 | The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn
Buy used from: $1.78 A wonderful, true story about a woman who lives the dream that so many of us have these days -- to give up her day job and run away to Paris to study at Le Cordon Bleu. Terrific writing, great recipes and a truly inspiring tale.
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 | Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table by Ruth Reichl
Buy new: $10.85 / Used from: $0.01 One of my all-time favorite food memoirs by Gourmet editor Ruth Reichl. Warmly told with capitivating characters and scenes, it's a delicious read.
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 | An Embarassment of Mangoes by Ann Vanderhoof
Buy used from: $2.38 Ah, to set off for two years on a sailboat in the caribbean. It's the stuff of dreams, and Vanderhoof does a wonderful job of taking us into the galley kitchen of her sailboat.
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 | My Life in France by Julia Child
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $2.96 Julia Child's memoir of how her passion for food and cooking was awakened in Paris and Marseilles. A lovely story.
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 | Mediterranean Summer: A Season on France's Cote d'Azur and Italy's Costa Bella by David Shalleck
Buy new: $17.96 / Used from: $2.86 A private chef goes to work for a wealthy couple on their yacht, with stops all along the mediterranean. I recommend reading this in the dark of winter to let you dream of summer...
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 | Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell
Buy used from: $5.06 People to seem to love or hate this book. I liked the author's voice, as well as her tales of lugging home bits of offal and bones from the Turkish butcher and scouring Chinatown for lobsters to kill.
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 | Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany (Vintage) by Bill Buford
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $3.92 Deeply amusing and engaging tale of going from good home cook to workin' the line in restaurants at service, along with a portrait of Mario Batali that makes me think of him in a whole new light.
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 | Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (P.S.) by Anthony Bourdain
Buy new: $10.85 / Used from: $4.97 You'll never order mussels in a restaurant again, and you'll know your food is being cooked by guys from Ecuador at that swank French restaurant. Funny, insightful and a great look behind the kitchen doors.
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 | Consider the Oyster by M. F. K. Fisher
Buy new: $8.80 / Used from: $5.11 Anything by MFK Fisher is great, but this is among her best work.
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 | A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
Buy new: $9.36 / Used from: $0.01 Technically not a food book, but let's be honest - you can't live in Provence without writing about the food...
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 | The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
Buy new: $9.36 / Used from: $7.91 It will change the way you think about food.
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 | Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India (Vintage) by Madhur Jaffrey
Buy new: $11.21 / Used from: $3.18 A lovely memoir by Madhur Jaffrey about her experiences growing up in India.
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 | Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fuchsia Dunlop
Buy new: $16.47 / Used from: $6.96 Lovely book about eating your way through China
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 | The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family by Laura Schenone
Buy new: $17.79 / Used from: $8.00 The story of Italian immigrants in America unfolds through the story of a pasta dish...
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 | The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8 Lee
Buy new: $16.49 / Used from: $3.49 Very interesting look at Chinese restaurants in America
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 | The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine by Benjamin Wallace
Buy new: $16.47 / Used from: $3.78 Not necessarily about food, but in this case a mystery around Thomas Jefferson's wine
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 | Julie and Julia : 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell
Buy used from: $11.50 Fun story about a blogger who cooked all of Julia Child's recipes from Mastering the Art of French cooking in one year.
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 | Mediterranean Summer: A Season on France's Cote d'Azur and Italy's Costa Bella by David Shalleck
Buy new: $10.36 / Used from: $3.29 Oh, for a job cooking for rich people on their yacht...
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