Good Cookbooks for a Bad Year.
For those of you who love to cook, and for the rest of us who just need to be transported. PLUS an update on the next IRL retreat!
A quick note to start - this coming Monday I will be opening up the registration for the next alcohol-free adventure retreat. I can’t believe it’s been nearly five years since the last one. I could not be more excited (or nervous) to be offering this again. I don’t know about you, but I am thrilled to be taking the alcohol-free conversations offline and getting them back into real life around the retreat dinner table.
Check out a recap of the past retreats here.
As I have mentioned, 2024 was a doozy of a year, and maybe the following books weren’t the highlight of mtyyear, they definitely came close. I purchased more cookbooks this year than in all the other 47 years combined that I have stood in front of a refrigerator, staring into the big white abyss, wondering who the hell would feed me.
Thank G, I married an Italian who learned how to cook and how to love cooking from his Gammy.
The list, with a few notes. Novice notes, of course. Starting with my least favorite….
I thought The Science of Cooking and Arty Parties would be right up my alley because this whole year, my main objective was to learn about the whys of cooking, and Dr. Farrimonds book should have been my holy grail, but it didn’t keep my attention. As for Sherman's book, I think there was too much going on, and I wasn’t connecting. Again, it's odd because I have realized that while I may never enjoy cooking, I will always love hosting a dinner party. Maybe I’ll give Arty another shot in the future.
Bundchen's book was pretty, no doubt, but way too basic. It may be great for someone brand new to the wellness world who needs health 101 lessons. I didn’t learn anything, nor did anything inspire me. However, I would have loved this book in 1998 when I was 22 and on my own in NYC.
Now, onto my favorite. SFAH is not only a book but also a fantastic Netflix series. Samin is as adorable as it gets. I loved how this book and the show explained things in a way that held my attention and made learning enjoyable.
The cover does not do it justice. Trust me. I purchased this book because I loved Yasmin’s story - the best reason to buy anything.
This book is dense and intense. It’s like an encyclopedia of food and cooking. I don’t think anyone would sit down and read it cover to cover - but who knows? I guess there are die-hards in every aspect of life - weirdo.
It's not a cookbook, but since I am obsessed with all things Mediterranean, especially Mediterranean food, I am adding one of my latest photography books. It’s gorgeous, and I often find myself slowly perusing it while drinking coffee and daydreaming.
These two French-based cookbooks, with Lucy’s beautiful photography book on Italian life, are the perfect addition to any kitchen. All three stack snug together on my coffeetable, and I peruse these cookbooks exactly as I peruse the photography book ~ Slow, with equal fantasy and envy. Any one of these books would make a superior gift.
- Substack
And yes, I have a total girl/life crush
I just learned of Molly Baz this year, and again, I have another girl crush. Her books are unapologetically delicious. Her recipes are not something I would eat on the daily, but they would make any dinner guest swoon. She has quickly built a food empire with all her offerings and just this month launched her condiment line called Ayoh. She also found herself in a media storm, proudly showing her pregnant body on a billboard in Times Square. Long story short, she came out on top. Win-Win!
She has quite a few podcast interviews (again, empire), but her latest on Cherry Bombe is the bomb.
Her cooking membership.
I die. Again, I am very uncool regarding all these celebrity chefs, foodies, epicureans, and restaurateurs. I saw on IG that someone shared their time at The Cook’s Atelier cooking school in France, and I immediately looked it up and ordered the book. That book is massive, and I am just getting started. But of course, all you foodies out there are well aware of this mother-daughter duo who left their life in Arizona behind to open up what seems to be one of the most famous ( because everyone in my DM’s told me how famous they are) cooking schools - certainly famous mother-daughter cooking schools. I can not even imagine being in a kitchen with my mother trying to cook. We would kill each other, and the kitchen would burn to the ground. Anyway.
The coolest of the cool girls in the kitchen is Jess Damuck. She cut her teeth by working with Martha f*cking Stewart, so we know she’s got to be tough as nails. Joe and I went to her talk when she launched Health Nut. We loved it, and we sat right next to her book photographer, who happened to be one of the most interesting people we have met in a long time. Molly Baz and Benny Blanco were also there as the hosts of the evening. Now, for her recipes, I would feel really good about eating on a daily. However, they can be a bit more complicated. But hot damn, her salad book has inspired my salad plate all year.
Really the only two men I want to tell me how to cook. Benny Blanco is beyond hilarious, and Matty Matheson (also, sober) is not only fun to watch on TV (The Bear) but also running his own food empire. Who knew? You should also know I have not purchased either of these books, but they are on the next-up list. From what I have seen online, the recipes are not the most health-conscious (not by a long shot), but the joy that comes out of both these men when they are cooking is magnetic, and I would eat anything they handed me.
Cooking for friends and cooking for myself when I don’t feel like cooking sounds like the balance I find myself in. Big Night is another book more focused on the party aspect of cooking—I love it! And the uber famous
substack.What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking by Caroline Chambers
Lewins dinner party shop - what! I must go.
We all know those women who are so impeccably perfect that it’s hard to like them, but we secretly love them. Meet Amy and Athena (but I’m sure you already know both!). Amy is so wholesome, and anything Athena touches turns to literal gold.
Books about food. Sweetbitter took me back to my NYC nights in the bar/restaurant world. I know many of the places and scenarios she writes about all too well having spent most of my 20’s slinging drinks and nosh. Her experience was on the high end, while mine the lower end - when the biker bars ruled the city. Ahh, the good ol’ days.
The Gastronomical Me by M.F.K. Fisher (recommended by Danler)
Danlers substack
More books I never knew I needed. The Paris Novel is fun and bizarre and a little far-fetched, but oh we can dream. Alice B. Toklas I am having a harder time getting through. But it will stay on my kindle until the last page. These food books can really transport us to another place and invites us to romantacize a life we may never live….or maybe we will one day.
Reichl substacks
and
I hope you have a lovely week, whatever you may be doing. And if you are like me, I hope you enjoy kicking back, relaxing and reading all about all the food you could be cooking - while someone else is cooking for you!
And if you have a favorite cookbook, I would love to know about it!
XX, M
A book I learned things I had no idea I was curious about and be entertained is The Food Lab by Kenji Lopez-Alt. He’s now a Seattle transplant and fixture.