The best cookbooks of 2014

December 23, 2014 by
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Plenty More 

I think I need to take on an assistant for the Best of the Best list – it keeps getting bigger and bigger.  There are almost 300 lists this year from all around the world.  But from day one of counting the votes, there was only going to be one top book this year – Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi got two and a half times as many votes as the next book. 

One other interesting development was that three of the top 10 books were vegetarian or vegan.  They couldn’t be more different in style – the blockbuster Plenty More, the cool, calm and collected reference book The Vegetarian Flavor Bible and the loud, brash and controversial Thug Kitchen.

Take a look and see if your favorite books of the year are included.  There are charts for the choices of reviewers in the UK & Ireland, Canada, and Australia & New Zealand.  There are also subject charts for Drinks, Vegetarian & vegan, Gluten-free and Paleo, and Memoirs & food writing.

We also have links to the Best of the Best lists from 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009.

Category: Cookbook Lovers

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7 Comments

  • Breadcrumbs  on  December 23, 2014

    I'm so glad you do this every year Jane. I'm an analytics geek so this is always a treat. Interesting trend on the vegetarian front. I only have 4 of the global top 10 with Prune on a Wishlist. I've been buying more UK books this year so it's not a surprise given the US weighting in the results. Other books I've loved this year include Prashad, Made in India, Comptoir Libanais Express, A Modern Way to Eat, Crumb, LEON Fast Vegetarian and Jamie's Comfort Food.

  • Jane  on  December 23, 2014

    I really want to get A Modern Way to Eat – the reviews made me think I'll really like it.

  • darcie_b  on  December 24, 2014

    I appreciate the amazing amount of work that went into compiling this list. My Amazon cart is quite full and I need to do a bit of culling before checkout.

  • Foodycat  on  January 1, 2015

    I only bought 4 new cookbooks in 2014 and only 3 of them were new releases… but Diana Henry's A Change of Appetite is definitely my number 1.

  • Jane  on  January 1, 2015

    Foodycat – that's my number one book too, based on the amount I've cooked from it. Plenty More and Baking Chez Moi are up there too. I haven't cooked from Prune yet but I've loved reading it.

  • Hollythecook  on  January 3, 2015

    Our cookbook club cooked from 'Plenty More'. We had a wonderful evening eating all Ottolenghi's delicious dishes, soooo tasty

  • saladdays  on  January 17, 2015

    I look forward to reading these lists every year. What a monumental task!
    Out of the British/Irish top 10, I already had 'Persiana'. 'A Change of Appetite' and 'Morito'. I was given 'Plenty More' for Christmas and I have since bought 'Honey & Co' for £6.99 from Amazon (ridiculous price!) I have put 'A Modern Way to Eat' on my wishlist.

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