Nonfiction

Spring 2018 New Releases: Food and Cookbooks

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Pierce Alquist

Senior Contributor

Pierce Alquist is a transplanted New Yorker living and working in the publishing scene in Boston. Don’t worry if she fooled you, the red hair is misleading. She’s a literature in translation devotee and reviewer and lover of small, independent presses. A voracious traveler and foodie, you can find her in her kitchen making borscht or covered in red pepper paste as she perfects her kimchi recipe.

Prepare yourself for some particularly droolworthy upcoming food and cookbook releases this spring!

Sweet Potato Soul: 100 Easy Vegan Recipes by Jenne Claiborne. Upcoming food and cookbook releases spring 2018.Sweet Potato Soul: 100 Easy Vegan Recipes for the Southern Flavors of Smoke, Sugar, Spice, and Soul by Jenné Claiborne (February 6th)

Vegan cookbooks are so hot right now, and out of all of the amazing vegan cookbooks coming out this spring (notably: Hot for Food Vegan Comfort Classics and Vegan 100: Over 100 Incredible Recipes from Avant-Garde Vegan) I’m most interested in Sweet Potato Soul from NYC-based blogger, personal chef, and cooking instructor Jenné Claiborne. Claiborne’s food looks amazing—comforting and substantial with beautiful colors, textures, and flavors.

Fermentation Revolution: 70 Easy, Healthy Recipes for Sauerkraut, Kombucha, Kimchi and More by Sebastien Bureau and David Cote. Upcoming food and cookbook releases spring 2018.Fermentation Revolution: 70 Easy, healthy Recipes for Sauerkraut, Kombucha, Kimchi and More by Sebastien Bureau and‎ David Côté (March 15th)

Fermentation is a continuing trend in cookbooks from 2017 and I can’t get enough of it! Kimchi is a must-have in my house and I make it in 8-lb batches way more often than I’d like to admit. (I use Maangchi’s recipe for anyone interested.)  Fermentation Revolution is more than just fermented vegetables, but a wide range of recipes and techniques for fermenting fruits, sugars and honeys, grains, and more.

The Modern Kitchen by Tim Hayward. Upcoming food and cookbook releases spring 2018.The Modern Kitchen: Objects That Shape the Way We Cook, Eat, and Live by Tim HAyward (April 3rd)

Think about all of the objects in your kitchen, from the much-loved wooden spoon to your fancy, pastel-colored Kitchen-Aid mixer; all of these items have a story. Through 100 familiar kitchen objects, The Modern Kitchen examines notions of gender, class, and more and provides a “portrait of our domestic lives.” It might seem a little obsessive for some, but the photographs and extensive information will hit the sweet spot for the kitchen collector or food geek who loves to stroll through the aisles of Crate & Barrel or Williams Sonoma.

The Perfect Cake by the editors at America's Test Kitchen. Upcoming food and cookbook releases spring 2018.The Perfect Cake: Your Ultimate Guide to Classic, Modern, and Whimsical Cakes by The Editors at America’s Test Kitchen (March 27th)

It wouldn’t be a real foodie-worthy list without a book from the editors at America’s Test Kitchen, and this one takes the cake! (Sorry, not sorry) The recipes range from sheet cakes and special occasion cakes to cupcakes, cake pops, and cheesecakes.

The Measure of My Powers: A The Measure of my Powers by Jackie Kai Ellis. Upcoming food and cookbook releases spring 2018.Memoir of Food, Misery, and Paris by Jackie Kai Ellis (March 6th)

The jacket copy of The Measure of My Powers likens the book to Eat, Pray, Love, H is for Hawk, and Wild. That got my attention! Jackie Kai Ellis journeys to France, Italy, and the Congo to find herself, her happiness, and a path for a different kind of future. It sounds amazing, particularly her time at pastry school in Paris. Ellis is the founder of Vancouver’s Beaucoup Bakery and the leader of The Paris Tours, a culinary excursion group.

Feast: True Love in and out of the KitchenFeast: True Love in and out of the Kitchen by Hannah Howard. Upcoming food and cookbook releases spring 2018. by Hannah Howard (April 1st)

Another powerful memoir coming out this spring is Feast: True Love in and Out of the Kitchen by Hannah Howard. Feast is a “compulsively readable memoir of a woman at war—with herself, with her body, and with food—while working her way through the underbelly of New York City’s glamorous culinary scene.” It looks like an incredibly heartbreaking must-read.

 

Hawker Fare: Stories and Recipes from a Refugee Chef's Isan Thai and Lao Roots by James Syhabout. Upcoming food and cookbook releases spring 2018.Hawker Fare: Stories & Recipes from a Refugee Chef’s Isan Thai & Lao Roots by James Syhabout with John Birdsall (January 23rd)

Chef James Syhabout has created an amazingly vibrant and personal cookbook dedicated to recipes for cooking home-style Thai and Lao dishes. With recipes ranging from sticky rice and Lao beef noodle soup to Lao minced pork salad, every single recipe looks exciting and delicious.

BBetween Harlem and Heaven by JJ Johnson and Alexander Smalls. Upcoming food and cookbook releases spring 2018.etween Harlem and Heaven: Afro-Asian American Cooking for Big Nights, Weeknights, and Every Day by JJ Johnson and Alexander Smalls with Veronica Chambers (February 6th)

Wow. Wow. Wow. This powerful and astounding cookbook is not about fusion cooking. It’s about the intersections of the African and Asian diasporas and how they have “criss-crossed cuisines all around the world.” Alexander Smalls and JJ Johnson have built this unique understanding of the Afro-Asian-American flavor profile in their renown and historic Harlem restaurants, Minton’s and The Cecil, and are now sharing over 100 recipes in Between Harlem and Heaven with readers and home cooks.

The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats by Daniel Stone. Upcoming food and cookbook releases spring 2018.The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats by Daniel Stone (February 20th)

I love globe-trotting botanists! The Food Explorer tells the true adventures of David Fairchild, a late-nineteenth-century food explorer and botanist who traveled the world and introduced plants and crops such as kale from Croatia, mangoes from India, avocados from Chile, pomegranates from Malta, cotton from Egypt, and the cherry blossom tree from Japan, all to America. 

 

PROSECCO MADE ME DO IT: Prosecco Made Me Do It: 60 Seriously Sparkling Cocktails. Upcoming food and cookbook releases spring 2018.60 SERIOUSLY SPARKLING COCKTAILS BY AMY ZAVATTO (APRIL 3RD)

This fun and beautifully illustrated collection of recipes will have you serving up some seriously sparkling cocktails. Also includes purchasing and serving tips and a guide to cordials, syrups, and liqueurs. It would make a really fun gift for the bellini lover in your life.