So many good books! These are my favorite food books of 2024, and a special food-related bonus favorite too.
As we near the conclusion of 2024, I’ve been reflecting on the cookbooks, food memoirs, food fiction and other books I consumed this year. It’s been a year of deep reading. I’ve returned to old favorites like The Gastronomical Me by MFK Fisher and Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl, and had the pleasure of introducing these to new audiences too. And I’ve caught up on some older food books that I hadn’t read yet. But when I started to think about this list, I wanted to focus only on what’s new this year.
These four books (plus a bonus item!) were my favorites food books of 2024. I hope you find something to love too.
Down East Delicious by Sandra Oliver
Longtime newspaper columnist and food historian Sandra Oliver was among the writers I inherited as an editor when I arrived at the Bangor Daily News in 2014. She was also among the most gracious and easy to work with. As demands of the business changed, she was willing to take advice and direction as we continued her good work writing about the real dishes Maine home cooks were making.
Down East Delicious compiles 175 of those recipes from her delightful column into a fascinating volume that both shares foods and stories of cooking in Maine. It’s a lovely glimpse into food from the Pine Tree State.
Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
As I was learning to cook, Ina Garten was in the kitchen with me in the form of Barefoot Contessa At Home. I’d already started writing Sarah’s Cucina Bella by then, chronicling what I did know about food while I learned so much more. Her easy to make recipes helped me learn so much about cooking, and develop a confidence that allowed me to branch out as I developed recipes too.
When I heard Ina had a memoir coming, it rose to the top of my to-read list. And honestly, it exceeded all expectations. I’ve known modern, confident, capable Ina Garten all of my cooking life. But to learn more about Ina before the Barefoot Contessa is to see the curtain pulled back and a whole person form. She’s smart, fascinating and has overcome a lot to be who and where she is. I devoured Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten in two days.
The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl
Ruth Reichl is among my favorite New York Times restaurant reviewers of all time, which is to say she’s in the top two — right up there with Mimi Sheraton. As the editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, she brought the tome into the modern era and created a beautiful, exquisite magazine that made me want to travel the world. She’s written several memoirs, but The Paris Novel is her first work of fiction, and it’s lovely. It’s a story of food, art and fashion set in the 1980s, but it’s also a story of relationships, trauma and finding oneself.
This happened to come out just as I was teaching food writing last spring, in which my class read Save Me The Plums. The novel is a fictionalized imagining of what could have happened in one scene of the memoir, taking it far beyond the original. It’s a beautiful, graceful, delicious romp that I’ve been recommending it all year.
The Easy 3-Ingredient College Cookbook by Robin Fields
When I spotted this trim cookbook in a college bookstore over the summer, I had to have it. I wanted to see what could be created using three ingredients. After all, I know how challenging it is to create good meals with five ingredients (I literally wrote a book on 5-ingredient recipes!). What happens when you reduce that number even more?
What I found was a good introduction to how to prepare food for yourself. This book uses a lot of packaged ingredients to reach the three ingredient goal. And that’s okay. This is intended for college students, and I am a big fan of meeting people where they are. While my son was well-prepared for scratch cooking in his college dorm kitchen, his friends weren’t. And this is the introductory text they need. The recipes are simple, easy and can build kitchen confidence. Once people are more confident in the kitchen, it’s easy to go onto more scratch cooking, if they desire.
The Kitchen Companion illustrated by Holly Jolley and with text by Jacqueline Raposo
Although this isn’t a book, I do get my copy of this from my favorite bookstore. This 2025-Page-A-Week Calendar is wonderful for folks like me who plan ahead for meals. I fill out the weekly calendar, take notes on what we run out of and read the weekly cooking tip with glee. I’ve used this for years (except last year when I couldn’t find it) and I love it so.
If you’re into meal planning (or want to be), The Kitchen Companion is a great tool to keep on the fridge.