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One of the first things that comes to my mind when I think of the holidays is food–food and cooking. Especially this time of year, it seems like gatherings are all about sharing good food together around the table. For a lot of people, food is a way of sharing love. But food can also we a way of sharing stories, stories of the people and cultures who made us and passed down the recipes of the foods we love.
These historical fiction books are pretty much perfect for everyone getting in the holiday mood this season, then, with stories about chefs and friends sharing and appreciating their culture through cooking. Just be warned: these books may leave you feeling very hungry.
Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown
A chef kidnapped by a pirate for some five-star cooking on the high seas? Now that’s my kind of historical fiction! In 1819 renowned chef Owen Wedgwood is kidnapped Mad Hannah Mabbot, a ruthless pirate who promises to spare his life in exchange for the most delicious meals ever served. It’s a swashbuckling adventure as Wedgwood tries to create masterful meals for a pirate captain under siege.
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Four mothers. Four daughters. Four families. In the late 1940s, four Chinese women, recently immigrated to San Francisco, meet weekly to reminisce over mahjong and food. Their daughters believe their mothers’ stories and advice don’t apply to them and their American lives, but as they grow older, they begin to see how much they’ve inherited from their mothers’ pasts. It’s a tale of the complicated and beautiful relationship between mothers and daughters, but food also plays a central role as a linchpin of love and culture.
The Book of Salt by Monique Truong
In the late 1920s, a Vietnamese cook flees Saigon, answering an ad for a live-in chef at a Parisian household. He soon finds himself employed in the literary salon of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. But when his enigmatic employers decide to return to the U.S., Binh must decide whether to once again relocate, return to Vietnam, or make a new home for himself in Paris.
The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan
Food Network and historical fiction fans alike will love this book about a BBC radio program to help with rationing ideas during WWII. Two years into the war, Britain is feels the effects of the Blitz and food shortages as U-boats cut off their supply line. To help the struggling homemakers, a BBC program called The Kitchen Front is putting on a cooking contest, and the grand prize is no small thing: a job as the show’s first ever female co-host. The book follows four women giving their all for a chance at the job of a lifetime.
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BOOK RIOT RECS:
Ready for some good food yet? I know I am.
That’s it for now, folx! Stay subscribed for more stories of yesteryear.
If you want to talk books (historical or otherwise), you can find me @rachelsbrittain on Instagram, Goodreads, Litsy, and occasionally Twitter.
Right now I’m reading Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown and This Land is Their Land by David J. Silverman. What about you?