Is there a cuisine you think you could eat every day, one you wouldn’t tire of? For me, the answer is easy: Vietnamese.
Composed of fresh and healthy ingredients and contrasting flavors and textures—herbs and tropical fruits, lime, palm sugar, fried shallots, and a lot of fish sauce—Vietnamese food is invariably delicious and satisfying but not overly heavy.
All this is reason enough to immerse oneself in Nini Nguyen’s marvelous new book, Dac Biet: An Extra-Special Vietnamese Cookbook (Knopf, Aug. 27). Born in New Orleans in 1986, Nguyen didn’t visit her ancestral homeland until age 28. She nevertheless inherited her family’s love of Vietnamese cuisine; as children, she and her late brother, Bobby (to whom the book is dedicated), would watch the Food Network “religiously.” In little time, Nguyen achieved her reality-TV dreams, being invited onto Top Chef. She has since found her calling as a popular cooking instructor. “My logic is that if everyone knows these dishes,” she writes, “Vietnamese cuisine will be here to stay, and will—I hope—find its place in American culture.” The many dishes in Nguyen’s book are certainly a good start, guiding readers through everything from tangy sauces and noodle soups to her inventive “Southeast Asian/Spanish” jambalaya.
There are countless other cuisines finding their place in American kitchens, and many cookbooks showcase them. A standout is Alexander Smalls’ The Contemporary African Kitchen: Home Cooking Recipes From the Leading Chefs of Africa (Phaidon, Oct. 15). Like all of Phaidon’s titles, this book is gorgeous. It divides its 120 recipes regionally (which makes sense for such a diverse continent), and it spotlights famous dishes like Egyptian falafel but also lesser-known ones—the scallops with hibiscus sauce, from Togo, is especially inspired.
One of the most enjoyable cookbooks of 2024 is Koreaworld by Deuki Hong and Matt Rodbard (Clarkson Potter, April 23), which, in addition to its recipes, profiles chefs, shopkeepers, and others in chronicling a cuisine that is “exploding” in popularity. The lively photos capture a street-food culture that is growing around the world.
After some of those high-proteins meals, you might be in the mood for something lighter. Here to help is influencer Radhi Devlukia Shetty’s JoyFull: Cook Effortlessly, Eat Freely, Live Radiantly(S&S/Simon Element, Feb. 27). The plant-based recipes include a restorative chai and brightly colored drinks, such as one made of lavender and blue matcha.
Finally, for those of us not ready to acknowledge the departure of summer, there is Zaytinya: Delicious Mediterranean Dishes From Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon (Ecco, March 19). Written by José Andrés, the big-hearted chef who founded the relief organization World Central Kitchen, the book takes its name from Andrés’ Washington, D.C., and New York restaurants. Zaytinya is a celebration of mezze, small plates of warm-weather food from the Eastern Mediterranean that have been shared across boundaries for centuries. As Andrés so aptly puts it, “The connections between the people of this region are old and deep—and their shared food traditions prove that what brings us together is more powerful than what separates us.”
John McMurtrie is the nonfiction editor.