Top 5 Books About Food and Eating Worth Your Time

Five books, one cookbook-shaped and four not, that change how you shop, cook and think about what's on the plate. Chosen to last longer than the latest diet.

Curated by Penelope Voorhees-Larkin · November 1, 2026

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From the Editor

A short editor's letter

The reader has too many recommendations and too little time. We are trying to publish a magazine that respects this. Five things, ranked, defended in writing. Everything else, we believe, can be safely ignored.

— Margot Ainsworth-Rée, Editor-in-Chief