violence, poverty and ambition, now rolling around at your local 7-Eleven.
This post was updated Aug. 19, 2024, to note that descriptions of the books were compiled from the publishers.
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