Bookworm in the Pantry: Best Books About Food

Do you have a perfect pantry? I certainly don’t, though I am always growing it and learning more. Lydia, the blogger behind The Perfect Pantry, has been one of my teachers, educating me about such things as how to use epazote, where arrowroot comes from, and that pimentón (smoked Spanish paprika) comes in three different varieties (I didn't know that). She’s a great resource for when I don’t know how best to use the new ingredient I picked up at the market because it looked interesting, and her blog is a great regular read, as it educates me about all manner of food stuffs. Each entry includes the history and background of the featured ingredient, along with a recipe that uses it.

One of the fun features on Perfect Pantry is Lydia’s Bookworm column. Here she invites other bloggers and readers to recommend food related books that are not cookbooks. I love a good cookbook, and am grateful to them as resources, but the chance to immerse myself for a few days in a story that is interwoven with a love of food is an experience It's the intersection between food and life that fascinates me, and to put myself into the hands of a great storyteller who explores that territory is pleasure indeed.

I have always loved this junction of literature and food, and often the reading of a book will send me running to the kitchen. As a ten-year-old I tried to recreate the light and puffy “vanity cakes” that Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about in her The Little House on the Prairie books (with disastrous results, I might add). A few years later, I tried to make the “onion sandwiches,” that were prepared on Sunday nights by Betsy’s father in the Betsy-Tacy and Tib books. Most recently I made vanilla ice cream with black peppercorns as I tried to bring to life a dish from The Book of Salt, by Monique Truong. If only all novels and memoirs came with recipes interspersed between the chapters.

That is why I was excited to get the chance to contribute a few books to Lydia’s growing list of Bookworm recommendations. The list is quite large and impressive by this point—over 100 titles—and a great resource for anyone looking for food friendly reading material, but there were a few titles that I was happy to add. Here are some of my favorite foodie books:

The Book of Salt, by Monique Truong
This book is the sole reason I wanted to take part in Lydia’s Bookworm recommendation program, so I could again gush about this gorgeous and lyrical novel by Monique Truong. Set in the fictionalized kitchen of Gertrud Stein and Alice B Toklas in Paris, this is the best food-ish book I’ve read in the past few years, and one that I wish I had written. Some of you may remember me raving about this book last year, when it drove me into the kitchen to attempt Singapore vanilla ice cream with candied ginger and pepper. It is still the most amazing literary food novel I have ever read.

The Hills of Tuscany, by Ferenc Mate
For anyone who loves Italy, there is no shortage of books to read. Chief in the genre is Under the Tuscan Sun, by Frances Mayes, a memoir (and subsequent film) about moving to Tuscany and starting a new life. While I love the lyricism of the writing in Under the Tuscan Sun (Mayes is a poet and you can tell), I’d rather spend my time with Ference Mate and his wife. They, too, move to Tuscany, but this is a book of the people. They become part of the neighborhood and learn the local customs and traditions—pressing olive oil and making wine with their neighbors. This book has a fun boisterous personality, a love of life and food and people.

The World Is a Kitchen, edited by Susan Brady and Michele Anna Jordan
For me food is the most universal thing—no matter who we are, where we live, we all have to cook and eat. When I travel I am fascinated about the food—where it’s bought and how it’s prepared. I try to work my way into kitchens when I travel, and always come back with recipes and cookbooks. This is why I was so excited when the publishing company I used to work for decided to do an anthology about learning to cook all over the world—recipes included. Even if I can’t jet off tomorrow, I get to read about other people’s adventures, to prepare dishes they first tasted on their travels. It’s the next best thing to being there myself. [A disclaimer: this anthology includes a story I wrote, but I don’t make any money off the sales and I would recommend it regardless].

The Magic of Provence: Pleasures of Southern France, by Yvonne Lenard
Peter Mayle may have put Provence on the literary map with his book, A Year in Provence, but Yvonne Lenard includes recipes in her book about local life in the South of France. It’s another one of those books that leave you wishing you could run off to Provence, buy an old stone cottage, and live happily ever after (Carol Drinkwater’s books are good for this as well), but Yvonne gives you the recipes to at least be able to recreate the experience in your own kitchen. Her recipe for Pistou soup alone is worth the price of the book, and I use her versions of Provencal vegetable pizza/tarts as well.


Gluten-Free Girl, by Shauna James Ahern
Many of you probably know Shauna and her wonderful blog, Gluten-free Girl. Many of you know she’s been working on a book. But most of you (and here I get to brag just a little bit) won’t have gotten to read chapters in draft form, won’t have heard about the manuscript as it developed, won't have gotten to taste (and test) some of the recipes in the book. I have, and I can tell you that you’re in for a treat. The book won’t be published until October (though you can pre-order it), but it’s worth the wait. This is a book not only for people who cannot eat gluten. It’s about learning to embrace life and good food, regardless of the situation.

There you go, good people—some of my picks for what to read when you have to put down the cookbook. I love talking about books—it’s my job, after all—so you may find me continuing to recommend good ones as they come along. I love reading blogs, but there’s nothing like a good book—especially because you can’t take your computer to the beach (okay, you can, but you probably shouldn’t).

And the beach is where I am heading, along with a good book. It’s a gorgeous weekend here in Seattle—what feels like it might be the last real weekend of the summer—and the beach is calling me. I hope wherever you are this weekend, you’re having fun.

And if you're lacking for reading material, take a look at Lydia's list.