Reading Recommendations: Flavorful Reads
As Thanksgiving and the Holiday Season are on the horizon, one thing that comes to mind is food. I always associate this time of the year with indulging in good food and celebrating with friends and family. Food is such a source of comfort plus it also holds memories for me. This month’s recommendation list is books centered around food. Enjoy!
Synopsis: From fantasy author Sam Sykes (Aeons’ Gate) comes a story about budding chef Brianna Jakobsson, who’s trying to impress her father but whose best—and only—customers are monsters. Brianna has big dreams of starting her own restaurant. When her ailing father, a celebrity restaurant magnate, poses a challenge to his only daughter and 15 sons, she sets out to create the best restaurant around! Thing is, the only city she can afford to set up shop in is Monster City.
I liked the plot of a woman who wants to gain more confidence in her cooking as well as her own self. Brianna is shy and anxious, but cooking is what she’s most passionate about. She learns how experiment with new recipes for her monster counterparts and it challenges her to be a better cook. The artwork is colorful and bright and matches the story’s overall light tone. I’m looking forward to reading more and exploring Brianna’s baking adventures in Monster City.
Synopsis: Aubrey Choi loves living in her small town nestled in the foothills of California, running her highly successful bakery away from the watch of her strict Korean parents. When a cake mix-up and a harsh review threaten all of her hard work and her livelihood, she never thought the jaded food critic would turn out to be her one-night stand. And she sure as hell never thought she’d see her gorgeous Korean unicorn again. But when Landon Kim waltzes into her bakery trying to clean up the mess he had a huge hand in making, Aubrey is torn between throwing and hearing him out.
When she hears his plan to help save her business, Aubrey knows that spending three weeks in California wine country working with Landon is a sure recipe for disaster. Her head is telling her to take the chance to save her bakery while her heart—and her hormones—are at war on whether to give him a second chance. And it just so happens that Landon’s meddling friends want them to spend those three weeks as close as possible…by sharing a villa.
A Sweet Mess follows the story of Audrey Choi who is owns a bakery called Comfort Zone. Audrey is a fiery main character who is confident in her cooking skills. She knows she’s a good baker and is determined to prove to others that Comfort Zone is full of tasty treats. I admired her spontaneous nature and her inquisitive nature of trying new food combos in the kitchen. Not only is this is a romance novel but it’s also about the power of food. (Review)
Synopsis: Lucy Knisley loves food. The daughter of a chef and a gourmet, this talented young cartoonist comes by her obsession honestly. In her forthright, thoughtful, and funny memoir, Lucy traces key episodes in her life thus far, framed by what she was eating at the time and lessons learned about food, cooking, and life. Each chapter is bookended with an illustrated recipe—many of them treasured family dishes, and a few of them Lucy’s original inventions.
Relish is a charming comic about a woman’s food experiences and how they shaped her childhood and overall life. Her drawing style is cute, the narrative is easy to follow, and I loved the usage of vivid colors as well as the delicious food that was depicted. The book is a fairly easy read and each chapter is centered around a certain part or event in Lucy’s life followed by a recipe of a food she mentions in that chapter. I love reading about Lucy’s food experiences and how it changed her as a person and a cook. Each story made me smile and laugh and I could definitely agree that food is connected/shapes one’s memory.
Synopsis:
Sadie has the perfect plan to snag some friends when she transfers to Plainfield High—pretend to have a peanut allergy. But what happens when you have to hand in that student health form your unsuspecting mom was supposed to fill out? And what if your new friends want to come over and your mom serves them snacks? (Peanut butter sandwich, anyone?) And then there’s the bake sale, when your teacher thinks you ate a brownie with peanuts.
Peanut is a unique, but relatable graphic novel that is a very enjoyable read. Our main character is Sadie, who has just moved to a new town and is having trouble making friends and fitting in at her new high school. The solution? Fake a peanut allergy. At first everything goes smoothly, but soon it becomes harder and harder to cover up the lies she made and eventually she faces some repercussions. I felt that this graphic novel was so relevant not only to a YA audience, but reaches out to all readers.(Review)
Synopsis:At the news of her mother’s death, Natalie Tan returns home. The two women hadn’t spoken since Natalie left in anger seven years ago, when her mother refused to support her chosen career as a chef. Natalie is shocked to discover the vibrant neighborhood of San Francisco’s Chinatown that she remembers from her childhood is fading, with businesses failing and families moving out. She’s even more surprised to learn she has inherited her grandmother’s restaurant.
The neighborhood seer reads the restaurant’s fortune in the leaves: Natalie must cook three recipes from her grandmother’s cookbook to aid her struggling neighbors before the restaurant will succeed. Unfortunately, Natalie has no desire to help them try to turn things around–she resents the local shopkeepers for leaving her alone to take care of her agoraphobic mother when she was growing up. But with the support of a surprising new friend and a budding romance, Natalie starts to realize that maybe her neighbors really have been there for her all along.
Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune follows a young woman named Natalie who returns home to Chinatown in San Francisco after her mother’s death. Natalie is given her mother grandmother’s recipe book which happens to have some sort of special magical powers (magical realism of some sort) and she has to fulfill a prophecy of helping three of the neighboring businesses and her community in order to have a successful restaurant and to rebuild her neighborhood.
I love all of the recipes featured and the mouth watering food descriptions. Everything sounds so good!! I enjoyed the concept of Lao Lao’s (Natalie’s grandmother) recipes which are not are not only traditional but magical as well. They serve a purpose to help others solve problems, mend relationships, and helps the community to reunite once again.(Review)
hard-working middle-aged gay couple in Tokyo come to enjoy the finer moments of life through food. After long days at work, either in the law firm or the hair salon, Shiro and Kenji will always have down time together by the dinner table, where they can discuss their troubles, hash out their feelings and enjoy delicately prepared home cooked meals!
What Did You Eat Yesterday? is a slice of life manga about a couple (a hairstylist and a lawyer) who navigate daily life in Japan while relishing gourmet meals at night. There a variety of recipes featured in each book which are delicious and easy to follow! While the book focuses on the couple’s love for food, it also shows one perspective of what LGBT life is like in Japan. It’s a moderately paced story and I enjoyed seeing how Shiro and Kenji interact with each other, work through their arguments, and their work/family life.
Do you have any reading recommendations for books centered around food? Leave your book picks in the comment section below?
It’s an oldie but a goodie, Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate. I still think of that novel when I’m cooking sometimes and it’s been SO long since I read it. Actually, it might be the first time I remember reading books with real recipes in them. As a side-note, I love the idea of a bakery called Comfort Zone: yes, please. (The story sounds like fun too.)
Isn’t Comfort Zone such a catchy name for a bakery? I wish it was real! I remember seeing “Water” a couple of times, but it sounds like a novel I should check out. I love to read books with food recipes.