2021 has been great for cookbooks

Each year I wonder how cookbook authors could top the fantastic books they have already written, yet I keep being pleasantly surprised at the quality of cookbooks that are released. Not every volume is a home run, but it is amazing that authors continue to innovate and find fresh takes on a variety of subjects. I own dozens of baking books and you would think that at some point they would become duplicative. However, I am always discovering new ideas and flavor combinations. This year has been another outstanding one in terms of great books, and we have not even arrived at peak cookbook season! Recently I spied an article in the San Francisco Chronicle that tipped me off to more of 2021’s noteworthy books to consider adding to my bookshelves.

Jenny has covered all these in her monthly cookbook reviews, but Janelle Bitker and Soleil Ho dive a bit deeper into some of these volumes, which include The Arabesque Table: Contemporary Recipes From the Arab World by Reem Kassis, At Home in the Kitchen: Simple Recipes From a Chef’s Night Off by David Kinch with Devin Fuller. Bress ’n’ Nyam: Gullah Geechee Recipes From a Sixth-Generation Farmer, and Colombiana: A Rediscovery of Recipes & Rituals From the Soul of Colombia by Mariana Velásquez – for more information on this book see our blurb in the June 2021 New Cookbook Review.

Bress n’ Nyam is described as a “groundbreaking and unusually personal” cookbook that features stories from the family farm of chef Matthew Raiford. The book covers an area of the U.S. that doesn’t get as much attention as others, the coastal South. Even if you do not know much about Colombian food, you have probably seen the work of Colombiana’s author Mariana Velásquez, who has worked as a food stylist and recipe developer on more than 20 cookbooks, including two James Beard Awards winners. Colombiana is touted as the first major US cookbook dedicated to that country’s food. The Arabesque Table features historical and cultural context in the headnotes to each recipe, making each one a pleasure to read.

Read more about these books, plus four others (Mother Grains: Recipes for the Grain Revolution by Roxana Jullapat, Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ by Rodney Scott and Lolis Eric Elie see: promo and recipes, To Asia, With Love by Hetty McKinnon, and Cook Real Hawai’i by Sheldon Simeon and Garrett Snyder) at The San Francisco Chronicle website (possible paywall). You’ll also find a recipe from To Asia, With Love.

Note: We are working on promotions for At Home in the Kitchen To Asia, With Love and Cook Real Hawai’i but for now our EYBD previews share a look inside and recipes to try now.