5 Books for Food Lovers
There is an indescribable joy found in food. For something that could easily be regarded as a mundanity, along with other day-to-day tasks and demands, it has the power to lift your mood and transform your day. Personally, when I’m feeling low or find myself in a creative rut, putting the extra effort into a meal can be life-affirming - good food makes anything feel possible.
But it’s not just the eating of food that excites me. Ever since I was a child, I have been obsessed with cookbooks. From there has grown a deep appreciation of food writing. I believe this is because food is inextricably bound with storytelling. Behind every meal is a story, and behind every story lies family and cultural history, the magnitude of human ingenuity, our universal longing for rituals that draw us together, and our desire to communicate love and care through the simple act of cooking a meal.
I’m fascinated by food writing. When written well, it communicates this inherent magic of food. It not only whets my appetite but soothes my soul.
My favourite books about food are ones that delve deep into this narrative. But food writing also spans numerous genres, like an eclectic smorgasbord of tantalising tastes and tales.
Listed below are 5 very different novels that will enchant any food connoisseur.
Midnight Chicken by Ella Risbridger
‘Recipes that reveal the life-changing happiness of cooking’.
At first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking Midnight Chicken is just a cookbook. While it is packed full of delicious and easy-to-make recipes, upon reading the stories behind each dish, you’ll realise it’s so much more than a collection of meals.
The book begins by describing a time in Risbridger’s life when the world had become overwhelming. ‘One night she found herself lying on her kitchen floor, wondering if she would ever get up - and it was the thought of a chicken, of roasting it, and of eating it, that got her to her feet, and made her want to be alive.’
Midnight Chicken is a tender ‘manifesto of moments worth living for’. It is food writing which so accurately captures the cathartic power of cooking and its ability to guide us gently back into the world. It’s hard not to feel inspired or deeply moved when reading Midnight Chicken - it made me tear up multiple times! If there’s any cookbook you must have on your shelf, Midnight Chicken is it.
Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler
Sweetbitter is a coming of age novel set against the backdrop of a fine-dining restaurant in downtown Manhattan where the protagonist, twenty-two-year-old Tess, lands a grueling job as a ‘backwater’. What follows is the story of her education: ‘in champagne and cocaine, love and lust, dive bars and fine dining rooms, as she learns to navigate the chaotic, enchanting, punishing life she has chosen.’
Sweetbitter is a juicy, guilty pleasure read and can be easily devoured in one sitting. Having worked in the industry, Danler’s depiction of the nonstop and high-adrenaline world of the restaurant industry will resonate with many who work in food service. Accompanied by mouth-watering descriptions of food and wine, Sweetbitter is an indulgence in every sense of the term.
Eat Up! by Ruby Tandoh
Ruby Tandoh is a phenomenal writer and cook, so it’s no surprise that Eat Up! Is an absolute joy to read. It’s a masterclass in food writing and a fascinating inquisition into the role of food in our everyday lives and its representation in popular culture.
Tandoh is straight-talking when addressing the harm of fad diets and instead invites us to embrace food in all its forms, including the many delicious recipes peppered throughout. Eat Up! Is a celebration of appetite, cooking, and eating to feed the soul – I can guarantee your stomach will be grumbling the whole way through!
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
This one is for the chocoholics, the gourmands, cookbook readers, and lovers of passion everywhere.
‘In tiny Lansquenet, where nothing much has changed in a hundred years, beautiful newcomer Vianne Rocher and her exquisite chocolate shop arrive and instantly begin to play havoc with Lenten vows. Each box of luscious bonbons comes with a gift: Vianne's uncanny perception of its buyer's private discontents and a clever, caring cure for them. Is she a witch? Soon the parish no longer cares, as it abandons itself to temptation, happiness, and a dramatic face-off between Easter solemnity and the pagan gaiety of a chocolate festival.’
I remember the first time I read Chocolat in my early teens - I wished so hard to one day open my own chocolate shop, and I’m sure it had a similar effect on many of the hundreds of thousands of other readers around the world. The descriptions of Vianne’s beautiful shop and treats will melt in your mouth, and the touch of magic realism will whisk you away into a fantasy. Scrumptious and sumptuous, Chocolat is a delight for the senses.
A Tiger in the Kitchen by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan is a thirtysomething fashion writer in New York who feels the Singaporean dishes that defined her childhood calling her back after she left home more than a decade earlier. So begins Tan’s attempts to learn the secrets of her grandmothers' and aunties’ kitchens and recreate the dishes of her native Singapore. With the help of her family, Tan not only rediscovers her national cuisine, but she also uncovers long-buried stories of past generations.
A Tiger in the Kitchen is a poignant memoir that explores the power of food and is an expression of how food ties us to those we love, helping us to reconnect with ourselves in the process.
