The best cookbooks of 2020 by the experts

Who knows cookbooks better than the owners of specialist cookbook stores? They stock and sell thousands of cookbooks and because their stores are focused on food and drink books, they are true experts. They read the books, cook from them and then share their knowledge with their customers. When shopping for cookbook gifts this holiday season, please think about supporting one of these stores – don’t forget most of them also do online orders and many offer gift certificates.

We asked for favorite cookbooks of 2020 lists from the cookbook stores that feature in our directory. Some of the books listed were published in 2019 in their country of origin but in 2020 in the bookstore’s country. All these lists will be included in our Best of the Best list, which is being unveiled shortly.

USA

Omnivore Books (San Francisco) – owner Celia Sack 

• Baking at the 20th Century Cafe by Michelle Polzine
• Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz
• East by Meera Sodha
• Falastin by Sami Tamimi & Tara Wigley
• A Good Bake by Melissa Weller
• In Bibi’s Kitchen by Hawa Hassan & Julia Turshen
• Ottolenghi Flavor by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage & Tara Wigley
• Parwana by Durkhanai Ayubi
• Red Sands by Caroline Eden
• The Rise by Marcus Samuelsson

Kitchen Arts & Letters (New York) – owner Matt Sartwell

• Parwana by Durkhanai Ayubi
• The Man Who Ate Too Much by John Birdsall
• Beverages of Oaxaca by Salvador Cueva and Ricardo Bonilla
• Red Sands by Caroline Eden
• In Bibi’s Kitchen by Hawa Hassan & Julia Turshen
• Proceedings from The First Annual Wild & Seedling Pomological Exhibition edited by Matt Kaminsky
• The Chicken Soup Manifesto by Jenn Louis
• Nose Dive by Harold McGee
• Blood, with Recipes by Jennifer McLagan
• The Flavor Equation by Nik Sharma

Book Larder (Seattle) – owner Lara Hamilton

• Vegetable Kingdom by Bryant Terry
• In Bibi’s Kitchen by Hawa Hassan and Julia Turshen
• East by Meera Sodha
• Summer Kitchens by Olia Hercules
• The Flavor Equation by Nik Sharma
• Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi
• Parwana by Durkhanai Ayubi
• Red Sands by Caroline Eden
• 100 Cookies by Sarah Kieffer
• Drinking French by David Lebovitz

Powell’s City of Books (Portland) – cookbook buyer Tracey T.

• The Rise by Marcus Samuelsson
• The Flavor Equation by Nik Sharma
• In Bibi’s Kitchen by Hawa Hassan & Julia Turshen
• Ottolenghi Flavor by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage & Tara Wigley
• Milk Street Cookish by Christopher Kimball
• Local Dirt by Andrea Bemis
• Chaat by Maneet Chauhan
• Bread of the Resistance by Tessalyn Morrison
• Eat a Peach by David Chang
• The Chicken Soup Manifesto by Jenn Louis

Read It and Eat (Chicago) – owner Esther Dairiam

• East by Meera Sodha
• Ottolenghi Flavor by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage & Tara Wigley
• In Bibi’s Kitchen by Hawa Hassan & Julia Turshen
• The Flavor Equation by Nik Sharma
• Falastin by Sami Tamimi & Tara Wigley
• Parwana by Durkhanai Ayubi
• The Rise by Marcus Samuelsson
• Mosquito Supper Club by Melissa M. Martin
• Red Sands by Caroline Eden
• A Good Bake by Melissa Weller

Now Serving (Los Angeles) – owner Ken Concepcion

• The Flavor Equation by Nik Sharma
• Mosquito Supper Club by Melissa M. Martin
• The Pie Room by Calum Franklin
• Vegetable Kingdom by Bryant Terry
• New World Sourdough by Bryan Ford
• Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger by Lisa Donovan
• Xi’an Famous Foods by Jason Wang
• Baking at the 20th Century Cafe by Michelle Polzine
• Parwana by Durkhanai Ayubi
• In Bibi’s Kitchen by Hawa Hassan & Julia Turshen

Bold Fork Books (Washington DC) – owner Clementine Thomas

• In Bibi’s Kitchen by Hawa Hassan & Julia Turshen
• The Flavor Equation by Nik Sharma
• Parwana by Durkhanai Ayubi
• Beyond the North Wind by Darra Goldstein
• Mosquito Supper Club by Melissa M. Martin
• La Buvette by Camille Fourmont
• Baking at the 20th Century Cafe by Michelle Polzine
• Good Drinks by Julia Bainbridge
• Vegetable Kingdom by Bryant Terry
• Xi’an Famous Foods by Jason Wang

CANADA

Appetite for Books (Montreal) – Jonathan Cheung

• Chez Lesley by Lesley Chesterman
• The Flavor Equation by Nik Sharma
• Diala’s Kitchen by Diala Canelo
• Eat Something by Evan Bloom
• Red Sands by Caroline Eden
• Xi’an Famous Foods by Jason Wang
• The Outdoor Kitchen by Eric Werner
• Vegetable Kingdom by Bryant Terry
• Kiin by Nuit Regular
• Dishoom by Shamil Thakrar

UNITED KINGDOM

Sadly no lists submitted.

EUROPE

De Kookboekhandel (Netherlands) – owner Jonah Freud

• Inmaken: Groente, Fruit, Diversen by Jonah Freud
• In Bibi’s Kitchen by Hawa Hassan and Julia Turshen
• Veggies & Fish: Ruim 80 Visrecepten Met Groente in de Hoofdrol by Bart Van Olphen
• Dutch Pastry by Jonah Freud
• Pardiz: A Persian Food Journey by Manuela Darling-Gansser
• Azië: 120 Vega(n) Recepten van Bangalore tot Beijing by Meera Sodha
• Comfort Food: Met Groente by Welmoed Bezoen
• Crisis Koken by Mara Grimm
• De Bijbel van de Nederlandse Keuken: Van Zeeuwse Bolus tot Polderkreeftjessoep en van Knolselderijsteak tot Hachee by Janneke Vreugdenhil
• De Snelle Bakplaat: 75 Makkelijke Recepten uit de Oven by Rukmini Iyer

Cook + Book (Netherlands) – owner Riejanne Schimmel

• Slow (Winter) by Louise Franc
• 7xAnders (7 Ways) by Jamie Oliver
• Bijzonder simpel (Nothing Fancy) by Alison Roman
• Een boek over brood (Dutch only – A book about bread) by
• Home Made Basics by Yvette van Boven
• Simply by Sabrina Ghayour
• Koken, eten, leven (Cook. Eat. Repeat) by Nigella Lawson
• Bersama by Francis Kuijk
• Spicy Chef by Soenil Bahadoer
• Amazing Asia by Emma de Thouars

Goldhahn und Sampson (Berlin) – co-owner Andreas Klöckner

• Ottolenghi Flavour by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage & Tara Wigley
• Asien Vegetarisch (East) by Meera Sodha
• The Roasting Tin Around The World by Rukmini Iyer
• Kochen wie in Japan by Kaoru Iriyama
• On the Hummus Route by Ariel Rosenthal & Orly Peli-Bronshtein
• Palästina (Falastin) by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley
• Einfach Vegan genießen by Brit Morbitzer
• St. John (The Book of St. John) by Fergus Henderson & Trevor Gulliver
• Tokyo, ein japanisches Kochbuch (Tokyo Stories: A Japanese Cookbook) by Tim Anderson
• The Whole Chicken by Carl Clarke

AUSTRALIA

Scrumptious Reads (Brisbane) – owner Julie Tjiandra

• Falastin by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley
• Ottolenghi Flavour by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage & Tara Wigley
• Fool #8
• The Art of Escapism Cooking by Mandy Lee
• To Asia, With Love by Hetty McKinnon
• Simply by Sabrina Ghayour
• A Year of Simple Family Food by Julie Busuttil Nishimura
• Beatrix Bakes by Natalie Paull
• The Art and Science of Food Pairing
• Fäviken 2020 by Magnus Nilsson

NEW ZEALAND

Cook the Books (Auckland) – owner Felicity O’Driscoll

• Old World Italian by Mimi Thorisson
• Ottolenghi Flavour by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage & Tara Wigley
• Parwana by Durkhanai Ayubi
• The Flavor Equation by Nik Sharma
• Always Add Lemon by Danielle Alvarez
• Beatrix Bakes by Natalie Paull
• Stuck Together by Sarah Tuck
• To Asia, With Love by Hetty McKinnon
• Simply by Sabrina Ghayour
• Africola by Duncan Welgemoed