1. Edible North Carolina by Marcie Cohen Ferris
What does food-to-table in North Carolina look like? What does life look like for the farmers? The restaurants? The chefs? Edible North Carolina is edited by Marcie Cohen Ferris, who is a professor in American Studies at UNC Chapel Hill, and she has gathered various people in North Carolina about the state of food communities, food access, and more.
2. I Am From Here: Stories and Recipes from a Southern Chef by Vishwesh Bhatt
Written for the home cook, Bhatt includes recipes for making your own spice mixes. A mix-and-match meal-planning guide will help you pair dishes for different occasions. And every ingredient is within reach even if you’re cooking far away from the warmth of Mississippi. This cookbook thoughtfully, and persuasively, expands notions of what it means to be, and cook like, a Southerner today.
3. Simple Pasta by Odette Williams
Perfect for the person who loves pasta and wants to expand their pasta knowledge! Odette Williams makes sure that these recipes are easy yet delicious and varied. This book also includes various side dishes and drinks that pair with the pasta recipes showcased.
4. Koshersoul: The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew by Michael W. Twitty
Koshersoul serves as both a memoir of Black Jewish identity and as a cookbook that showcases a marriage of kosher food and soul food. Twitty also delves into a historical analysis of the food traditions of Jewish and Black diasporas. To Twitty, the creation of African-Jewish cooking is a conversation of migrations and a dialogue of diasporas offering a rich background for inventive recipes and the people who create them.
5. A Good Day to Bake by Benjamina Ebuehi
Kneading dough, stirring batter, sifting flour, A Good Day to Bake thinks of baking as a mindful and therapeutic ritual and has over 70 recipes that can be made any day of the week. Benjamina Ebuehi was a contestant on the Great British Bake Off in 2016.
6. Watermelon and Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations by Nicole A. Taylor
All-day cook-outs with artful salads, bounteous dessert spreads, and raised glasses of “red drink” are essential to Juneteenth gatherings. In Watermelon and Red Birds, Taylor puts jubilation on the main stage by bridging the traditional African-American table and 21st-century flavors in stories and recipes. Taylor synthesizes all the places we’ve been, all the people we have come from, all the people we have become, and all the culinary ideas we have embraced.
7. Breadsong: How Baking Changed Our Lives by Kitty Tait and Al Tait
The first half of this book is dedicated to telling the story of Orange Bakery, a well-loved family bakery started by Kitty Tait and her father Al Tait after Kitty started making loaves with her father after experiencing depression and anxiety. The second half of this cookbook showcases over 80 bread, cookie, and pastry recipes that the Tait’s created.
