London Libraries Recommend...An Appetite for Reading is a selection of around 50 titles chosen and reviewed by the capital's librarians. The recommendations deliberately avoid pure recipe books but amongst the stories and memoirs you will find some ideas to get you cooking too.
Below is the full list of recommendations based on the country of origin either of the writer or of the setting of the book. Click on the country to see the list of books for that country
The selections includes books which are available in accessible formats on revealweb (i.e. large print, talking books or Braille) and these are indicated with
"Walking through the gardens of memory, I discover that my recollections are associated with the senses". Encompassing a multicultural history of seduction through food, ancient and modern stories about sex and eating, and titillating recipes are all part of Allende's fascinating odyssey. ... one of the best combinations of travel, food and storytelling
This is the second book in Joanne Harris's food trilogy. The story weaves magic and wine together with life in a small community, and the reader is taken back to the village of Lansquenet, the setting of her previous book, Chocolat.
Bourdain travels the world in search of the indigestible and this tale is not for those that like conventional cooking. Like it says on the cover 'a Cook's tour is an adventure story sure to give you indigestion'! The meals are bizarre and his humour is acidic. Fancy eating a cobra's heart whilst it's still beating?
Part cookbook, part travel writing, part fictional autobiography. The narrator is Tarquin Winot who takes us on a journey from Portsmouth to the South of France. Appears almost irrelevant, but beware the darker sub text - and the recipes!
The chef who prepared my all-time favourite meal (and at the time, the most expensive) at his restaurant, L'Ortolan, came up with a winner in this book/TV series. The combination of cookery and narrative of his time in France, appeal and the recipes are surprisingly good and reasonably easy to prepare. Book of an excellent series on Channel 4, which many people will have enjoyed and want to pick up more in the book
-- Wandsworth
Country of origin: France
Monsieur Pamplemousse hits the headlines - Michael Bond
A refreshingly original account of life on a dilapidated olive farm in the South of France. Carol incorporates snippets of history as well as detailed descriptions of olive farming and is a gifted storyteller.
Peter Mayle for foodies - An American cookery writer buys a house in Normandy and tells of trials and tribulations of joining French life. The text is interspersed with the occasional recipe relevant to the author's adventures.
-- Hammersmith and Fulham
Country of origin: France
Greece
Corfu banquet: a memoir with seasonal recipes - Emma Tennant
This describes her parent's house in Rovinia and the heat-soaked Corfiot way of life. Interspersed with the memories are the wonderful recipes of the food that was enjoyed each season. I was inspired by this book to go on a culinary walking tour of Corfu town and although I enjoyed the company I was with, the tour guide was not so informative as Emma Tennant. She brings the sights and smells of the Mediterranean to the reader with none of the calories!
Fascinating memoir of the author's Indian childhood, with mouthwatering memories of food and tempting recipes.
-- Newham
She has been such an influential writer, as well as an actress, and this is the story of her childhood and family, with lots of photos and recipes.She writes with such enthusiasm about food, and yet she couldn't cook until after she left home. Fascinating.
-- Southwark
An evocative story, rich with the tastes and aromas of Indian food and cooking.
-- Kingston
Actress turned cookery writer, Madhur Jaffrey's memoirs of her childhood
My favourite of her books. I enjoyed this, not only because it was a definitive books on Indian food, but because of her fascinating descriptions of her life growing up in India and the associations food has with her family and friends.
More than the account of an extended pub crawl, Pete McCarthy writes with humour of his travels in Ireland where he decided to visit every bar which shared his family name
Rosa Fiore, a shy and middle-aged librarian is passionate, single and a wonderful cook. It is through her recipes that she finds fulfilment, until she meets the enigmatic Randolph Hunt, l’Inglese. Their summer together is an orgy of sensual delight – and then he vanishes.
This is one of the funniest, sexiest, most outrageous novels you may ever read. Full of the scent and taste of Italy, it is uninhibited in its enjoyment of them as it explores the inextricable connections between food, love and lust.
-- Wandsworth
Country of origin: Italy
Eating up Italy: voyages on a Vespa - Matthew Fort
Love, separation, and cooking. Set in Mexico with the story taking place over the course of the year, and scattered with recipes, this is sensual storytelling at its best.
-- Enfield
Tita, the youngest daughter of a stern and repressive mother, is condemned by family tradition to stay at home and never marry. She spends most of her time in the kitchen creating exquisite inflammatory dishes for her sweetheart Pedro, who has been forced to marry her sister. Flavours, smells and colours are lovingly described in the accounts of meals and recipes in the narrative.
-- Bromley
Although I read this book a long time ago, I still remember what a good read it was. It is a book of love, tradition and food. It was the intertwining of recipes and the events in the book that captivated me and added something more than just a very good read.
-- Wandsworth
Country of origin: Mexico
Morocco
Arabesque: a taste of Morocco, Turkey and Lebanon - Claudia Roden
A charming story of a Sussex farmer who relocates to a remote corner of Southern Spain - it's an amusing series of misadventures with peasant farmers, new age travellers and ex-pats as he struggles to make a success of a life growing olives, almonds and lemons. A highly acclaimed book looking at food from the grower's perspective
-- Bromley
Country of origin: Spain
United Kingdom
Bad food Britain: how a nation ruined its appetitie - Joanna Blythman
It's interesting to see the difference between some Britons attitudes to food and food shopping compared to other cultures and in this book the author lobbies for a return to home cooking with fresh ingredients
Two Northern bikers set off on a culinary journey then write about it
-- Brent
Dave and Si - a couple of northern bikers and food lovers - travel the world in search of culinary delights. They ride across Namibia, Transylvania and Vietnam, to name just a few, collecting anecdotes, recipes and cooking tips - anyone for crocodile kebabs with cashew nut satay? More than just a recipe book, this is the story of real men, not afraid to catch their own food, and then prepare and cook it, at the side of the road, on a boat or a beach.
-- Bexley
Country of origin: United Kingdom
The Hungry years: confessions of a food addict - William Leith
The author is a journalist, sent to interview Dr Atkins, and realises it is time to understand his own obsession with food. Touching and funny at the same time.
-- City of London
A personal journey intto the mysteries of hunger and addiction - a story of food, fat and addiction which will change the way you look at food forever.
Take a nice dollop of punk history, add a few hungry vegan musicians and a few helpings of easily available ingredients and the end result is probably the world's only punk vegan cookbook. All the recipes are dead easy to follow, the results are always delicious, and it is probably the only opportunity you will get to actually eat some punk history
-- Merton
Country of origin: United Kingdom
Raw spirit - in search of the perfect dram - Iain Banks
Iain Banks' tour of the distilleries of his native Scotland. He uncovers the unique spirit of the single malt whisky combining history, literature and landscape in an entertaining yet informative tale.
-- Bromley
As a native of Scotland, bestselling author Iain Banks undertakes a tour of the distilleries of his homeland. The tour combines history, literature and landscape as he uncovers the centuries-old tradition of whisky production.
-- Barking and Dagenham
Country of origin: United Kingdom
Relish: the extraordinary life of Alexis Soyer - Ruth Cowen
Based on the popular newspaper column Rose Prince addresses current food issues - a must for those who care about what they eat. Full of practical tips for buying responsibly farmed, organic,additive free kids' food etc.Many more people now want to know what is in their food and where it comes from.
The subtitle of this book says it all: "How everyone who is liable to be born in the next ten thousand years could eat very well indeed; and why, in practice, our immediate descendants are likely to be in serious trouble" - An examination of the impact of current food production and farming methods on the world and its population with an argument as to how things might be changed for the better
This is Nigel Slater's childhood and teenage years during the 50's and 60's, remembered through food and recipes. A poignant and often funny book about his mother's poor cooking, her early death, his difficult times with his father and stepmother - anecdotes featuring the relationship between family and food. Nostalgic and touching, a reading group recommendation
-- Harrow
An unusual mix of autobiography and a passion for food.
-- Newham
This is the story of Nigel Slater’s childhood and adolescence telling why he became a chef. The chapters are named after different foods and tell you when he first ate these. An interesting book that will make you hungry.
-- Croydon
Nigel Slater's truly extraordinary story of his childhood remembered through food. Nigel's likes and dislikes, aversions and sweet-toothed weaknesses form a fascinating and often amusing backdrop to this incredibly moving and evocative memoir of childhood, adolescence and sexual awakening.
-- Bexley
Country of origin: United Kingdom
View from a shed: four seasons as an urban farmer - Michael Wale
Marc Basset has a reputation as a pitiless restaurant critic, sending one poor chef to an early grave through his harsh criticism. Guilt gets the better of him and he apologises! He then goes onto be the chief Apologist for the United Nations. This is not a role that you can imagine a food critic would find very inviting but it does give him wealth , fame and access to a lot of chocolate !!!
Trophy wife Wyn leaves behind her old life and the husband who no longer loves her. She moves to Seattle, gets a job on a night shift baking bread and gradually makes a new life for herself.
The author shares recipes and breadmaking tips - mouthwatering!
-- Harrow
Facing divorce and nursing a broken heart, Wynter leaves her comfortable Californian home to join her best friend in Seattle. A job in the local bakery seems ideal – but can she win over the resident baker, Linda? Will her husband, David, come to his senses – and what about Mac, the enigmatic bartender? This enjoyable romantic novel may be conventional in plot and characterisation – but the Seattle setting is enticing and the descriptions of different types of bread (including the recipes) are mouthwatering. A novel to read in one sitting and guaranteed to put a smile on the face
The idea of reliving your memories through food is a wonderful idea. It is amazing how even after many years an aroma of or the taste of a certain dish can bring back memories
Stuck in a rut, Julie decides to take an old copy of Julia Child's 1961 book 'Mastering the art of French cooking' and cook at 500 odd recipes, one each day. The book follows her project and the impact it had on her life.
-- City of London
"Pushing thirty, living in an apartment in Queens and working at a dead-end secretarial job, Julie is, in a word, stuck. In her desperate search for an escape, she comes up with The Project - a deranged assignment, to take her mother's copy of Julia Child's 1961 classic "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and cook all 524 recipes in one year.
An beautifully written memoir about the lessons of life. All learned in the kitchen; birth, life and death are all covered in this heart-warming account, written in a style that makes you think that you are in a kitchen being chatted to whilst someone is at work. It leaves you with a warm feeling, almost as though you have just finished eating your favourite home-cooked meal.
This looks like a really tempting read...through the stories of two women, Tressa, New York food writer and Bernadine, her grandmother, unable to marry her true love. Tressa is newly, but perhaps not perfectly married. As her grandmother used to say, "You're too fussy, put some jam on and just eat it anyway. It'll be different again tomorrow" Tressa would find that it was always different. But it was never right. "Like my marriage to Dan". Tressa works through her grandmother's recipes, searching for solace and answers.
-- Ealing
Set between New York and Ireland - two wonderful places. The recipes remind me of my grandmother cooking when I was younger in her country kitchen - fresh jam and everything. Delicious!
Not an easy author to get on with but this novel touches on some of the great obsessions of our times: food, sex and minor celebrities. At its centre is a weird 'boy thing' rivalry between a hard-drinking womaniser and a model railway enthusiast. Very edgy as well as off the wall as you might expect with Irvine Welsh. As Delia Smith might say "C'mon readers - let's be 'aving yer' - particularly recommended to mustard eaters.
Beautifully written, this book bought me back to 'non - fiction' reading when I picked it up - fascinated by the notion of anything interesting being written about a large wet grey fish - especially one as unglamorous as the cod. Infact, they are rather beautiful, as the reader will discover. The destructiveness of our collective appetite is interwoven with the histories of such diverse peoples as the Basques and the Vikings. There are recipes too - but sadly, very few cod left to fish. It is an inspiring, sad and informative little book - with a great cover!
A Court of Crows is a selection of short stories by two of The Graye Ladies, Maudie Morrison and Eileen Eyres.
Maudie has a passionate interest in food and this is reflected in her writing, there is a consistent thread running through these stories that illustrates this well. Each reflects the diverse situations encountered in the varied recipes of life and each one is designed to tempt the literary palate. 'A Dish Best Served Cold' for example is a tale about the darker side of human nature and has a rather bitter vinaigrette, whilst 'Venomous Steak' is a rather amusing little story that has a bit of a sting in its tail. Eileen Eyres on the other hand presents a set of short stories depicting the quirkier side of human nature, in which solutions to every day problems are found in new and often ingenious ways. Read on to see how these and other stories in the book end.
I recommend this book because it's his first novel, I believe, and wildly original. It's about food, taste, art, murder and madness, and is also
very funny.
A novel to cater not only for our taste buds, but also for our cultural, sexual and imaginative appetites. It provides a portrait of a community where meals are served with lashings of passion and recipes come spiced with unexpected challenges.
-- Bexley
Country of origin: other
The Devil's picnic: tour of everything the governments of the world don't want you to try - Taras Gescoe
Never in history have we seemed to have such global freedom, such an opportunity to indulge our wildest tastes. We think we live in a time of unprecedented choice. But as Taras Grescoe discovers, this is just an illusion. In this witty expose, our intrepid author goes in search of the things that the rulers of the world will punish you for trying - all the time asking the question: why in ostensibly free states should we be criminalized for behaviour that concerns no one but ourselves? In a travelogue that takes in Swiss absinthe, Cuban cigars, Bolivian coca tea and stinking French cheese, Taras Grescoe drinks, smokes and eats his way to finding out. Fun, philosophical, and unafraid of the big questions, this is a journey for free-thinkers, not the faint-hearted. As insightful and outraged as "Fast Food Nation" and as funny and astute as "Dude, Where's My Country" , "The Devil's Picnic" is a feast for anyone who has ever made a stand for personal liberty.
-- Ealing
Country of origin: other
The End of the line: how overfishing is changing the world - Charles Clover
A veritable feast of culinary customs, recipes and eating habits from past to present. The fates that befell the cooks to Henry VIII and Ivan the Terrible make Gordon Ramsey look benign!
A literary hors d'oeuvre to dip into.
From the forbidden fruit of the Old Testament to the numerous laws broken at Francois Mitterand's final meal, In the Devil's Garden is a mouth-watering history of food taboos from around the world - a smorgasbord of culinary titbits to spice up any after-dinner conversation. In a history peppered with religious extremists who would rather starve to death than violate ancient taboos - and in an age when half the world's population - from cow-loving Hindus to Kosher Jews and Western vegetarians - still live with harsh dietary restrictions, Allen reveals just how significant, and pervasive, our relationship with food is.
The author is an American lawyer turned food writer. The book tells the story of his adventures around the world with food; such as persuading himself to eat foods he doesn’t like, the search for the ultimate mashed potato and how waiters really operate. This is a very funny book which will make you question what you eat and make you hungry!
-- Croydon
The craziest, most obsessive writer on food, witty, extreme, bonkers! This man will do anything in his quest for the perfect dish.
-- Enfield
Country of origin: other
Raw spirit - in search of the perfect dram - Iain Banks
Bank's tours his native Scotland visiting some of the world's most famous distilleries and some obscure ones as well. On his journey he meets the characters behind the 'water of life'. I thought perhaps there wouldn't be a lot on drink and this is an interesting book from one of the UK's more engaging authors.
Market gardener Perdita Dylan delivers vegetables to one of her regular clients one day only to find out that her ex-husband has become the chef. Even worse, she learns that he is to become the latest celebrity chef. Sparks soon fly - much to the interest of the TV company
A poignant tale of childhood and adolescence related through memories of food. Fascinating details of long-forgotten dishes and brand names make this a truly evocative read.
-- Havering
An autobiography of childhood told through recollections of food. A wonderful and original way to present a backdrop to a moving set of memoirs
Famous vegatarians of the past include Seneca, Wagner, Gandhi, Bernard Shaw yet not St Francis and Colin Spencer documents the tradition of non-meat eaters from the earliest times to today in this fascinating history.
Chile
