Our Favorite Books of 2022
Dec 08, 2022
As 2022 draws to a close we’re happy to share this list of our favorite food and drink books from the year.
We don’t rank them because, as KAL founder Nach Waxman used to say, that would be like ranking your children.
But each of us has chosen five titles that we think are exciting and worthwhile, that take a fresh approach or cover territory that has been previously overlooked. Our hats are off to authors who wrote something distinctive enough to charm a crew of booksellers who see a lot of books every twelve months.
Choosing just a few is wrenching. Every one of us wanted to list more books. But we held back because making a list like this is supposed to help our customers narrow their choices down.
If you wonder who each of these people making recommendations are, you can read short bios on the About Us page.
Matt Sartwell breaks the rules and choses more than five books. No excuses made except that he likes books. He chooses:
The Cook You Want to Be by Andy Baraghani
Delectable by Claudia Fleming
Food52 Simply Genius by Kristen Miglore
Gateau by Aleksandra Crapanzano
Korean American by Eric Kim
The Kingdom of Rye by Darra Goldstein
Menu No. 2 by Brian Voll
The Miracle of Salt by Naomi Duguid
Gil Calderon likes:
Mezcla by Ixta Belfrage
Rambutan by Cynthia Shanmugalingam
Shichimi Food Magazine #1 by Kaoru Mitsui
Tamu by Bryan Koh
Why Cook by Archana Pidathala
Laura Jackson likes:
Motherland by Melissa Thompson
Queer Earth Food, Clare Lagomarsino, editor
Tanya Holland’s California Soul by Tanya Holland
Vegan Chinese Kitchen by Hannah Che
Via Carota by Jody Williams and Rita Sodi
Chris Fry likes:
The Food of the Singapore Malays by Khir Johari
Koks: Faroe Islands Flavour by Poul Andrias Ziska and Tim Ecott
Modern Classic Cocktails by Robert Simonson
The Rancho Gordo Vegetarian Kitchen, Volume 2 by Steve Sando and Julia Newberry (but he asked us to include Volume 1 as well)
Salad Freak by Jess Damuck
Natalie Stroud likes:
The Best American Food Writing 2022 edited by Sohla El-Waylly
Cook as You Are by Ruby Tandoh
Diasporican by Illyanna Maisonet
I Dream of Dinner So You Don’t Have To by Ali Slagle
New European Baking by Laurel Kratochvila
1 comment
This is probably silly and certainly unnecessary, but I was in the store recently and in my fog forgot to mention to anyone how much I enjoy all your newsletters. I’d love it if each person left a little comment on, say, one of his/her/their choices, an explanation of its particular appeal.