Bookshelf

Recommended Reading

Everyone who knows me knows: I read a lot, and I am a compulsive list maker. One of my favorite tasks when I was in graduate school, then later as I began to teach, was compiling bibliographies. Maybe in another life I was a librarian.

On this page you’ll discover lists of books that I find myself reaching for again and again; I recommend them all highly. The lists are meant to be fairly selective and personal. Everything you see here is based on my own reading experience, so if I haven’t read it yet, it isn’t here. Another thing that isn’t here: endorsements “under the influence” (i.e., paid or solicited recommendations; see the bottom of the page for my nod to the FTC).

Okay, the books. Seek them out in your local independent bookstore—they need your support and appreciate you as a customer more than any chain or online monopoly (you know who I mean) could ever do! May you find these titles as useful and enjoyable as I do.

Greek Cookbooks

• Adventures in Greek Cookery, Stella Kopulos and Dorothy P. Jones (Thomas Y. Crowell, 1966, 1972)
• The Food and Wine of Greece, Diane Kochilas (St. Martin’s, 1990)
• Greek Cooking for the Gods, Eva Zane (101 Productions, 1970, 1989)
• How to Roast a Lamb, Michael Psilakis (Little, Brown, 2009)
• Modern Greek: 170 Contemporary Recipes from the Mediterranean, Andy Harris (Chronicle, 2002)
• The Regional Cuisines of Greece, by the Recipe Club of St. Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church (Doubleday, 1981)
• Vefa’s Kitchen, by Vefa Alexiadou (Phaidon, 2009)

Other International, Regional, and Specialty Cookbooks

• 3 Bowls: Vegetarian Recipes from an American Zen Buddhist Monastery, Seppo Ed Farrey with Myochi Nancy O’Hara (Houghton Mifflin, 2000)
• Around the Southern Table: Innovative Recipes Celebrating 300 Years of Eating and Drinking, Sarah Belk (Simon & Schuster, 1991)
• Italy, a Culinary Journey: Classic Recipes from the Regions of Italy, produced by Weldon Owen (Collins Publishers, 1991)
• The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe’s Western Coast, David Leite (Clarkson Potter, 2009)

Cookbooks from Restaurants

• Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Mark Bittman (Broadway Books, 1998)
• Staff Meals from Chanterelle, David Waltuck and Melicia Phillips (Workman, 2000)

Baking/Dessert Cookbooks

• The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum (William Morrow, 1988)
• La Dolce Vita, Michele Scicolone (William Morrow, 1993)
• Lee Bailey’s Country Desserts, Lee Bailey (Clarkson Potter, 1988)
• The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern, Claudia Fleming with Melissa Clark (Random House, 2001)
• Stars Desserts, Emily Luchetti (Harper Collins, 1991)

General Cookbooks, Kitchen Reference, and Culinary Science

• BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking, Shirley O. Corriher (Scribner, 2008)
• The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer, et al.
• The Kitchen Companion: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking and the Kitchen, Polly Clingerman (American Cooking Guild, 1994)

Culinary History

• An Edible History of Humanity, Tom Standage (Walker, 2009)
• Moveable Feasts, Sarah Murray (Picador, 2008)
• Spice: The History of a Temptation, Jack Turner (Knopf, 2004)

Culinary Memoir, Essays, and Fiction

• Alone in the Kitchen With an Eggplant: Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone, edited by Jenni Ferrari-Adler (Riverhead, 2007)
• A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, Molly Wizenberg (Simon & Schuster, 2009)
• Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, Anthony Bourdain (Bloomsbury, 2000)
• The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten (Knopf, 1997)

Food Writing (Professional Reference)

• The Recipe Writer’s Handbook, Barbara Gibbs Ostmann and Jane L. Baker (Wiley, 2001)
• Will Write for Food, Dianne Jacob (Da Capo, 2005)

The Fine Print: In deference to the Federal Trade Commission, readers should know that I receive no benefit whatsoever from recommendations. Books are not sent to me for review, nor have I been paid or in any way encouraged by authors or publishers to include books on the list. This is another thing people who know me know: my good opinion can’t be bought.