14 Best Cookbooks To Read And Use In 2023

Cookbooks are enormously creative projects. From recipe development to food styling, photography to copywriting, multiple professionals are usually responsible for a cookbook reaching completion. Frankie Gaw, the man behind the popular blog Little Fat Boy, had greater creative control of his debut book, "First Generation," than most. 

Gaw not only developed the recipes, but he also photographed the food himself and wrote the copy. He highlighted this feat to Today: "I wanted to shoot my own photography, and it was both a time and storytelling challenge. I wanted to push myself, so I started experimenting with visuals and things started changing a bit, and taking shape with the writing, too. It needed to be a quick bite of storytelling and I don't consider myself much of a writer, but I wanted to be vulnerable."

Vulnerability defines "First Generation," a cookbook published in October 2022. The book is extremely personal and recounts many of Gaw's experiences growing up. Aside from exquisite storytelling — both written and visual — "First Generation" also provides readers with a wealth of knowledge concerning Asian American food and cooking. Brilliant recipes, like the Honey-Mustard Glazed Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken, offer a delicious entry point into Asian American cuisine.

Prominent food writer Riaz Phillips released his cookbook "West Winds" in the U.S. in August 2022. Aside from a love of Jamaican food, Phillips was driven to write "West Winds" to ensure Caribbean cuisine was getting the respect it deserved elsewhere in the world. 

The cookbook author highlighted this motivation to National Geographic: "Sometimes I feel Caribbean food is seen as a bit of a gimmick. In discussions on food trends in Europe and U.S., Caribbean food is often omitted; it's only ever really talked about in the summer around Notting Hill Carnival, or sometimes during Black History Month, when in reality it's just as much a part of those conversations as food from anywhere else in the world. Things like nose-to-tail cooking, fermentation and preservation, farm-to-table, raw foods and even veganism are discussed in West Winds, and I laid out the chapters in a way that tries to insert food from Jamaica into those discussions where I think they rightly belong."

Phillips believes that all too often, Jamaican food is perceived through too narrow a lens. He told The Infatuation that a handful of Jamaican dishes such as rice and peas, saltfish, and jerk chicken are the ones most talked about. While a part of the country's cuisine, these recipes are by no means the extent of it. There are many more delicious dishes worth learning about, trying, and cooking. "West Wind" is a fantastic and delicious book to kickstart this education.

"Mezcal" is Ixta Belfrage's first solo cookbook. It was released in the U.S. on September 13, 2022. Many will have already been familiar with Belfrage's name, and for good reason. Not only was she an integral part of chef Yotam Ottolenghi's world-famous Ottolenghi test kitchen. Belfrage also co-authored the celebrated cookbook "Flavour" with Ottolenghi.

This cookbook has established Belfrage in her own right. It's thanks to recipes that successfully blend Italian, Mexican, and Brazilian cuisines. This is no easy task. Fusion cuisine is notoriously difficult to do well. It's considered to be difficult to blend recipes while maintaining integrity and respect for each cuisine.

In her book, Belfrage has created the modern blueprint for respectful fusion cuisine, thanks to her culinary skills and cultural awareness. Belfrage revealed the latter when speaking to Vogue: "When fusion first started in the late 90s, early noughties, people thought it was code for food that was all over the place, without focus, a bit sloppy ... I definitely am of the opinion that the world would be a very boring place if [we] were only allowed to cook from our own cultures. At the same time, there is blatant appropriation when things aren't referenced properly, when you don't cite your inspiration, and when you're just presenting ideas as if it's your own without note." The fact that Belfrage has avoided this pitfall so emphatically makes "Mezcla" a unique triumph.

As a continent composed of 54 countries, Africa is home to numerous cuisines. But in the U.S., few of these cuisines have received the attention they deserve. Chef Hawa Hassan is on a mission to change that with her incredible cookbook "In Bibi's Kitchen: The Recipes and Stories of Grandmothers from the Eight African Countries that Touch the Indian Ocean."

This was a goal Hassan highlighted to Vanity Fair: "I really wanted to have a healthy conversation about my origins, and I wanted to introduce people to the cuisine of the continent of Africa. If I can get to their table, then they'll be interested in the larger picture. For me, the larger picture then became the stories about where I come from — and what better way to do that than through grandmothers and recipes of just one country, but eight countries."

Released in 2020, "In Bibi's Kitchen" then won the International category at the 2022 James Beard Awards. The resurgence in the book's popularity that followed the award is well-deserved. It is time cooks worldwide begin to appreciate African cuisines. The eight highlighted in the pages of "In Bibi's Kitchen" are a fantastic place to start. 

Thanks to her weekly column in The Guardian, Meera Sodha is one of Britain's best-known recipe developers. Her reputation has grown thanks to both her journalistic work and three cookbooks, the most recent of which is "East." Published in the U.S. during the latter part of 2020, "East" marks Sodha's first major foray outside of Indian cuisine.

That being said, the concept of "East" matches that of her other books, which is to champion fresh food and dispel misconceptions about what Asian food is. She explained this notion to Food52 when her first book came out, way back in 2016: "There's a common misconception about Indian food over here. When you think of curry, you think of meat. I wanted to showcase all of the incredible vegetarian food ... The point is, if you go to India, the food is lighter and fresher. There are 500 million vegetarians there. That's real Indian food." 

Interest in Indian, as well as other Asian cuisines, is booming in America. A recent study showed that four out of the top five most searched cuisines by U.S. citizens are from Asia (via Quality Assurance & Food Safety Magazine). With its many healthy, easy-to-make, plant-based meals drawn from a number of Asian cuisines, "East" is the perfect book for home cooks wishing to cook food from this vast continent.

Eric Kim, a food writer for The New York Times, released his debut cookbook "Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home" in March 2022. The book charts the recipes of Kim's life, starting in adolescence with dishes like cheeseburger kimbap and progressing to the likes of salmon glazed with doenjang.

To write the book, Kim spent the best part of a year living at home with his mother Jean. As such, the recipes found within it draw upon her vast knowledge, as well as Kim's own expertise. This coupling is what enabled the book to blend the two cultures so well, as Kim explained to Thrillist: "It's kind of a fun joke — the mom who has been cooking Korean food forever versus the ungrateful, spoiled son who also has a career in food. It ended up being this incredible pairing and just a very clear example of Korean American."

As such an established food writer, it's no surprise that Kim's book reads brilliantly well. The writing is concise and poetic. It also contains nuggets of familial history that give the book a life of its own. Kim's craft allows "Korean American" to be well-suited to those familiar, and unfamiliar, with Korean American food. Passages on pantry staples will open the door to a world of new flavor. Additionally, the intersection of Korean American culture with the American South will undoubtedly reveal surprising flavor combinations.

The U.S. is in the midst of a dietary-induced health crisis. The widespread consumption of processed foods — a cornerstone of the average American diet — is a key driver of this ill health. But just as food is a cause of illness in the country, it can also be a solution. International diets that prioritize the consumption of whole foods have been shown to have enormous health benefits. One of these is the Mediterranean diet.

In "Nistisima," Georgina Hayden highlights some of the healthiest meals in this cuisine. The recipes are drawn from fasting periods of the Orthodox Christian calendar when food groups including meat and dairy are not eaten. The resulting recipes are naturally plant-based. Refreshingly, they do not use meat or dairy substitutes as Hayden explained to The Independent: "Instead of trying to replicate cauliflower cheese and make it something it's not, it's about finding new dishes that have been around for centuries that just happen to be plant-based."

These recipes are not only healthy, but they are also delicious. This fact contributed to "Nistisima" being voted "Best New Cookbook" at the Observer Food Monthly Awards. Consequently, "Nistisima" offers Americans an accessible route to experiencing the healthiest and tastiest facets of Mediterranean cuisine. This is a win-win for a pleasure-seeking society that's struggling to stay healthy.