It’s time to add new recipes to your home cooking.
When it comes to discovering new destinations – even from your home kitchen – few senses are as powerful as taste and smell. Local cuisine bridges geography with regional heritage and history, while the comfort of a favorite dish from abroad can transport travelers to far-away destinations. Here, eight travel-inspired cookbooks whose stories and recipes do just that – and will have you craving more.
Alpine Cooking by Meredith Erickson
Food writer Meredith Erickson traversed Europe’s Alps by car, foot, and funicular for the inspired dishes in Alpine Cooking: Recipes and Stories from Europe’s Grand Mountaintops, her cookbook and love letter to the region. You needn’t be a winter-sports enthusiast to recreate her après-worthy bites such as grape-and-walnut pizokel (a Swiss pasta). $27, amazon.com.
Black Sea by Caroline Eden
Travel journalist Caroline Eden’s lyrical cookbook Black Sea: Dispatches and Recipes, Through Darkness and Light traces her journeys through Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey. Interwoven anecdotes for recipes such as baked sesame halva and Bulgarian zelnik pie – “We sat on the ground and ate, the crispy filo showering down crumbs … watching as girlish pleasure spread across the faces of the ladies of Malko Tarnovo,” – bring local cultures to life. $23, amazon.com.
Hartwood by Eric Werner and Mya Henry
Chef Eric Werner and restaurateur Mya Henry left their New York City jobs to open Hartwood, a casual and wildly popular eatery in the coastal jungle of Tulum. Hartwood: Bright, Wild Flavors from the Edge of the Yucatán shares the duo’s delicious, easy-to-execute recipes, from agave pork belly with grilled pineapple to costillas (pork ribs), Hartwood’s signature plate. $37, amazon.com.
Tokyo Stories by Tim Anderson
When it comes to variety, Tokyo's food scene has it in spades. Chef Tim Anderson’s picks for Tokyo Stories: A Japanese Cookbook range from ramen and onigiri (rice balls) to savory okonomiyaki pancakes and other dishes spanning Japan’s fanciest restaurants, favorite hole-in-the-wall haunts, and now, your kitchen. $24, amazon.com.
South by Sean Brock
As head of the lauded Husk restaurants in Charleston and Nashville, Sean Brock has become an unofficial culinary ambassador for the South. His latest cookbook, South: Essential Recipes and New Explorations, showcases staples of the region, from shrimp and grits to sweet potato pie – sometimes with a modern twist. $21, amazon.com.
Asma's Indian Kitchen by Asma Khan
In Asma’s Indian Kitchen: Home-Cooked Food Brought to You by Darjeeling Express, feasting is a recurrent theme: Dishes such as saffron chicken korma and zucchini sabzistir-fry are best enjoyed shared. Asma Khan – founder of London's award-winning Darjeeling Express restaurant – enriches passed-down recipes with stories of her ancestors. $21, amazon.com.
Basque Country by Marti Buckley
Spain's Basque region celebrates local ingredients and a low-fuss style of cooking that shows them off. San Sebastian-based chef and writer Marti Buckley’s Basque Country: A Culinary Journey Through a Food Lover’s Paradise shares the origin stories of beloved traditional meals, a glossary of dialect slang, and, of course, recipes. (Start with the pan-fried trout stuffed with salty Serrano ham). $20, travelcookeat.com.
Ottolenghi by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi
Chefs Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi brought Middle Eastern and Mediterranean flavors and traditions to life in the veggie-forward hit, Ottolenghi. Influences from their native Israel, as well as California, North Africa, and other destinations, gained devoted followers cooking up roasted eggplant with saffron yogurt galore. This September, a new cookbook becomes available: In Ottolenghi Flavor, in which the plant-based chef and co-writer Ixta Belfrage explore the subtle science of taste. $35, amazon.com.