Give me your worldly food memoirs
August 4, 2015 9:49 AM Subscribe
I have recently been put in charge of a small culinary library and would like it expand its selection of food/restaurant industry memoirs - I'm having a little trouble finding non-white authors. We've got Madhur Jaffrey, Jen Lin-Liu, Gillian Clark, and I found Eddie Huang. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Thanks!
Edna Lewis
posted by WesterbergHigh at 10:14 AM on August 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by WesterbergHigh at 10:14 AM on August 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
Jennifer 8 Lee, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles
David Matsumoto, Epitaph for a Peach (and sequel)
Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, A Tiger in the Kitchen
Alice Randall and Caroline Randall Williams, Soul Food Love
Donia Bijan, Maman's Homesick Pie
Roy Choi, L.A. Son
Gustavo Arellano, Taco USA
(sorry for lack of links, on way out door)
posted by wintersweet at 10:15 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
David Matsumoto, Epitaph for a Peach (and sequel)
Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, A Tiger in the Kitchen
Alice Randall and Caroline Randall Williams, Soul Food Love
Donia Bijan, Maman's Homesick Pie
Roy Choi, L.A. Son
Gustavo Arellano, Taco USA
(sorry for lack of links, on way out door)
posted by wintersweet at 10:15 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Stealing Buddha's Dinner by Bich Minh Nguyen
Voices in the Kitchen: Views of Food And the World from Working-class Mexican And Mexican American Women by Meredith E. Abarca
related but not totally on topic: The Color of Food.
posted by jessamyn at 10:27 AM on August 4, 2015
Voices in the Kitchen: Views of Food And the World from Working-class Mexican And Mexican American Women by Meredith E. Abarca
related but not totally on topic: The Color of Food.
posted by jessamyn at 10:27 AM on August 4, 2015
Chef Michael Twitty has some books out, but I'm not sure if they're specifically memoirs...
posted by feistycakes at 10:47 AM on August 4, 2015
posted by feistycakes at 10:47 AM on August 4, 2015
Secrets of the Red Lantern is a memoir with recipes, or a cookbook with stories, by an Australian woman whose family emigrated from Vietnam and now run a restaurant in Sydney.
posted by dywypi at 10:54 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by dywypi at 10:54 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Shoba Narayan's Monsoon Diary: A Memoir with Recipes
Jessica B. Harris's High on the Hog (it's more of a history than a memoir, but it still involves her personal accounts, and it's great)
posted by mixedmetaphors at 10:56 AM on August 4, 2015
Jessica B. Harris's High on the Hog (it's more of a history than a memoir, but it still involves her personal accounts, and it's great)
posted by mixedmetaphors at 10:56 AM on August 4, 2015
The Temporary Bride by Jennifer Klinec
The Settler’s Cookbook by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
Climbing the Mango Trees by Madhur Jaffrey
Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper by Fuchsia Dunlop (okay, she's a Westerner in China)
A Tiger in the Kitchen by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
The Colour of Food by Anne Else (New Zealand)
The Latin Road Home by Jose Garces
Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love and the Search for Home by Kim Sunee
Honey from a Weed: Fasting and Feasting in Tuscany Catalonia the Cyclades and Apulia by Patience Gray
posted by Ideefixe at 11:21 AM on August 4, 2015
The Settler’s Cookbook by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
Climbing the Mango Trees by Madhur Jaffrey
Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper by Fuchsia Dunlop (okay, she's a Westerner in China)
A Tiger in the Kitchen by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
The Colour of Food by Anne Else (New Zealand)
The Latin Road Home by Jose Garces
Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love and the Search for Home by Kim Sunee
Honey from a Weed: Fasting and Feasting in Tuscany Catalonia the Cyclades and Apulia by Patience Gray
posted by Ideefixe at 11:21 AM on August 4, 2015
Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton is amazing.
posted by vickyverky at 11:28 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by vickyverky at 11:28 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Whoops -- sorry, I saw too late you were looking for nonwhite authors. But Hamilton does travel the world and I'm sure she has an impeccable index and reference list you could crib from.
posted by vickyverky at 11:30 AM on August 4, 2015
posted by vickyverky at 11:30 AM on August 4, 2015
The Language of Baklava by Diana Abu Jabar
Bento Box in the Heartland: My Japanese Girlhood in Whitebread America by Linda Furiya
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:24 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Bento Box in the Heartland: My Japanese Girlhood in Whitebread America by Linda Furiya
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:24 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Biting through the Skin: An Indian Kitchen in America's Heartland – by Nina Mukerjee Furstenau
posted by galvanized unicorn at 12:29 PM on August 4, 2015
posted by galvanized unicorn at 12:29 PM on August 4, 2015
Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes by Maya Angelou
I listened to the audio book and found it very entertaining. I'm planning to get the hardcover soon.
posted by goodsearch at 1:43 PM on August 4, 2015
I listened to the audio book and found it very entertaining. I'm planning to get the hardcover soon.
posted by goodsearch at 1:43 PM on August 4, 2015
Waiter Rant might be a good addition to the library.
posted by culfinglin at 1:44 PM on August 4, 2015
posted by culfinglin at 1:44 PM on August 4, 2015
Bobby Chin's _Wikd, Wild East_ about his time in Vietnam. He is half -Egyptian and Chinese. I liked the book because it was an outsider perspective on Vietnamese cuisine. Many Virtnamese cookbooks have a memoir quality so _Into the Vietnamese Kitchen_amd the author's blog is great. The Red Lantern cookbook was wrenching, at times. Luke Nguyen, the author's brother, has written books as well that are revealing but not as revealing as his sister's.
posted by jadepearl at 7:19 PM on August 4, 2015
posted by jadepearl at 7:19 PM on August 4, 2015
The Slanted Door by Charles Phan
Momofuku by David Chang
Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi
posted by biscuits at 8:14 PM on August 4, 2015
Momofuku by David Chang
Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi
posted by biscuits at 8:14 PM on August 4, 2015
An Everlasting Meal, by Tamar Adler. Gorgeous writing, too.
posted by Tamanna at 8:53 PM on August 4, 2015
posted by Tamanna at 8:53 PM on August 4, 2015
seconding:
-Bentbox in the Heartland - My Japanese Girlhood in Whitebread America - Linda Furiya
-Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen - Donia Bijan
Adding:
-Yes, Chef - Marcus Samuelson
-The Language of Baklava: A Memoir - Diane Abu-Jaber
posted by nuclear_soup at 2:30 PM on August 5, 2015
-Bentbox in the Heartland - My Japanese Girlhood in Whitebread America - Linda Furiya
-Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen - Donia Bijan
Adding:
-Yes, Chef - Marcus Samuelson
-The Language of Baklava: A Memoir - Diane Abu-Jaber
posted by nuclear_soup at 2:30 PM on August 5, 2015
Thought of one more - this isn't strictly a memoir, it's more a series of essays:
Sistah Vegan: Food Identity, Health & Society: Black Female Vegans Speak - A. Breeze Harper
posted by nuclear_soup at 7:49 PM on August 5, 2015
Sistah Vegan: Food Identity, Health & Society: Black Female Vegans Speak - A. Breeze Harper
posted by nuclear_soup at 7:49 PM on August 5, 2015
Response by poster: Thanks all - a few of them we did have, I just didn't know what to look for - this was a great help.
posted by cindywho at 8:22 AM on August 6, 2015
posted by cindywho at 8:22 AM on August 6, 2015
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Also not sure if this counts as non-white enough (or at all), but if you're looking for diversity in general, I adore Miriam's Kitchen (Israeli and traditional Jewish cooking and history)
posted by Mchelly at 10:01 AM on August 4, 2015 [3 favorites]