Tasty New and Upcoming Nonfiction for Foodies

Alton Brown, host of foodie TV shows like Good Eats and Cutthroat Kitchen, has amassed a cult following thanks to his culinary talent, scientific and historical approach to food, and endless curiosity about flavor. In his new essay collection Food for Thought, you’ll find Brown’s signature blend of quirky humor, educational storytelling, and personal memories. Brown tackles a wide variety of topics, from his grandmother’s legendary biscuits to why he no longer eats octopus to his real thoughts on the current state of Food Network. If you enjoy Alton Brown’s unique approach to food, you’ll love how his unimitable voice comes through the essays in Food for Thought.

If you’re looking for exquisite food writing that explores how flavors shape our memories and interactions with the world, look no further than poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil. The short personal essays in Bite by Bite are each inspired by a different food, including fresh produce like watermelon and mango, flavorful ingredients like vanilla and pecans, and the author’s family favorites like lumpia and halo-halo. The way Nezhukumatathil combines food facts and history with her own personal memories draws you in from the first essay, and the beautiful illustrations by Fumi Nakamura make you want to sit with each food a little longer.

Throughout her childhood, Bonny Reichert’s Polish immigrant father mostly protected his sensitive daughter from his harrowing memories of surviving the Holocaust. But he still found a way to instill his culture and memories through their shared love of food. A satisfying bowl of borscht eaten while visiting Warsaw inspired Reichert to finally learn her father’s history and explore the foods that shaped generations of her family, ultimately inspiring her to become a chef. How to Share an Egg is a moving reflection on how food shapes our memories and allows us to pass them on to the next generation.

The world of fine dining seems glamorous from the outside, full of celebrity chefs, exotic ingredients, and elegant wines. But behind the scenes, even the most seemingly flawless restaurants are full of bad behavior from both customers and staff. Hannah Selinger spent a decade moving up the service industry ranks, from her humble hometown pub to working as a sommelier at a legendary restaurant in the Hamptons. In her dishy tell-all memoir Cellar Rat, Selinger reveals the highs and lows of her restaurant career, from meeting world-famous food influencers to facing crushing sexism and abuses of power. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s really like working at elite restaurants, Cellar Rat is a must-read insider account.

Asian flavors have often been at the center of some of the biggest culinary trends in the U.S. Things like boba tea, gochujang, matcha, and ube that have long been popular in Asian cuisines have been introduced to American foodies in recent years as if they’re brand new. In Eating More Asian America, a follow-up to the 2013 anthology Eating Asian America, 21 writers investigate the ways Asian flavors and dishes have made their way into American culture, and how their rising popularity intersects with the lived experiences of Asian Americans. From the politics of bibingka to learning culture through cookbooks as a transracial adoptee, Eating More Asian America is a multifaceted exploration of Asian American culture and food that transcends borders.

Oranges are one of the most consistently popular and widely available fruits across the globe. That makes it easy to forget that at one point in history, they were considered a luxury indulgence reserved for kings and emperors. In Foreign Fruit, Katie Goh traces the history of the orange from rare curiosity to culinary staple. Additionally, Goh investigates her family history and queer identity through the lens of the orange, unpeeling and segmenting out her experiences growing up in Northern Ireland in a Chinese-Malaysian-Irish household. With historical, sociological, and personal reflections on the orange, Foreign Fruit is foodie nonfiction at its best.

War changes everything about how people live, work, create art, and, of course, how they eat. In The Last Sweet Bite, human rights investigator Michael Shaikh shows how war changes the food and cooking of people in conflict zones, as well as how war endangers culinary heritage. With research into the history of food migration, Shaikh’s personal travels through war zones, and conversations with activists feeding those impacted by violence and working to save diasporic cuisines, it’s a fascinating book showcasing what food can teach us about war, genocide, and human rights.