Thursday, February 16, 2012

Confession time.

I have a bookrack next to my bed that houses my modest collection of cookbooks/food memoirs. Ahem...82 when I last counted them. Each time I order a new one I am asked why do you need so many cookbooks/food memoirs?

Call it a fetish, weakness or whatever...psychological disorder, anyone?

But the truth is that there are so many lovely talented people in the world each opening up their hearts and kitchens to me and there is so much to learn from them; unfamiliar cuisines, ingredients, stories behind each of their recipes, cooking techniques, writing styles plus all of them make great bedtime reading.

To my credit, I try and use them all. And trust me I DO cook a lot:)

I can’t recall the exact moment when I fell in love with the idea of spending my entire life (and money:)) with cookbooks/food memoirs but I clearly remember flipping through my mum’s very fancy cake book each day after school (And just for your information we never baked anything from there for it had the most complicated five tier wedding cakes) and copying recipes for her in her diary from all the food sections of the magazines that she would rent.

Presenting to you my lovely readers, my precious cookbook/food memoir collection (In alphabetical order).

I am aware that just writing down the names of these books here really doesn’t tell you what each one means to me and  has given me but I promise to write about each one of them in detail in the future. And in the meantime,if you have any questions regarding any specific book, just leave me a comment and I will be more than happy to answer it.


  • 50 great curries of India by Camellia Punjabi
  • 100 weeknight curries by Madhur Jaffery
  • 500 best ever recipes CHOCOLATE
  • A homemade life by Molly Wizenberg
  • Around my French Table by Dorie Greenspan
  • Baking by Dorie Greenspan
  • Bill's Everyday Asian by Bill Granger
  • Booze Cakes: Confections Spiked with Spirits, Wine, and Beerby Krystina Castella and Terry Lee Stone
  • Chicken (Trident Press International)
  • Climbing the Mango Trees by Madhur Jaffrey
  • Cocktails ( Rebo Publishers)
  • Comfort food fix by Krieger
  • Comfort me with apples by Ruth Reichl
  • Cooking with Coco by Anna Del Conte
  • Cupcakes (PR Books Limited)
  • Cupcakes and Muffins by Ann Nicol
  • Drink by Tom Hickman
  • Eat my globe: : One Year to Go Everywhere and Eat Everything by Simon Majumdar
  • Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
  • Eating India: An Odyssey into the Food and Culture of the Land of Spices by Chitrita Banerji
  • Feast by Nigella Lawson
  • Forever summer by Nigella Lawson
  • Garlic and sapphires by Ruth Reichl
  • Good Day for a Picnic: Simple Food That Travels Well by Jeremy Jackson
  • Hajra’s recipes of life, for life by Hajra Mohammed
  • Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes by Maya     Angelou
  • Highway on my Plate by Rocky Singh and Mayur Sharma
  • Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen by Laurie Colwin
  • How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson
  • How to Eat by Nigella Lawson
  • Humble Pie by Gordon Ramsay
  • In my mother’s kitchen: Writers on Love, Cooking and Family (Chamberlain Bros.)
  • India with Sanjeev Bhaskar by Sanjeev Bhaskar and Deep Sehgal
  • Indian Flavors by Marut Sikka
  • Italian Khana by Ritu Dalmia
  • Julia's kitchen wisdom by Julia Child
  • Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell
  • Kashmiri Cuisine Through The Ages by Sarla Razdan
  • Kitchen by Nigella Lawson
  • Man with a Pan by John Donohue
  • Mastering the art of French cooking by Julia Child
  • Miss Dahl’s voluptuous delights by Sophie Dahl
  • Modern spice by Monica Bhinde
  • My Life in France  by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme
  • New Concise Larousse Gastronomique by Larousse
  • Nigella bites by Nigella Lawson
  • Nigella Christmas by Nigella Lawson
  • Nigella Express by by Nigella Lawson
  • Ottolenghi: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi
  • Perfect scoop by David Lebvitz
  • Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London's Ottolenghi by Yotam Ottolenghi and Jonathan Lovekin
  • River Cottage Veg Everyday by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall  
  • Seoultown Kitchen: Korean Pub Grub to Share with Family and Friends by Debbie Lee,Quentin Bacon
  • Shark' S Fin and Sichuan Pepper by Fuchsia Dunlop
  • Simply Samia by Samia Ahmed
  • Smoothies, shakes and frappes by sally Ann Berk
  • Stuffed: An Insider's Look at Who's (Really) Making America Fat and How the Food Industry Can Fix It by Hank Cardello and Doug Garr
  • Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table) by Ruth Reichl
  • The Best Little Marinades Cookbook (Best Little Cookbooks) by Karen Adler
  • The Calcutta Kitchen by Simon Parkes, Udit Sarkhel and Jason Lowe
  • The Delhi Walla ( Food + Drink) by Mayank Austen Soofi
  • The East Indian Kitchen by Michael Swamy
  • The Encylopedia of  sandwiches:  Recipes, History, and Trivia for Everything Between Sliced Bread  by Susan Russo 
  • The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit
  • The F-Word by Mita Kapur
  • The Gastronomical Me by MFK Fisher
  • The Joy of Eating: The Virago Book of Food by Jill Foulston
  • The Mainland China Cookbook by Anjan Chatterjee
  • The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten
  • The Mezze cookbook by Maria Khalife
  • The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden
  • The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz
  • The Settler's Cookbook: A Memoir of Love, Migration and Food [Hardcover] by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
  • The sharper your knife, the less you cry by Kathleen Flinn
  • The Silver Spoon (Cooking) by Phaidon
  • The Suriani Kitchen by Lathika George
  • The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz
  • The Ultimate Low-fat Indian Cookbook: The Best-ever Step-by-step Collection of Over 150 Authentic, Delicious Low-fat Recipes for Healthy Eating By Shehzad Husain and Manisha Kanani
  • Toast by Nigel Slater
  • Travelling Diva by Ritu Dalmia
  • Vietnamese kitchen by Bobby Chinn
  • What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained by Robert L. Wolke

Aaaannnd we haven’t even begun with movies that revolve around food. Oh! Come on..don’t be harsh...don’t judge me:)

 Image : here

3 comments:

GB said...

Nowhere near your collection, but i too love to collect and read cookbooks--my biggest problem is indecision...when faced with multiple options, I just freeze, and make a safe choice.

I'd love to hear your recommendations....a review from a trusted source would be so valuable.

Varsha said...

Thanks so much for sharing this! Just reading through the titles is so much fun. I can just imagine the joy you must get knowing whats in each of them :)
Enjoy your reads and add more!

orangekitchens said...

GB : I think we all do that..don't we? Always comfortable to cook what we cook all the time and what we know we can cook well :) Definitely, I would love to share what I think of each of these books. Not the best judge ofcourse...my two cents

Varsha : Wow...now you are giving me ideas. I am not sure the rack can take anymore load...may be a new rack first :)

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