With today’s Top Ten Tuesday list, “Books That Make Me Hungry”, I hope to whet your appetite for reading 10 (OK, 14) of my favorite books about food and cooking – not counting fiction or cookbooks. Every book on the list ended up being my favorite form of nonfiction – memoirs – and many of them I listened to on audio. A couple of them are stunt memoirs, another favorite of mine.
The first two are probably the first nonfiction books about food and cooking I ever bought and read (other than cookbooks), and that was only because I had already bought and read all of Laurie Colwin’s novels and short stories.
For me, Home Cooking and More Home Cooking set the standard for food writing and they are still among my favorite books of all time.
- Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin
2. More Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin
Going in the order I read them, I think next would come Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential from way back in my early days of audiobook listening.
I had never heard of Anthony Bourdain; I probably chose this both because my husband had cooked in a restaurant kitchen for a while before we were married and because I happened to see it in the library. Kitchen Confidential was an eyeopener in two ways – first, the behind-the-scenes glimpse into the frenetic life of a celebrity restaurant chef in those days and second, that some authors could read their own work on audio and sound good.
3. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (Audio)
Ruth Reichl is another food writer who is bound to appear on many of these Top Ten lists today. I listened to most of her earlier books on audio, but not all. The first is still my favorite.
4. Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl (Audio)
The rest of my list are all more recently published books, so they’re in order by how much they stuck in my mind after reading (or listening to) them. Because of this, more recent ones may come before ones I actually liked better at the time.
If I’ve reviewed these books (usually in a Weekend Cooking post), I’ve linked to my review. If not, the links should go to the publisher’s page where you can get details about the book.
5. Blue Plate Special: An Autobiography of My Appetites by Kate Christensen (Audio)
6. Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton (Audio)
7. Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell (Audio)
8. Eat Joy: Stories & Comfort Food from 31 Celebrated Writers
9. Memoir of the Sunday Brunch by Julia Pandl
10. Life from Scratch: A Memoir of Food, Family, and Forgiveness by Sasha Martin
I had to leave these print favorites off the list because I ran out of space. I should have made two lists with a separate one for audiobooks!
- Taking the Kids to Italy: A Memoir by Roland Merullo
- My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life by Ruth Reichl
- Eating Rome: Living the Good Life in the Eternal City by Elizabeth Minchilli
- Hungry: What Eighty Ravenous Guys Taught Me about Life, Love and the Power of Good Food by Darlene Barnes
Click on the Top Ten Tuesday badge or link below to check out other book bloggers’ foodie favorites.
Today’s Top Ten Tuesday Link-Up hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
If you haven’t read M.F.K. Fisher’s The Art of Eating, you’re in for a treat!
I cut myself off before saying that I haven’t read Colwin’s Home Cooking and it sounds like she does some of what I like in Fisher and Reichl’s books.
Home Cooking and From Scratch sounds like they’d be quite useful, indeed.
My post .
I enjoyed Bourdain’s travel shows but I’ve never read any of his books. I’m sure they are awesome on audio.
The two I listened to were!
Julia & Julia sounds interesting.
Here’s my TTT post.
You and I both focused on food-related memoirs, but I centered on memoirs of people learning to cook/bake. I haven’t read Blue Plate Special or Memoir of the Sunday Brunch and these both look interesting.
Blood, Bones, and Butter was great, too, and would fit in with your list!
I listened to it when it was new and liked it. I didn’t like the author’s next book as much, and I can’t remember if I ever watched the movie based on This one!
Ruth Reichl is really good at inspiring hunger. I read another one of her books and it made me so hungry!
I like books and food- a good combination. 🙂
Guess what? You did make me hungry!
I have also read Tender at the Bone, Julie & Julia, and Blood, Bones & Butter (on audio) and enjoyed them all. Two other favorite food memoirs are Gumbo Tales by Sara Roahen and Trail of Crumbs by Kim Sunee – both have to do (at least in part) with New Orleans, where we used ti live and my favorite food city!
You’ve got a lot of other choices on your list I hadn’t read yet, so thanks for the tips!
Sue
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