The best cookbooks of 2018: these are the best cookbooks of 2018 to buy and gift this year!

I’m still not ready to talk about fall, but I do want to talk about all the cookbooks coming out this season-that-shall-not-be-named.

Because, guys. The coming crop of cookbooks is INSANE. AMAZING. BANKRUPTING. DIET-CRUSHING.

And I’m ready.

We’ve got the heavy hitters like Ina Garten, Ottolenghi, Dorie Greenspan, Chrissy Teigen, Gina Homolka, Melissa Clark. Then we have the up-and-comers: Naz Deravian, Nik Sharma, Julia Turshen, and many, many more. The best cookbooks of 2018 might end up being the best cookbooks of the past five seasons.

If you don’t know what to cook, don’t have any motivation to cook, or don’t think you need more cookbooks, there are approximately 50 reasons coming up to change your mind.

That means the real problem we’re faced with is selection: how do we find the best cookbooks of 2018 for us? How do we know which voices we’ll jibe with and which are better for gifting to someone else?

If you haven’t heard of the Salt + Spine podcast yet, I think it’s the perfect solution to finding the best cookbooks for you. Brian Hogan Stewart launched Salt + Spine only this May, but it’s already had an all-star roster of guests—cookbook legends like Nigella Lawson, Diana Henry, and Samin Nosrat.

And if you love to talk about food, books, and books about food, I can’t think of a better listen than this. It’s basically the podcast I’ve been waiting for my whole life.

You, too? Then come on over to the blog and get to know Brian. I interviewed him about how he got started in food media, how he fell for cookbooks, and best of all, his picks for the best cookbooks of 2018. (There are a few that will surprise you!)

Brian Hogan Stewart of Salt + Spine on almost going to culinary school, cookbook podcasting, and the best cookbooks of 2018

How did you come to the food media world, Brian?

I have always been pulled between the culinary and media worlds. Graduating from high school, I was nearly ready to begin courses at a Chicago culinary school when a journalism scholarship sent me in that direction instead.

For years, I have commingled my culinary passions and my journalism training in various ways, working extensively in journalism and new media, including covering food and farming stories in the Midwest. I’ve profiled dozens of leading chefs and cookbook authors, local farmers, and the self-proclaimed inventor of the “Rainbow Cake.”

How and when did you realize cookbooks were the thing you were most passionate about?

I have loved cookbooks since I was a kid. I remember leafing through the church cookbooks—you know, the spiral-bound, community-sourced ones—that my mom kept in our kitchen, intrigued by the recipes’ details and seemingly magic way of coming together into something delicious.

I can’t recall the first cookbook that was truly my own, though I’ll never forget one of the earlier books I acquired: Charlie Trotter Cooks at Home. I’d just graduated high school and my grandmother drove me and my mom into Chicago to eat at a couple high-end restaurants, indulging my growing obsession with all things culinary. (At the time, I thought I was headed to culinary school.) After a mind-altering meal, Charlie Trotter’s mother appeared, whisking us back to the kitchen for a short tour, and sending us home with a copy of his book. I still cherish the memory and book.

Cookbooks have played an important role throughout my life. I gift them to friends and family, and they often gift them to me. I love participating in cookbook clubs, both online and in-person. When my wife and I celebrated our first anniversary, she gave me a beautiful vintage copy of The Picayune’s Creole Cook Book from the wonderful Omnivore Books, a nod to our New Orleans wedding.

Why did you decide to start Salt + Spine?

Since I was young, I’ve collected and obsessed over cookbooks. I started buying them on my own in middle school. And my library kept growing. And then my wife and I moved cross-country, and there were boxes and boxes of cookbooks.

For years, I worked on developing projects that combined cookbooks and journalism, finally landing a podcast as the right vehicle for the stories I’m looking to tell. We launched in May 2018, with Nigella Lawson as our first guest, after nearly a year of work to get the show off the ground. We’re now in the middle of our summer season and prepping for an amazing fall guest list.

At Salt + Spine, we focus on telling compelling stories on the craft of cookbooks. Our team—including me and our executive producer Alison Sullivan—brings together backgrounds in journalism, storytelling, public radio, media relations, and social media. We conduct our interviews in-person at San Francisco’s The Civic Kitchen, their stunning cookbook library serving as our backdrop.

We know that cookbooks are a lasting genre. There’s a feeling of usefulness—and of intimacy—with a hard-bound, possibly splattered but definitely dog-eared cookbook that doesn’t come with an e-cookbook or an online recipe. While other hard-copy book sales have struggled in recent years, the cookbook industry is over-performing with double-digit increases in year-over-year sales.

What do you think are the best cookbooks of 2018 so far?

There’s so many I could list here, but a few that have really wowed me for varying reasons:

How to Eat a Peach by Diana Henry

Shaya: An Odyssey of Food, My Journey Back to Israel by Alon Shaya

Feast: Foods of the Islamic World by Anissa Helou

Between Harlem and Heaven by JJ Johnson and Alexander Smalls

Repertoire: All the Recipes You Need by Jessica Battilana

Something Old, Something New: Classic Recipes Reinvented by Tamar Adler

What do you think are the best cookbooks of 2018 to come?

Again, I could build a small library with books I’m excited about this fall, but a few that stand out:

Season by Nik Sharma

Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan

Now & Again by Julia Turshen

Bottom of the Pot by Naz Deravian

Ottolenghi Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi

The Noma Guide to Fermentation by René Redzepi

Want to hear more about the best cookbooks of 2018 and the authors behind them?

Tune in to Salt + Spine to catch their summer season now and subscribe to keep up with their fall season, where Brian will be interviewing some of the fantastic authors mentioned above.

How to tune in:
You can listen and subscribe to Salt + Spine:

on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
on our website, SaltAndSpine.com
or wherever you listen to podcasts.

You can follow along for featured recipes, cookbook giveaways, and more at:

Instagram: @saltandspine
Twitter: @saltandspine

Brian Hogan Stewart is the host and creator of Salt + Spine, a top-rated podcast on the stories behind cookbooks. Featured by Apple Podcasts in its first season, Salt + Spine features in-depth interviews with cookbook authors on the creation, evolution, and lasting legacy of their work. Recorded at San Francisco’s The Civic Kitchen, the show also features commentary from Celia Sack of Omnivore Books.

A cookbook-obsessed former journalist, Stewart is a once-budding chef who passed on culinary school to pursue communications and has worked extensively in journalism and new media. A native of Iowa, he has a degree in journalism, English, and American studies from the University of Iowa.

Hooray: a discount!

Not an IACP member yet? It’s time! IACP is the leader for all things food and food media, and you’ll have to be a member to attend their legendary annual conference, which is in Santa Fe this year. (I spoke at this past year’s conference in NYC, and it was a blast.)

My pals at IACP were generous enough to extend a discount to us—just use discount code COOKSBOOKS50 to get 50% off a new IACP membership.

Then go use the money you just saved to buy up all the cookbooks above. Think of it as my way of buying you that cookbook you’ve been eyeing. 🙂

5 quick reads for the week

And here is Epicurious’s preview of this fall’s upcoming cookbooks.
But I still want to pretend summer will never end. So here’s Eater on the best summer cookbooks of 2018.
Wish you could turn New York Times recipes into a cookbook? Wish granted!
Perfectionism is on the rise. And it’s not good.
Working on a short story? Here are 23 places that want your work.

What we’re eating this week

I have to tell you, I’ve never felt so full in my life. You see, I went to Dallas this past weekend for a girl’s trip, and we ate tacos for breakfast, lunch, and dinner all three days. This is in no way an exaggeration. I have the receipts to prove it.

So what do you eat when you can’t fit another bite in you but you still love food so very much?

Monday: Can Mish-Mash Monday be a new thing? I had this one day home between Dallas and New York, so we ate frozen broccoli, spaghetti, and raw cherry tomatoes from a friend’s farm in Ann Arbor. (Because yes, before Dallas and New York I was in Michigan. Does anybody remember what my apartment looks like? Please send pics.)

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday! Just kidding, I’m swearing off tacos until forever/next week. But I have no better ideas so, when in doubt…PANIC.

Wednesday: Eating something very sad on Amtrak. #sadtraytabledinner

Thursday: HOME! And I’m thinking big, beautiful burrito bowls. Yes.

Friday: Ha ha ha, I’m gone again. Fooled you. We’re camping with my sister and her boyfriend in the Pine Barrens, so the delicious Skillet Brats and Cabbage from The Campout are on the menu. And for breakfast? Breakfast burritos. A varied diet is important.

Cheers!

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The best cookbooks of 2018 to buy + gift