Our Top 5 Southern Cookbooks of the Year | Listen

We loved these 5 cookbooks so much, we’re wrapping them up to gift to others this year.

There’s a little bit of magic that passes from one person to the next when a cookbook is exchanged—it’s the ultimate expression of consideration. Being able to say, “you mentioned you’ve been wanting to learn how to make dumplings” or “I know how much you love a slow simmer,” without really saying it can speak volumes. As the year winds to a close, I looked back at the Southern food and cookbooks we covered in 2024 and these are the ones I’m most excited to gift to others this season.

For the Vegan-Curious

Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking, by Joe Yonan

Trust Joe Yonan to guide any cook into the world of plant-based cooking because his recipes not only work, they teach. He is himself a plant-based cook and eater (as well as the food and dining editor of The Washington Post), and in these pages, he provides a truly comprehensive guide that can be used on the daily, or dipped into for the occasional weeknight health kick. (Cookbook Club members: Read all about the cookbooks that have inspired Yonan.) 

For the Avid Reader

Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts, by Crystal Wilkinson

As managing editor Emily Havener notes in her review of this cookbook, “Wilkinson is a poet and storyteller, a writer and a cook, and Praisesong is both a lovely and powerful literary work that identifies writing a cookbook for what it truly ought to be—one of the highest forms of art.” Anyone who loves to dive deep into recipes and stories, as well as anyone interested in the foodways of Black Appalachia, will adore this book.

For the Overextended Parent

What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking, by Caroline Chambers

In her review of Caro Chambers’ first cookbook, digital editor Amber Chase put the superstar Substacker’s recipes to the test while a toddler and relentless pile of laundry threatened to invade. The verdict? I’m not sure about the laundry but the toddler was slurping mussel broth in no time.

For the Adventurous Baker

Bodega Bakes, by Paola Velez

Bakers might prefer precision and exactitude, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for radical creativity. Baker and pastry chef Paola Velez holds readers’ hands in this excellent new baking book where she shares her Dominican-American heritage through wild color and flavor pairings. In the card you include with it, guide your giftee to her zucchini sticky buns, nasturtium coconut cream pie, or caipirinha marshmallows.

For the Lover of Southern Cooking

When Southern Women Cook, by Morgan Bolling and Toni Tipton-Martin

For anyone who digs classic Southern cooking, this book is a solid kitchen companion, especially because the book also delivers countless essays, histories, and stories around the impact women have long had on Southern food. When I interviewed the authors about the book, they suggested picking out a recipe you like and then reading the accompanying stories while you gather your ingredients—sage advice to pass along to whoever receives it. (Full disclosure: I, too, have an essay in this book!)

Looking for more ideas? Cookbook Club members can check out these cookbook reviews for more gifting inspiration:

• The World Central Kitchen Cookbook, by José Andrés 
• Bayou, by Melissa M. Martin 
• City Eats New Orleans, by Beth D’Addono 
• Baking in the American South, by Anne Byrn

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