Six Globally Inspired Cookbooks We’ll Be Gifting This Season
Flavors from North Africa, Scandinavia, Italy, and more.
The North African Cookbook by Jeff Koehler (Phaidon)
Author and Virtuoso, The Magazine contributor Koehler researched his latest cookbook for 20 years, traveling to North Africa’s Maghreb region – Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya – to collect traditional recipes from chefs and home cooks. The resulting 468-page tome goes well beyond couscous and tagine, capturing the region’s true culinary diversity. $55, phaidon.com.
Seed to Plate, Soil to Sky by Lois Ellen Frank (Hachette Go)
The plant-based recipes in this collection are divided into sections featuring eight Native American-introduced staples – corn, beans, squash, chile peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, vanilla, and cacao. The resulting Southwestern-inspired dishes are flavorful, hearty, and reflective of the stewards who first cooked with the ingredients thousands of years ago. $16, hachettebookgroup.com.
The Story of Pasta and How to Cook It! by Steven Guarnaccia (Phaidon)
Packed with vivid illustrations of ravioli moons and dischi volanti noodles in space, this cookbook, geared toward kids ages 7 to 11, introduces 35 Italian pasta shapes, from farfalle (invented in the 1500s) to ditalini (a southern Italian specialty). Each story is accompanied by a hands-on recipe that’s doable for aspiring young chefs. $30, phaidon.com.
Seafood Simple by Eric Ripert (Random House)
In his latest cookbook, French chef Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin fame preaches the basics: Master your techniques, keep ingredients minimal, and source sustainable seafood whenever possible. The chef guides readers through how to fillet a fish and shuck an oyster, while recipes for dishes such as mussels marinières rosé will transport diners straight to Saint-Tropez. $35, penguinrandomhouse.com.
Scandinavian From Scratch by Nichole Accettola (Ten Speed Press)
Go full hygge in your kitchen with a fresh batch of kanelbullar (cinnamon buns), cardamom morning buns, or one of the other cakes, cookies, and breads in this collection from Accettola, who owns San Francisco’s Kantine bakery. There’s also a section dedicated to the smørrebrød, Denmark’s iconic open-faced sandwich. $30, penguinrandomhouse.com.
Maydan by Rose Previte with Marah Stets (Abrams)
In her debut cookbook, Lebanese American chef Previte shares recipes with origins across the Middle East and North Africa. Beloved dishes from her restaurants (D.C.’s Maydan and Compass Rose) and some of her favorite childhood meals include everything from Georgian khachapuri to Tunisian chicken skewers, plus there’s an entire chapter dedicated to creating the ultimate dinner-party-worthy mezze spread. $40, abramsbooks.com.
This article originally appeared in the November/December 2023 issue of Virtuoso, The Magazine (U.S./Canada edition).