The best cookbooks are far more than a straightforward list of recipes. They often combine cultural history, memoir, life advice and enough sensuous description to make them genuinely fun to read, whether you’re sweating over the stove in the kitchen or curled up on the sofa. Nigella Lawson’s How to Eat, for example, is as much a case for purple prose as it is a home cooking bible, and the common sense and gentle humour to be found in Mastering the Art of French Cooking make it a pleasure to flip through nearly 60 years after its original publication.
And for those who are already familiar with the Italian and French traditions? In lieu of an actual holiday, transport yourself to Mexico City by way of Gabriela Cámara’s , or conjure up an Irani cafe by sipping a homemade cup of Dishoom’s masala chai. Below, find 35 genius cookbooks that everyone should have stacked in their kitchen (or gift to someone else to stack in theirs).
This was a book that was given to me as a gift when I lived on my own for the first time, a gesture more toward constrained budgets than health or ecological considerations. But this book has become a sort of bible of plant-based cooking for me, offering an entire education on the nutrients and properties of vegetarian ingredients. There are many vegan recipes in this book as well, but no matter how stringent-seeming their parameters, the final results never lack for taste. I am neither vegetarian nor vegan, but I am often very grateful that this book came into my kitchen early on in my cooking career; it has made me a better and more creative cook, while encouraging me to cook for a better future for our planet. –
The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen by Peter Berley
As anyone who’s ever sat through a Seder knows, it’s often all about the food. This beautiful book is a compendium of Jewish foods, offering little, lighthearted lessons in their origins and significance. It’s a lovely book for anyone who wants to perhaps adopt some of the traditions of their upbringing, but spent more time noshing on the challah and the latkes than watching what was going on in the kitchen. –
The Jewish Cookbook by Leah Koenig
“This is real cooking,” writes Nigel Slater. “The roast potato that sticks to the roasting tin; the crouton from the salad that has soaked up the mustardy dressing… these are the things that make something worth eating. And worth cooking.” The English cook and writer’s 2006 book is a heartfelt hymn for wonderful food and flavours, without hours spent toiling in the kitchen or overly formal settings. (The lamb and haricot bean casserole in particular raises pulses.) And it is so written – don’t worry about keeping it nice, the pages be slick with sticky toffee fingerprints and globules of oil. –
Real Cooking by Nigel Slater
Melissa Thompson has written not just a cookbook, but a multi-sensory cultural, political, and social document of Jamaica through the prism of feeding and being fed. As Thompson writes herself, it’s “a history of the people, influences, and ingredients that uniquely united to create the wonderful patchwork cuisine that is Jamaican food today.” Colonial history cannot be detached from such cuisine-making, and Thompson approaches it with directness and clarity. But the book teems with joy and pleasure, too. Return for the classics like saltfish fritters, curried goat, and showstoppers like the crispy ginger beer pork belly and Guinness punch pie. –
Motherland: A Jamaican Cookbook by Melissa Thompson
Penang Recipes & Wanderings Around an Island in Malaysia by Belmond and Apartamento
The second book in the series by and Belmond, is an expansive journey through island life, by way of durian farms, jungle-thick hilltops, and nutmeg plantations. The book, both a vibrant visual portfolio as well as a culinary document, invites the likes of Chef André Chiang, culinary director of the Eastern & Oriental Express, as well as chefs Malcolm Lee and Abby Lee, to feature 23 Malaysian dishes – from the aromatic assam laksa to a sweet three-layer rice pudding and a dark, rich roast duck curry. –
PENANG: Recipes & Wanderings Around an Island in Malaysia by Belmond
If you haven’t yet experienced the satisfaction of whipping up an aubergine parm or a cardamom coffee cake large enough to feed an army from the pages of this cookbook, originally published in 1974 by members of Ithaca, New York’s Moosewood Restaurant, then you’re in for a real treat. ’s food is healthy without ever compromising on deliciousness, making it the perfect retro-classic gift for everyone from kitchen beginners to seasoned pros. –
The New Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen
Mayumu: Filipino American Desserts Remixed by Abi Balingit
Fish sauce, frozen calamansi juice, shredded coconut, and minatamis na bao (coconut jam) are staple ingredients for those looking to master Balingit’s playful yet seriously delicious desserts. These recipes draw from the author’s California upbringing and adult life in Brooklyn, in addition to her Filipino-American heritage. From salty-sweet alfajores to the instantly viral adobo chocolate-chip cookies, every recipe in is guaranteed to please a crowd – and familiarise you with the offerings of your local Filipino grocery store. –
Mayumu: Filipino American Desserts Remixed by Abi Balingit
Please Wait to Be Tasted: The Lil’ Deb’s Oasis Cookbook by Carla Perez-Gallardo, Hannah Black, and Wheeler
Proudly queer and unabashedly colourful in both its decor and food, Lil’ Deb’s is a Hudson Valley classic for a reason, and cooking a meal from the restaurant’s cookbook is a great way to summon the laid-back, cheerful vibe of the IRL space. Recipes for everything from ceviche mixto with popcorn (!) to flan to sweet plantains are sure to delight, and the book’s chatty, convivial tone is likely to linger in your mind long after the meal has been consumed and the dreaded dinner dishes are done. –
Please Wait to Be Tasted: The Lil’ Deb’s Oasis Cookbook by Carla Perez-Gallardo and Hannah Black
The recipes in Krishna’s cookbook are an absolute delight, from her take on roti pizza to a salty-sweet lime beverage she refers to as “Indian Gatorade,” but perhaps the best part of is its emphasis on family legacies and learning through generations’ worth of passed-down cooking tips. Krishna co-wrote the cookbook with her mother, Ritu, and their bond jumps right off the page, making this the perfect kitchen companion for the next holiday you find yourself cooking alongside your parents and trying to be okay with it. –
Indian-ish by Priya Krishna
Keep it Zesty: A Celebration of Lebanese Flavours & Culture from Edy’s Grocer by Edy Massih
I hadn’t eaten a lot of Lebanese food before my first trip to Edy’s Grocer in Brooklyn, but a single meal there was memorable enough to have me counting down the days until came out. There are lots of perfect options to prepare in this cookbook, but personally, I’m gravitating most toward the spreadables (such as the Orangey Date Carrot Dip and Spicy Fig Jam). It’s particularly good for outdoor-eating season, when there’s nothing I want to snack on more at a picnic than a chilled, tangy, complexly flavoured dip. –
Keep It Zesty: A Celebration of Lebanese Flavours & Culture from Edy’s Grocer by Edy Massih
Kismet: Bright, Fresh, Vegetable-Loving Recipes by Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson
I live in LA, which means A) I buy a lot of vegetables and fruits I have no use for at various farmers markets, and B) I eat at Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson’s restaurant Kismet (and its offshoot, Kismet Rotisserie) as often as I can. Now, those two habits are being delightfully fused by the Kismet owners’ new cookbook, which is chock-full of exciting ideas for cooking vegetables. There are meat recipes, too (don’t skip the harissa party wings!), but while my fridge drawer is still full of produce that’s about to go bad, I’ll stick to the veg-only ones. –
Kismet: Bright, Fresh, Vegetable-Loving Recipes by Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson
The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z by Tamar Adler
I don’t think there’s a single cookbook out there that’s affected the way I feed myself (and, more broadly, the way I see sustainability in the kitchen) more than this one. Adler, a contributing editor, is full of practical, cheerful, and frill-free ideas for how to put to use items that you might be tempted to toss in the kitchen trash. Now that I own this book, I’ll never throw carrot-top fronds away again when I can use them to make a delicious and alarmingly healthy pesto. –
The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z by Tamar Adler
Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck
Apart from being genuinely useful, Mastering the Art of French Cooking also looks exceptionally pretty on a kitchen shelf – and with traditional French cuisine back in fashion at last, learning how to make a truly perfect cassoulet or hollandaise is a brilliant use of dark winter evenings. –
Mastering The Art Of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck
Yotam Ottolenghi is credited with introducing Londoners to the wonders of preserved lemons, za’atar, and pomegranate molasses. His recent volume, , includes vegetable-centric recipes alongside straightforward lessons about the origins of taste – from charring to aging—and how to intuitively marry flavours for spectacular dishes. –
Less a cookbook than a full-blown gastronomical movement, Samin Nosrat’s bestseller introduces readers to the most basic culinary principals on which all good food depends—distilling her years in the kitchen at Chez Panisse into elegant chapters on salt, fat, acid, and heat. It’s one of those rare volumes that genuinely lives up to the hype, and will fundamentally transform the way that you cook even the most basic of dishes. Case in point: her buttermilk roast chicken. –
‘Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking’ by Samin Nosrat
It’s hard to overstate how brilliant – and how long overdue – Bryant Terry’s actually is. Beautiful enough to display on your coffee table (graphic artist Emory Douglas, a former Black Panther in Oakland, contributed visuals), this “communal shrine to the shared culinary histories of the African diaspora” is crammed with extraordinary recipes by dozens of Black contributors (including quite possibly the greatest potato salad ever created) organised around themes ranging from Food Justice to Radical Self-Care. Published alongside ingredients lists for the likes of Green Banana Chowder and Baobab Panko Salmon? Both essays and verse by celebrated writers and poets—a nod to Toni Morrison’s ’70s anthology, . –
Black Food by Bryant Terry
To Asia, With Love by Hetty McKinnon
Hetty McKinnon’s To Asia, With Love might have single-handedly rehabilitated the word “pan-Asian” in the world of cuisine. As the Brooklyn-based chef notes at the beginning of the volume, “The recipes are Asian in origin, but modern in spirit; they are inspired by tradition, with a global interpretation.” A wonderfully personal cookbook – McKinnon even photographed the dishes herself on 35mm film – it represents an ode to her Chinese mother’s kitchen, and highlights the wealth of plant-based Asian dishes largely absent from restaurant menus in the West. Beyond including healthy, make-forever recipes, also teaches you culinary skills that I can only describe as game-changing, from making a “perfectly jammy egg” to choosing the best replacements for hard-to-find Asian produce (think Granny Smiths for green papaya). –
To Asia, With Love by Hetty McKinnon
How to Eat a Peach by Diana Henry
If there is a more deliciously evocative cookbook than How To Eat A Peach, I have yet to come across it. Instead of recipes, it comprises menus inspired by different experiences, seasons, and places. (““I don’t invite people round and then wonder what I’ll cook,” Henry writes in the introduction. “I come up with a menu and then consider who would like to eat it.”) Among the lyrically named chapters? “Before The ,” a formula for a southern Italian dinner that progresses from fennel to ricotta, candied lemon, and pistachio ice cream; “Smoky Days,” an homage to the first days of autumn with a feast that ends in cider jellies and brandy syllabub; “In My Own Backyard,” Henry’s take on the perfect Sunday lunch, complete with Guinness bread; and “Missing New York,” an oyster-filled gastronomical paean to Manhattan. –
How To Eat A Peach by Diana Henry
In Bibi’s Kitchen by Hawa Hassan and Julia Turshen
Samin Nosrat is among the many, many fans of Hawa Hassan and Julia Turschen’s In Bibi’s Kitchen, a joyful compilation of recipes from or grandmothers – across a range of African countries that “touch the Indian Ocean,” including Eritrea, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Madagascar, and Comoros. Each nation is afforded its own chapter, where details about its history and traditions sit alongside intimate conversations with in their own kitchens. Many recipes are attributed to their creators – Ma Gehhenet’s Shiro, Ma Maria’s Xima – and accompanied by wanderlust-inducing photographs of lush mountains, rugged coastlines, and beautiful dishes. An extremely welcome (and long overdue) contribution to the Eurocentric world of food publishing in the West. –
In Bibi’s Kitchen by Hawa Hassan and Julia Turshen
Food From Across Africa: Recipes to Share by Timothy Duval, Folayemi Brown, and Jacob Fodio Todd
Written by a trio of Londoners with family and connections across West and East Africa, is a joyful introduction to African dishes ranging from jollof rice to hibiscus tea, groundnut stew to tea bread. The majority of ingredients are available in your usual supermarket – but it’s more than worth taking the excuse to visit the markets in Deptford and Brixton that the Groundnut team personally favour. –
Food From Across Africa: Recipes to Share by Timothy Duval, Folayemi Brown, and Jacob Fodio Todd
by Ruth Rogers, Rose Gray, Sian Wyn Owen, and Joseph Trivelli
Released in honour of three decades of the River Cafe, is visually stunning, reprinting the 1996 article that put the Hammersmith restaurant on the map as well as individual menus scribbled on by famous customers such as Damien Hirst. Master their pappa al pomodoro, salsa verde, and cannellini, and you will always be well fed. –
River Cafe 30 by Ruth Rogers, Rose Gray, Sian Wyn Owen and Joseph Trivelli
La Grotta: Ice Creams & Sorbets by Kitty Travers
In publishing , Kitty Travers single-handedly made it acceptable for a home chef to decide to whip up things like “Montmorency Cherry Sherbet”, “Amalfi Lemon Jelly”, or “Leafy Blackcurrant Custard”. A former pastry chef at St Johns, the frozen treat evangelist has traveled everywhere from Iceland to Brazil to study ice cream making – and while some of her flavour combinations are more unusual than your average Madagascan vanilla, just put yourself in her expert hands and follow each recipe precisely. –
La Grotta: Ice Creams & Sorbets by Kitty Travers
How to Eat by Nigella Lawson
The prose in Nigella Lawson’s revolutionary How to Eat is evocative enough that you will be tempted to read it like a novel. Fortunately, Vintage released a smaller paperback edition in honour of its 20th anniversary. Also more than worth having at your disposal: 2021’s , featuring Lawson’s meditations on everything from the power of anchovies to a loving defence of “brown” food with accompanying recipes. —
How To Eat by Nigella Lawson
Dishoom: From Bombay With Love by Shamil Thakrar, Kavi Thakrar, and Naved Nasir
Anyone who’s witnessed the queues snaking through Soho for a table at Dishoom will testify that it has an almost comically devoted following – and anyone who’s actually tried the dahl will tell you that it’s more than justified. The restaurant’s first cookbook is as much a lovingly illustrated paean to Bombay as it is a compilation of moreish recipes for everything from gunpowder potatoes to ruby chicken. If there is a more comforting beverage than their masala chai, I have yet to try it. –
Dishoom: From Bombay With Love by Shamil Thakrar, Kavi Thakrar and Naved Nasir
The Ballymaloe Cookery School is a fabled place. Today under the guidance of Ireland’s best known cook, Darina Allen, the County Cork-set farm and retreat has produced contemporary chefs like Stevie Parle and Clodagh McKenna. , first published in 1977, underscores the school’s humble philosophy, formed by Allen’s mother, Myrtle: The use of fresh, high-quality ingredients negates the need for complicated or fancy techniques. Recipes range from variations on Ballymaloe restaurant classics to updated versions of traditional Irish dishes, all with Allen’s charming tone of voice. The Carrageen moss pudding is my party piece and taste of home. –
The Ballymaloe Cookbook by Myrtle Allen
For the Love of Food by Paul Ainsworth
In award-winning British chef Paul Ainsworth’s debut cookbook, he distills his years working for heavyweights like Gary Rhodes, Gordon Ramsay, and Marcus Wareing; pride in regional Cornish cuisine; and the work of his stylish but understated restaurant No6 into friendly, flavourful recipes. Woven together with Ainsworth’s cheeky musings, traditional home cooking meets restaurant-quality dishes: Ainsworth-style toad in the hole, Ramsay-approved brown butter pumpkin tortelli, and barbecued mackerel bruschetta, as well as whole chapter on custard to dive into. A total joy for any home cook. –
For the Love of Food by Paul Ainsworth
Set aside takeout for the beloved chef Ken Hom’s seminal collection of over 250 province-trotting recipes, all celebrating the diversities and details of Chinese cooking. Alongside clear cooking techniques, necessary equipment, ingredients, and pantry lists, Hom offers up accessible classics like chicken fried rice (based on a street food stall he would visit in China), Sichuan dumplings, and lesser-known styles from the likes of Yunna. The plant-based dishes are particularly fire – the aubergine with sesame sauce, inspired by Beijing street food, is an easy dinner party favourite. –
Complete Chinese Cookbook by Ken Hom
Bethlehem: A Celebration of Palestinian Food by Fadi Kattan
Fadi Kattan, the Franco-Palestinian chef and proprietor of London’s celebrated Akub restaurant, serves up a rich tapestry of Palestinian food and culture. The flavours are bright, bold and generations-deep: a fluffy mistaka brioche that recalls Easter in Bethlehem makes for a decadent breakfast, stuffed pittas (arayes shrak) are delicious with a tahini-garlic sauce, and please consider the hulking kofta sandwich. (The recipes are woven between vignettes of life in Bethlehem, beautifully profiling the food artisans that cultivate the local grapes, wheat, and olive oil.) The striking cover alone makes it one you’ll want to display proudly. –
Bethlehem: A Celebration of Palestinian Food by Fadi Kattan
The best cookbooks feel deeply personal, and that’s what you get from , Ranie Saidi’s collection of lovingly crafted Malaysian recipes, each inherited or inspired by his late grandmother (a wedding catering cook). There are 70 recipes in this book – over half of them vegetarian, all of them plant-rich! – so there’s something for every occasion. From playful crowd-pleasers like fluffy pandan tiramisu to bright, easy sharer plates like the poetically named “summer rain rice”, is one of those cookbooks you’ll end up relying on. –
The Malay Cook by Ranie Saidi
Thought salads were just a summertime staple? Think again. In Salads For All Seasons, Alexandra Stacey (who was born in Paris and raised near Versailles before moving to the UK), treats salads with the sort of colour, texture and imagination usually reserved for those with a paint brush. Think: snappy endive with verdant Herring and lashings of mustard, or the sort of fig, walnut and brie salad that looks like it belongs on a long, candlelit table in a Tudor castle. –
Salads For All Seasons by Alexandra Stacey
Zaynab Issa’s reads like a culinary coming-of-age story – one that speaks directly to the in-between spaces many of us occupy. Drawing on her Khoja heritage, East African diaspora and New Jersey upbringing, Issa maps a personal geography through food, offering recipes that blend identity with imagination. French onion Ramen, “Coronation Chicken” pastries, and almond fudge squares inspired by Baskin-Robbins are just a few examples of her cross-cultural, comfort-first approach. But this is no gimmicky “fusion” – Issa writes and cooks with intent, clarity, and affection. Whether you’re third culture or simply third-course curious, her debut feels both familiar and new, like a dish you didn’t realise you’d been craving all along.
Third Culture Cooking by Zaynab Issa
With its film-like photos, lyrical essays, and humble bowlfuls of miso soup, is one of the most quietly elegant cookbooks of recent years. Millie Tsukagoshi Lagares invites readers into her small Tokyo kitchen and memory-soaked past, where daikon and dashi are shorthand for home. Her dishes – karaage fried chicken, foil-baked salmon, summer tomatoes with somen – offer a refreshing, unfussy take on Japanese home cooking. Yet there’s still room for romance: a Kyoto sunset, a soba shop memory, a grandmother stirring early-morning rice. Like the izakayas that inspire an entire chapter, Umai is casual but reverent, intimate but deeply transporting.
Umai: Recipes From a Japanese Home Kitchen by Millie Tsukagoshi Lagares
The best cookbook for… tinned fish enthusiasts.
Tinned fish has never looked – or tasted – so chic. Chef Vilda Gonzalez and Becca Millstein, co-founder of cult-favourite brand Fishwife, turns the humble can into a culinary statement in this charming debut filled with punchy illustrations, easy entertaining ideas, and 80 flavour-forward recipes. Think smoked mackerel udon, trout tacos, or lamb bolognese with anchovies. With chapters dedicated to everything from solo lunches to cocktail parties, the book is part manifesto, part guide to maximalist snacking. For anyone who’s ever packed a picnic with a tin of sardines and a chilled bottle of something – this one’s for you.
The follow-up to was always going to be met with sky-high expectations – and , released last year in September, fortunately more than delivered. Samin Nosrat’s second outing is an everyday collection of recipes meant to be shared with people you love, from sesame-ginger slaw to mozzarella-toast giardiniera. Her signature voice – thoughtful, generous, and joyful – permeates every page, and her recipes unfold into endlessly repeatable, remixable meals. There’s a lived-in quality to the book that makes you want to linger. Like a perfect condiment, it adds depth, brightness and just the right amount of heat to whatever you’re already doing.
Good Things by Samin Nosrat
Middle Eastern pantry staples meet millennial lifestyle branding in , a 300-page ode to olive oil, pomegranate molasses, and laid-back elegance. Eden Grinshpan, who rose to fame on and Instagram, brings a cool-girl sensibility to her second book, packed with deeply flavourful vegetarian dishes. Yes, tahini features heavily, but so do harissa, zhoug, sumac, and za’atar – woven into dishes like asparagus with crispy za’atar oil or bright, brothy Moroccan harira. It’s aspirational, of course, but also deeply cookable. A worthy addition to the Levantine canon – and your next dinner party.
