10 Books That May Change How You Think About Food

Author Benjamin Lorr spent five years researching The Secret Life of Groceries, delving into different aspects of American supermarkets. It took hundreds of interviews with suppliers, employees at stores, marketers, brokers, farmers, entrepreneurs, truckers to understand what it means to run a supermarket and who is behind the scenes doing all the grunt work. This book is a revelation—you won’t just find out how the magic happens, but also get insights into social problems (exploitation of workers and suffering of animals) associated with this everyday abundance we take for granted. Organic foods, big chain stores, certification, safety standards, trucking, and shelving are all covered in this highly informative and important book.

Ruby Tandoh is the runner-up of The Great British Bake-Off. In her 2018 book, she aims to make the readers find joy in their plates. Eat Up is all about the pleasure of eating, celebrating with food, and making memories, as she examines how people eat differently and have their unique relationships with food. Without judgments, she also explores the complexities of food, disorders, diets, poverty, and privilege in this positive and refreshing book.

Nandita Haksar is an Indian human rights lawyer and civil rights activist. Her book, The Flavours of Nationalism, is an exploration of religion, caste, culture, politics, and food. As she takes readers on a personal journey on her own experiences with food in the country and around the world, she analyzes how caste and religion, class and patriarchy, and prejudices are guiding food habits of a divided nation. Beef ban, Hindu nationalistic push for vegetarian food, and vigilante violence over cow slaughter are examined in this book.

essays from the African diaspora from around the world. More than 100 contributors have given a piece of their culture, tradition, community, and experience to this book—Black Food is a visually-appealing, palate-pleasing tribute to Black culture. There is a vast variety of recipes to represent foods from the Americas, Africa, and the Caribbean, like Ghanaian crepe cake, vegetarian gumbo, and fresh peach cobbler. But more than that, it’s about the emotions and memories that are associated with food that make this book sing.

Somalia chef Hawa Hassan and food writer Julia Turshen enter kitchens of grandmothers (bibis) in eight African countries (Eritrea, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Comoros, South Africa, and Madagascar) that touch the Indian Ocean. They introduce you to the bibis, narrate their stories, and document traditional recipes handed down through generations. There are 75 recipes included in In Bibi’s Kitchen, but the stories, their emotional connection to food, and the comfort of a familiar recipe form the backbone of this book. The writers explain, “It’s also a collection of stories about war, loss, migration, refuge, and sanctuary. It’s a book about families, and their connection to home.”