Eating in the Club- Cookbooks and Foodie Memoirs for Your Book Club
With the focus on food and drink that bookclubs — and by extension, this newsletter — I thought it’d be cool for a book club to have a session (or two) that focused on foodie memoirs, or just cookbooks. Food is such a big part of culture, and I think making recipes from the book a book club is reading is a way to engage with the reading in a more visceral way.
Below, I’ve got foodie memoirs, straight cookbooks, food histories, and more. But first, I want to share a recipe with y’all that had me in a vice grip this weekend.
Nibbles and Sips
Can I tell y’all about the best thing I have made in a minute? It was this braised pork belly, the recipe for which was provided by Quin on Butter Be Ready. I needed to go grocery shopping and only had some ramen on hand, so I decided to make it more legit with some pork belly like grown folks do. Let me just say that Quin’s recipe restructured my brain chemistry a bit.
It was so good, 1) I ate it all in one setting, and 2) I used the leftover braise liquid to braise some tofu the next day during my attempt at making dubu jorim, or Korean spicy braised tofu, which I had over rice. It was so good.
For the pork belly, I followed the instructions and ingredients outlined by Quin: I included the soy sauce, mirin, brown sugar, garlic and ginger, five spice powder, and sesame oil. For the tofu, I added more garlic, onion, and gochugaru (Korean chili powder). The recipe called for plum extract, which I didn’t have, so I substituted it with a water + apple cider vinegar + sugar concoction Sarah Ahn included in the Instagram comments.
For a full list of ingredients and instructions for the pork belly, visit Butter Be Ready.
For a full list of ingredients and instructions for the braised tofu, visit ahnestkitchen on Instagram.
Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant by Curtis Chin
This funny and insightful memoir follows Chin, a gay American-born Chinese kid growing up in Detroit in the ’80s. Though the city has its social issues, the Chinese restaurant his grandfather opened is a safe haven for many. All of Detroit — from drag queens to the city’s first Black mayor — are welcomed and gather around Chin’s family’s sweet-and-sour pork and scooch into their vinyl booths.
Koshersoul: The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew by Michael W. Twitty
Here, James Beard award-winning author Twitty includes around 50 recipes that reflect his Black American and Jewish identities. He explores not only how to make the food from each culture, but also how the food influences the eater, and how the migratory experiences of both Jewish people and Black Americans is reflected in their cuisine.
Dragtails: Fierce Cocktails Inspired by Drag Royalty by Greg Bailey, Alice Wood, illustrated by Ruth Moosbrugger
The cocktails here each reflect the ravishing drag queens that inspired them. Make a yellow and green “Sponge Queen” cocktail inspired by Monet X Change, an “Absolutely Alien” gin/lemonade number that has Juno Birch’s blue and pink look, and more. The illustrations here are also fab.
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks by Crystal Wilkinson
Food is so heavily tied to language and culture, and I always love reading about how the three are intertwined in Black American history. I think any other lover of history and food will appreciate how Wilkinson does that in this part memoir, part cookbook, as she writes out the history and fortitude of Black Appalachians through recipes passed down from the women in her family.
Suggestion Section
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**Below is an extended list for subscribers**
The Unofficial Studio Ghibli Cookbook by Jessica Yun
There is some kind of magic involved when it comes to how appetizing Studio Ghibli makes the food in their movies look, and here, you can get in on that magic. These fan-made recipes include everything from ramen with “haaaam,” steamed red bean bao, salmon with beurre blanc sauce, and more. Bonus points if you have a Studio Ghibli movie night where you serve a few of these dishes.
Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol by Mallory O’Meara
This covers one of those topics that I never really thought about, but that is interesting, which is: when did alcohol become gendered? O’Meara looks at the history of women and alcohol — even taking it all the way back to the ancient Sumerian beer goddess Ninkasi (!) — and breaks down patriarchal assumptions to show how women have also always been ready to get lit.
Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook by Sohla El-Waylly
This was Roxane Gay’s first book club pick of the year, which I think is pretty dope. In it, chef Sohla El-Waylly invites cooks of all skill levels to become better with practical and science-backed advice. No matter what you want to cook — be it dishes savory or sweet — El-Waylly helps establish a foundational knowledge of cooking that you can always go back to.
Trejo’s Cantina by Danny Trejo
Actor Danny Trejo shares the recipes for his favorite soul-affirming snacks, like vegan tamales, vegetarian “fight night ” nachos, and Tijuana-style birria. There are also many unique renditions of classic cocktails and some great non-alcoholic drink recipes as well. Between sharing recipes designed to bring people together, Trejo speaks about his childhood in Los Angeles, and what eating out with his uncles all over the city meant to him.
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