As one might expect, I’m an avid reader cookbooks, food magazines, food writing, and food blogs.  Infact, I spent so much time (and most of my paycheck) at Omnivore Books on Food, I’m finally working there part time as a bookslinger! What a treat! Come in and visit me! We are located in sunny Noe Valley (San Francisco) at Cesar Chavez and Church.

Here are a few of the books I’m reading right now (and recommending to everyone):

The Kitchen Diaries, by Nigel Slater: British chef Nigel Slater takes us on a years journey through his dinners, full of recipes, photographs, musings on food. The book reads like a journal, some days with elaborate entries, and other days just a sentence or two on take out bento boxes – it’s a nice study on seasonality, and a good reminder as to how easy it is to be creative in the kitchen and not sticking to the same recipes over and over. I’ve cooked several things out of here, with much success.

The Gastronomical Me, by M.F.K. Fisher: M.F.K. Fisher is the queen of food writing – She was one of the inventors of the genre, and is a delectably witty and progressive woman who can really, really write. I’ve been reading through it steadily, finding myself engrossed, in awe, and giggling an awful lot.

Ratio, by Michael Ruhlman: I’ve been reading this one with my moleskin in hand, taking notes – the basic concept of the book being that the majority of cooking requires the knowledge of a series of ratios rather than recipes. It’s a more scientific approach to cooking that I appreciate as a foundation for my own experimentation in the kitchen.

A Platter of figs, by David Tanis: David Tanis lives part of the year cooking at Alice Water’s Chez Panisse, and the other part of the year in Paris, living the good life, hosting dinner parties in his underground dinner club “aux chiens lunatiques“. His cookbook is a collection of seasonal recipes and menus catered towards a small party of six to eight friends.

How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, by Mark Bittman: A few years ago, I purchased Bittman’s How to Cook Everything, after several years of using his Minimalist recipes from the New York Times. I still use that book almost every day as a reference point, and have been overjoyed to have this Vegetarian version inspiring me similarly.

On my to read list for the next few weeks: The River Cottage cookbooks, Mark Kurlansky’s The Food of a Younger Land, David Lebovitz’ The Sweet Life in Paris, The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook, and the Ripailles cookbook, to name a few.

And I’m always looking for new suggestions. What have you been reading? Which books abut food or cookbooks do you love?