Amazon’s list of 100 best food books

I am a sucker for lists and have been since a very young age. When I was little I used to type up lists of things to do during my summer vacation, banging out a new list nearly every day on my mom’s old manual typewriter. Any time I see a “must-have” list of books to read, foods to eat, or places to visit, I can’t help myself but click through. I was doubly excited today when I saw a tweet from Dorie Greenspan extolling Amazon’s list of 100 books for a lifetime of eating and drinking. A list dedicated to books about food and drinking, including many of my favorite cookbooks of all time? I think I’m in heaven. 

Scrolling through the list I noted the books I would definitely expect to see included on any such list: Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan, Larousse Gastronomique, and Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck. Also unsurprising were entries for M.F.K. Fisher’s The Art of Eating and Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. However, I encountered several books that I did not expect to find, like Polska: New Polish Cooking by Zuza Zak or The Bob’s Burgers Burger Book: Real Recipes for Joke Burgers by Loren Bouchard. The latter especially caught me off guard, although the book does enjoy a high rating by EYB Members who own it. 

Browsing through this list prompted me to think about the books I would choose to represent the best in food and cookery over the past century. Narrowing the choices to a mere 100 would be a daunting task. While I have quibbles with some of the selections on Amazon’s list, I am also certain that people would also disagree with my picks. Despite my quibbles about a few of the items in the list, it was a fun exercise to count how many of the books I had in my library (29). It looks like I might need to hit up the thrift stores this weekend to grab more of these treasures, as I’m sure people have been “Kondoing” their cookbook collections since the beginning of the year.