6 Beach Reads Every Food Lover Will Devour

What do food writers do on vacation? Eat. And read about food. As we're packing our beach bags this summer, we're leaving space for some mouthwatering reads. Food isn't just about what's for dinner, it's about how it can make us feel, how it can transport us, how it can change our lives and our minds. It's poetic and exciting and even scandalous! Here, the TLK editors are sharing their picks for the best summer reads. From memoirs to fiction, from romance to food philosophy, these delicious books are coming with us when we hit the beach. 

Marie Elena Martinez, Editor-at-Large

Pick: Delicious by Ruth Reichl

What else would a food editor read but Delicious, legendary food critic Ruth Reichl's debut novel about a California girl who takes a job in New York City at an iconic food magazine. (Sound familiar? It should. Reichl was editor at Gourmet before it shuttered.) When the magazine goes out of print, protagonist Billie stays on to field calls to the now-defunct magazine, only to discover a collection of long-discarded letters written by a 12-year old to none other than James Beard himself. 

Amanda Cargill, Food Content Director

Pick: Yes, Chef: A Memoir by Marcus Samuelsson

Among my 2014 summer beach reads is Yes, Chef, Marcus Samuelsson’s James Beard Award nominated memoir. Peppered with witty anecdotes and insights on kitchen culture, its stories are simultaneously profound and relatable – to both chefs and non-chefs – and provide a refreshing lens for viewing life in the modern world. YOLO, selfie-obsessed Twitterverse? Not here. In Yes, Chef, humility and servitude reign supreme.

The book tells the story of Samuelsson’s journey from orphan in Ethiopia to cruise ship cook to culinary whiz kid – he earned three-stars from the New York Times at the age of 24 – with disarming candor. He recounts meeting, as a grown man, the father he never knew, and shares his thoughts on opening his uber-successful Red Rooster in Harlem. Issues of race, ambition, love, and loss are sprinkled throughout the book, driving home Samuelsson’s humanity and undergirding his resilience. To put it in cliché literary terms: “It’s a tour de force.” As of this writing, I’ve got just thirty pages left before I reach the book’s end. Though eager to soak up every last page, I’m also a little sad to be leaving Samuelsson’s world. Thank goodness he’s so young. Here’s hoping that there will be a Yes, Chef II. 

Next, more mouthwatering reads… [pagebreak]

Cristina Gonzalez, Senior Editor

Pick: Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies by Laura Esquivel

Shockingly, I've never read Like Water for Chocolate but I plan to rectify that soon. The book is both heartbreaking and inspiring, the fantastical tale of Tita, the youngest of three daughters growing up on a ranch with a less than loving mother. Here's the magic: Tita can make others feel emotions with her food. And not just any emotions, the emotions she herself is feeling as she cooks. And Tita feels a lot, especially after her older sister marries the man Tita is sure she's meant for.

The book is intoxicating (with mouthwatering recipes and instructions starting every chapter), magical, and more than just a little steamy. It's definitely a love story but to me, it's about loving the kitchen. Tita's recipes sustain her, they carry her through, they're a way for her to celebrate every happiness – and grieve every disappointment. It's about feeling the world through the tactile form of cooking. And it's about good food. 

Laura Herrera Torres, Editorial Assistant

Pick: Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook by Anthony Bourdain

After reading Kitchen Confidential, I fell in love with Bourdain’s writing (both because of and in spite of his personality). In the hopes of repeating the experience, I plan on picking up Medium Raw. Bourdain is known for narrating his life and trials in the food industry with unfortunate personal anecdotes that abound in dry humor and vulgar candor and often serve as some of the clearest examples of schadenfreude in literature. I’m hoping Medium Raw continues this tradition of unapologetic insights and gossip regarding the lives of famous chefs.

As an added bonus to Bourdain’s Howard Stern/Hunter S. Thompson style of food writing, Medium Raw is divided into related essays that make it easy to pick-up between dips in the ocean! Also, on a personal note, I can count the number of non-fiction books I’ve voluntarily read with one hand, so Medium Raw will get me that much closer to double digits.

Next, more foodie beach reads… [pagebreak]

Irina Gonzalez, Director of Audience Development

Pick: Apron Anxiety: My Messy Affairs In and Out of the Kitchen by Alyssa Shelasky

My favorite type of summer books is the kind that envelops me in a different world, in an intriguing romance, in some adventure. And tell a fun, heartwarming story that I can relate to. When I picked up Alyssa Shelasky's Apron Anxiety, I knew it was love at first read. The memoir, which revolves around the journalist's rocky-and-romantic relationship with Chef and her forays into learning to cook, is a light and easy read. Her quirky personality, mishaps in the kitchen, and complicated love affair with the unnamed chef (it's Spike Mendelsohn, in case you're wondering) make for a fun and funny read—just the kind of book I love to devour while sipping on a Paloma poolside. 

Ariela Brody, Intern 

Pick: The Ethical Butcher: How Thoughtful Eating Can Change Your World by Berlin Reed

This summer I plan on taking on Berlin Reed’s food memoir, The Ethical Butcher. With the rising popularity of ethical meat in restaurants, it has become my summer mission to learn more about sustainability and food justice, so that I can eat my lomo saltado with a clear conscious. Originally identifying as a militant vegan punk, Berlin Reed uses this book to discuss his journey and relationship with meat, starting with his apprenticeship at a butcher shop in Brooklyn when he was unable to find any other work.

Through his experience in the world of butchering, he learns about what it means to be organic, how corporate greed plays into the world of culinary rock stars, as well as what exactly is an eco friendly supermarket. Besides making me hungry, this book's original perspective from a vegan-turned-butcher-turned-chef is one of the few books that withhold judgment while highlighting all the aspects of the current debate. And though Reed's philosophy isn't exactly light, I look forward to the challenge.