Cooking bestsellers

If you enjoyed Minor Feelings, then you’ll love Crying in H Mart.

“This memoir is an unflinchingly honest portrayal of grief as well as a tender look at the complex relationship between a mother and daughter bridging generational and cultural gaps through the comforting creation of food. This book had me simultaneously sobbing and starving. A perfect read.”

LeeAnna, Blue Cypress Books

If you enjoyed Save Me the Plums, then you’ll love Taste.

“Such a deal! You get beloved actor Stanley Tucci's droll wit; family memories; stories of decades of New York's food scene; reminiscences of iconic Italian settings; mouth-watering recipes -- including his carefully enunciated, accurate pronunciations of all the ingredients! Another bonus of the audio of Tucci's Taste: you can chop and boil and grate while listening!”

Cheryl, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza

If you enjoyed Kitchen Confidential, then you’ll love Eat a Peach.

“I'm a sucker for egomaniacal chef memoirs, and this one is no exception. Packed with mistakes, moments of genius and lots of culinary vocabulary, Chang's narration is direct, his style efficient as knife skills on the line. Amazing to think that Momofuku changed the way we eat more than 15 years ago. If you liked "Kitchen Confidential," download this audiobook. ”

Nicole, Bookworm of Edwards

When Chef Anthony Bourdain wrote "Don't Eat Before You Read This" in The New Yorker, he spared no one's appetite, revealing what goes on behind the kitchen door. In Kitchen Confidential, he expanded the appetizer into a deliciously funny, delectably shocking banquet that lays out his twenty-five years of sex, drugs, and haute cuisine.

From his... Read more »

From Scratch

“I just finished wiping away my last tear as I close the curtain on From Scratch, a brilliant, compelling memoir. Tembi Locke lost her larger-than-life Italian chef husband at an early age to cancer. The book is a love letter to him as well as to enchanting Sicily and its aromatic, tantalizing food. But more than anything, it is the most memorable and thoughtful gift that her daughter will ever receive. I highly recommend the audio version which is read by the author. From Scratch is one of the best memoirs that I have ever read and one of my top five best books that I read this Summer.”

Melinda, Buttonwood Books and Toys

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Lazy Genius Way comes a fresh perspective for getting the most out of your kitchen!

“An empowering, transformative, and slightly sassy guidebook.”—Jenna Fischer, actress, author, and producer/cohost of Office Ladies podcast 

You want your kitchen to be the heartbeat of the home, but you’re... Read more »

Veuve Clicquot champagne epitomizes glamour, style, and luxury. But who was this young widow—the Veuve Clicquot—whose champagne sparkled at the courts of France, Britain, and Russia, and how did she rise to celebrity and fortune?

In The Widow Clicquot, Tilar J. Mazzeo brings to life for the first time the fascinating woman behind the iconic... Read more »

Read Kathleen Flinn's posts on the Penguin Blog.

This is the funny and inspiring account of Kathleen Flinn’s struggle in a stew of hot-tempered chefs, competitive classmates, her own “wretchedly inadequate” French, and the basics of French cuisine. Flinn was a thirty-six-year-old middle manager trapped on the corporate ladder—until her boss... Read more »

An entertaining and timely exploration of how our food—from where it’s grown to how we buy it—is in the midst of a transformation, showing how this is our chance to do better, for us, for our children, and for our planet, from a global expert on consumer behavior.

Our food system—how we produce, process, distribute, and consume food—is broken.... Read more »

In the technicolor glow of the early seventies, Jessica B. Harris debated, celebrated, and danced her way from the jazz clubs of the Manhattan’s West Side to the restaurants of the Village, living out her buoyant youth alongside the great minds of the day—luminaries like Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison. My Soul Looks Back is her...

From awkward schoolgirl to Caterer to the Stars, Mary Giuliani weaves together a collection of hilarious memories, from professional growing pains to her long journey to motherhood, never losing her sense of humor and her love for everyone's favorite party food, pigs in a blanket.

Mary's utterly unremarkable childhood was everything she didn't... Read more »

Save Me the Plums

“Ruth Reichl's latest memoir is delectable! The audio was superb. For readers who enjoy behind the scenes, travel, and food. Loved it! ”

Jessica, Main Street Books Davidson

Henrietta Lovell is on a mission to revolutionize the way we drink tea by replacing industrially produced teabags with the highest quality tea leaves. Her quest has seen her travel to the Shire Highlands of Malawi, across the foothills of the Himalayas, and to hidden gardens in the Wuyi-Shan to source the world's most extraordinary teas. Infused... Read more »

Girly Drinks

“Girly Drinks is a fun, feminist, and information account chronicling the immense impact women have had on society through making and consuming alcohol. From beer and ale, to whisky, to sake, to sorghum, this is an inclusive and culturally aware history. Full to the brim with riveting stories, you’ll savor every line. Grab a beverage and tuck in!”

Riona, Books & Books @ The Studios of Key West

In her own words, here is the captivating story of Julia Child’s years in France, where she fell in love with French food and found her “true calling.”

From the moment the ship docked in Le Havre, en route to Paris, in the fall of 1948, Julia had an awakening that changed her life. Soon this tall, outspoken gal from Pasadena, California, who... Read more »

Finding Freedom

“A memoir that grabs you from the beginning and immediately has you rooting hard for a scrappy, young, genius chef-to-be as she overcomes some pretty serious challenges along the way to owning one of the most sought-out restaurants in New England.”

Michael Herrmann, Gibson's Bookstore

The obsessive mastermind behind one of the decade's bestselling cookbooks returns with the definitive English-language guide to the science and technique of cooking in a wok.

J. Kenji López-Alt's debut cookbook, The Food Lab, revolutionized home cooking, selling more than half a million copies with its science-based approach to everyday foods.... Read more »

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND A NEW YORK TIMES CRITICS' PICK

“Thrilling . . . [told] with gonzo élan . . . When the sommelier and blogger Madeline Puckette writes that this book is the Kitchen Confidential of the wine world, she’s not wrong, though Bill Buford’s Heat is probably a shade closer.” —Jennifer Senior, The New York... Read more »

“Kwame Onwuachi’s story shines a light on food and culture not just in American restaurants or African American communities but around the world.” —Questlove
 
By the time he was twenty-seven years old, Kwame Onwuachi had opened—and closed—one of the most talked about restaurants in America. He had launched his own catering company with twenty... Read more »

Southern food is integral to the American culinary tradition, yet the question of who "owns" it is one of the most provocative touchpoints in our ongoing struggles over race. 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... Read more »

Anthony Bourdain's long time director and producer takes readers behind the scenes to reveal the insanity of filming television in some of the most volatile places in the world and what it was like to work with a legend.
 
In the nearly two years since Anthony Bourdain's death, no one else has come close to filling the void he left. His passion... Read more »

“You can almost taste the food in Bill Buford’s Dirt, an engrossing, beautifully written memoir about his life as a cook in France.” —The Wall Street Journal

What does it take to master French cooking? This is the question that drives Bill Buford to abandon his perfectly happy life in New York City and pack up and (with a wife and three-year-old... Read more »

Now a Netflix series!

New York Times Bestseller and Winner of the 2018 James Beard Award for Best General Cookbook and multiple IACP Cookbook Awards

Named one of the Best Books of 2017 by: NPR, BuzzFeed, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Rachel Ray Every Day, San Francisco Chronicle, Vice Munchies, Elle.com, Glamour, Eater,... Read more »

Are you ready to feel better, look better, and heal the planet at the same time? Then it's time to revolutionize your health from the inside out. With The Plant-Based Solution, leading cardiologist Dr. Joel Kahn shows how everyone can cultivate optimal well-being with a whole-foods, plant-based diet.

Known as America's Healthy Heart Doc, Dr.... Read more »

Who’s really behind America’s appetite for foods from around the globe? This group biography from an electric new voice in food writing honors seven extraordinary women, all immigrants, who left an indelible mark on the way Americans eat today. Taste Makers stretches from World War II to the present, with absorbing and deeply researched... Read more »

If you enjoyed The Electric Woman, then you’ll love JELL-O Girls.

“This is the second masterful memoir I've read in 2018 about the impact of the complicated and fascinating relationships between mothers and daughters (see also THE ELECTRIC WOMAN by Tessa Fontaine). Allie Rowbottom shares the history of her family's business (Jell-O) while also detailing the lives of generations of women oppressed by the patriarchy and dismissed as hysterical. Highly addictive, JELL-O GIRLS is the perfect book club pick, especially if you want to dive into the mother witch archetype and disrupting the patriarchy.”

Rachel Watkins, Avid Bookshop

An unprecedented behind-the-scenes view into the life of Anthony Bourdain from the people who knew him best.

When Anthony Bourdain died in June 2018, fans around the globe came together to celebrate the life of an inimitable man who had dedicated his life to traveling nearly everywhere (and eating nearly everything), shedding light on the lives...

Stylish, convincing, wise, funny–and just in time: the ultimate non-diet book, which could radically change the way you think and live.

French women don’t get fat, but they do eat bread and pastry, drink wine, and regularly enjoy three-course meals. In her delightful tale, Mireille Guiliano unlocks the simple secrets of this “French paradox”–how... Read more »

A chocolate-filled, girl-powered fantasy with a heroine who learns what it means to be a strong, fearsome human (and dragon). Aventurine is a brave young dragon ready to explore the world outside of her family's mountain cave . . . if only they'd let her leave it. She's determined to prove herself by capturing the most dangerous prey of all: a... Read more »

Read by the author.

What does it take to go from growing up in a Mississippi housing project to becoming a master sergeant and a celebrity chef serving in the White House under four United States presidents?

Call Me Chef, Dammit! is the inspiring story of Andre Rush, who became an overnight sensation in 2018, after a photograph of his now-famous...

A vivid memoir of food and family, survival and triumph, Love, Loss, and What We Ate traces the arc of Padma Lakshmi’s unlikely path from an immigrant childhood to a complicated life in front of the camera—a tantalizing blend of Ruth Reichl’s Tender at the Bone and Nora Ephron’s Heartburn

Long before Padma Lakshmi ever stepped onto a television...

A beautifully written food memoir chronicling one woman’s journey from her rural Midwestern hometown to the intoxicating world of New York City fine dining—and back again—in search of her culinary roots
 
Before Amy Thielen frantically plated rings of truffled potatoes in some of New York City’s finest kitchens—for chefs David Bouley, Daniel... Read more »

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • By the pioneer of lifestyle medicine, a simple, scientifically program proven to often reverse the progression of the most common and costly chronic diseases and even begin reversing aging at a cellular level! Long rated “#1 for Heart Health” by U.S. News & World Report, Dr. Ornish’s Program is now covered by Medicare... Read more »

From the Desk of Zoe Washington

“On Zoe's 12th birthday, she is looking through the mail for happy wishes when she discovers a letter from her birth father sent from the prison he has been serving his sentence in since she was born. Emotions and questions abound: should she trust this man she has never met? What would happen if she wrote back? Is it ok to keep it a secret from her parent? All of this comes together in a fantastic debut and #1 Kids Indies Next Pick that showcases a courageous and thoughtful main character.”

Jessica, Once Upon A Time

From civil rights to Ferguson, Franchise reveals the untold history of how fast food became one of the greatest generators of black wealth in America.

Often blamed for the rising rates of obesity and diabetes among black Americans, fast food restaurants like McDonald's have long symbolized capitalism's villainous effects on our nation's most... Read more »

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Hailed by Anthony Bourdain as “heartbreaking, horrifying, poignant, and inspiring,” 32 Yolks is the brave and affecting coming-of-age story about the making of a French chef, from the culinary icon behind the renowned New York City restaurant Le Bernardin.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR

In an industry... Read more »

Go vegan the fabulous way with this helpful guide from an editor of VegNews, an award-winning vegan media outlet.
Maybe you're interested in it for the food, maybe it's the animals, or maybe climate change has got you thinking. Whatever your reason, maybe you don't quite know where to start. After all, doesn't going vegan mean you have to give up... Read more »

A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Beloved actress, Food Network personality, and New York Times bestselling author Valerie Bertinelli reflects on life at sixty and beyond.

Behind the curtain of her happy on-screen persona, Valerie Bertinelli’s life has been no easy ride, especially when it comes to her own self-image and self-worth. She waged a war...

Coming to My Senses

“No one has transformed the way Americans think about food—its place in our individual and collective lives, and as a conveyer of our values—than Alice Waters. The founder of iconic Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California, and the driving force behind the Edible Schoolyard program that has introduced tens of thousands of schoolchildren across America to the art of growing and cooking food, Waters has now written her long-awaited memoir. In Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook she describes her roots in New Jersey, her coming of age during the political tumult of the 1960s, and her ongoing crusade to make locally sourced, seasonal ingredients, and “slow food” the mainstays of a new American cuisine. Throw in a few spicy love affairs, her passion for books, and a life spent intersecting with presidents and movie moguls, and you’ve got a book that is a satisfying and delicious full-course meal.”

Lissa M., Politics & Prose

An inspiring and approachable tip-filled guide to changing your habits, living more sustainably, and taking action, by Greenpeace ambassador Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter movies)

Go Gently is a guide for sustainability at home that offers simple, tangible steps toward reducing our environmental impact by looking at what we...

Part memoir, part manifesto, in Eat Like a Fish Bren Smith—a former commercial fisherman turned restorative ocean farmer—shares a bold new vision for the future of food: seaweed.

Through tales that span from his childhood in Newfoundland to his early years on the high seas aboard commercial fishing trawlers, from pioneering new forms of ocean... Read more »

GARLIC AND SAPPHIRES is Ruth Reichl's riotous account of the many disguises she employs to dine anonymously. There is her stint as Molly Hollis, a frumpy blond with manicured nails and an off-beige Armani suit that Ruth takes on when reviewing Le Cirque. The result: her famous double review of the restaurant: first she ate there as Molly; and... Read more »

An irreverent, surprising, and entirely entertaining look at the little-known history surrounding the foods we know and love

Is Italian olive oil really Italian, or are we dipping our bread in lamp oil? Why are we masochistically drawn to foods that can hurt us, like hot peppers? Far from being a classic American dish, is apple pie actually . . ....

In the tradition of Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, an extraordinary investigation into the human lives at the heart of the American grocery store

The American supermarket is an everyday miracle. But what does it take to run one? What are the inner workings of product delivery and distribution? Who sets the price? And who suffers for...

Terence McKenna hypothesizes that as the North African jungles receded, giving way to savannas and grasslands near the end of the most recent ice age, a branch of our arboreal primate ancestors left the forest canopy and began living in the open areas beyond. There they experimented with new varieties of foods as they adapted, physically and... Read more »

Named a Favorite Book for Southerners in 2020 by Garden & Gun 

"Donovan is such a vivid writer—smart, raunchy, vulnerable and funny— that if her vaunted caramel cakes and sugar pies are half as good as her prose, well, I'd be open to even giving that signature buttermilk whipped cream she tops her desserts with a try.”—Maureen... Read more »

Michael Pollan, the bestselling author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, Food Rules, and How to Change Your Mind, explores the previously uncharted territory of his own kitchen in Cooked. 

Cooked is now a Netflix docuseries based on the book that focuses on the four kinds of "transformations" that occur in cooking. Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker... Read more »

A story about the trials and triumphs of a Black chef from Queens, New York, and a White media entrepreneur from Staten Island who built a relationship and a restaurant in the Deep South, hoping to bridge biases and get people talking about race, gender, class, and culture.
 
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY GARDEN & GUN •... Read more »

Build an iconic shopping experience that your customers love--and a work environment that your employees love being a part of--using this blueprint from Trader Joe’s visionary founder, Joe Coulombe.

Infuse your organization with a distinct personality and culture that draws customers in a way that simply competing on price cannot.

Joe Coulombe...

The memoir of a young diplomat’s wife who must reinvent her dream of living in Paris—one dish at a time

When journalist Ann Mah’s diplomat husband is given a three-year assignment in Paris, Ann is overjoyed. A lifelong foodie and Francophile, she immediately begins plotting gastronomic adventures à deux. Then her husband is called away to Iraq on... Read more »