13 Healthy Cookbooks That Changed the Way We Eat
When we first started talking about creating a definitive ranking of healthyish cookbooks, I was completely overwhelmed. There were so many books to consider, so many we'd have to ignore. People were going to be very upset with us! How could this possibly go well?!
So we decided to change the rules. Instead of making our list definitive—choosing winners, and, by default, losers—we decided to make it personal. We asked our staff, our friends, and our idols what cookbook defined healthyish food for them, and we asked them to tell us why. The answers we got were truly diverse and amazing. Of course, there are the classics—Moosewood and Chez Panisse—but so did cookbooks I admit I'd never heard of, like Salad for Dinner, Jenny Rosenstrach's favorite for weeknight family cooking. Others, like Nose To Tail, remind us that healthy eating looks different for everyone: One cook's smoothie bowl is another's rolled pig's spleen.
These 13 cookbooks may not be the best healthyish cookbooks of all time, but they're the ones we have stories about—the ones that've stayed with us through everything, brought us back to our roots, and made us see food in a different light. We hope they'll do the same for you.
1/13Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone by Deborah Madison
I purchased my copy of Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone in 1999, which I know for a fact because my Amazon order history goes back that far. I was recently married and had just moved into the house in Brooklyn where we still live. I had been a line cook for about a year and was already in the habit of reading cookbooks in bed. Since then, I’ve used Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone as reference and reassurance, and bandied it about as proof to my younger colleagues that, when it comes to information, books are way better than the goddamned internet... Read the rest of Bon Appétit food director Carla Lalli Music's ode to this vegetarian "treasure trove."
2/13Nopalito by Gonzalo Guzmán
My grandparents, who came to the U.S. from northern Mexico when they were in their teens, had built themselves a lovely manifestation of the American dream: their own business, a little ranch house a few blocks from the beach, a rotating cast of cool vintage cars. When my brother and I arrived, we moved aside the embroidered doilies and china figurines of the apostles, ran in and out of the house sloughing beach sand all over the floors, and left our bikes strewn across the small road out back. And whenever we needed a second to breathe, we ate... Read Alejandra Borunda's whole story about cooking with her abuela, and get Nopalito's fresh and herby salsa cruda recipe.
3/13Tartine All Day by Liz Prueitt
A few months ago, I borrowed Tartine All Day from special projects editor Julia Kramer’s office just to “look through it.” Since then, it’s lived on my kitchen counter—not even on the shelf with the other cookbooks—that’s how much I’ve used it. Yes, Liz Prueitt is the epitome of the healthyish baker, and I expected to dive headfirst into her Double Chocolate Sorghum Brownies and Teff Carrot Cake. Instead, I kept returning to her takes on savory classics. I never thought Prueitt would be the one to inspire me to finally spatchcock a chicken or preserve my own lemons or make actually delicious pureed soup (I’ve always been dubious about the labor-to-satisfaction ratio of pureed soup). Her Stracciatella is the simplest; her cauliflower soup only slightly more involved. The recipes are exact in a reassuring, never fussy, way. “Leave the seasoned chicken uncovered in the refrigerator for at least a few hours or up to 1 or 2 days,” Prueitt commands in that spatchcocked chicken recipe. But she’s quick to add: “However, a roasted chicken cannot always be planned ahead.” Of course, I haven’t completely ignored the sweeter fare. A Dutch baby pancake with stewed apples was worth the investment in brown rice flour, and now I have an excuse to make that carrot cake too.
– Amanda Shapiro, Healthyish editor
4/13Tender by Nigel Slater
I fell in love with this book for two reasons. 1. It's organized alphabetically. 2. It focuses on produce, which tends to be one of my favorite things if not my favorite thing; I think it’s the California boy in me. I love my meats and seafood, but I’m definitely a sucker for beautiful, gem-like produce. Nigel Slater has published many books, but Tender is the best introduction to him as a writer, an avid gardener, and a cook. It shows his deep love for his garden and his knowledge—he is extremely thoughtful and thought-provoking every step of the way. Each item, from asparagus to zucchini, has a little essay on how it can be grown, its characteristics, its tastes, and what other ingredients you can combine it with. I can’t even call them recipes. Yes, there's a list and and a method, but his phrasing makes it feel like a conversation. It’s like a little love letter, or maybe an ode or poem. There’s something very familiar with each of these dishes, even if you never made them before or if you’re not familiar with the ingredients. The majority of them are painfully simple—the ingredients are amplified and showcased in their purest form with just a little bit of fat, a drop of acid, and maybe a sprinkling of some heat. That's the beauty of Tender: Not only do you have these incredible recipes to add to your repertoire, but you gain knowledge about these ingredients that you’ll keep for the rest of your life.
—Andy Baraghani, Bon Appétit senior food editor
5/13Afro-Vegan by Bryant Terry
Afro-Vegan belongs in the Healthyish canon not because it speaks to the African-American experience (though it does and beautifully so), but because it speaks to anyone who wants desperately to eat well while living in a world that’s constantly giving us reasons not to. Bryant Terry may not have been the first person to figure it out, but he certainly figured out how to make that mission more approachable and less daunting than ever... Read Bon Appétit assistant editor Nikita Richardson's essay on how Afro-Vegan gets to the heart of the most difficult truths about being black in America.
6/13Nose to Tail by Fergus Henderson
I know what you’re thinking: What the hell is a book called The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating doing on this, a list of essential “Healthyish” cookbooks? Indeed, Fergus Henderson’s paen to cooking with blood, guts, and off-cuts, originally published in the UK in 1994, would seem to have about as much in common with The Moosewood Cookbook as a pig’s foot has with a parsnip. (They’re the same-ish shape, at least?) Inside, you’ll find no recipes for zoodles, no bee pollen-topped toasts, no superfood-infused smoothie bowls. And though it may have been at least partially responsible for inspiring the meat-centric, bro-tastic, pork-belly-and-chicken-livers-on-everything cooking of the late aughts and the years that followed, I got something very, very different out of it... Read Basically editor Amiel Stanek’s full defense of whole-animal butchery.
7/13Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi
It’s hard to believe that Plenty was published only seven years ago. It’s harder still to remember what food was like before. You know, before pomegranate seeds and yogurt were on everything (but especially eggplant), and Middle Eastern flavors, “veg-forward” dishes, and vibrant, abundant presentation were the norm. Really, you can trace so much of today’s healthy(ish) trends to Yotam Ottolenghi’s 2011 book, a collection of his “New Vegetarian” columns for London’s Guardian newspaper, that was published in the U.K. in 2010. Restaurants—and dinner parties—haven’t been the same since. Suddenly, we were introduced to flavors borrowed from the Israeli-Palestinian heritage of Ottolenghi and his partner, Sami Tamimi. Gorgeous salads were made from all manner of grain and green, dressed and dusted with then-unexpected spices like za’atar, nigella seed, black lime, and sumac; lush, not-so-healthy tarts were filled with varieties of veg; perhaps you tried a certain breakfast dish called shakshuka. Being the first to serve my friends from this book felt like turning them on to a new drug; they bring it up each time we eat together, a walk down eggplant-and-pomegranate lane. What was I cooking before 2010? I can’t remember, but it definitely wasn’t this good.
– Christine Muhlke, Bon Appétit editor-at-large
8/13Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden
I'm a succulent-hoarding, iPhone-addicted, trend piece cliché of a $96 billion-spending Millennial—meaning I get my recipes from the Internet, and then splatter my screens with olive oil. But when Joshua McFadden's Six Seasons came along last year, I found myself flipping through it on the couch, marking "wannamake" recipes with little sticky notes that I didn't even know I owned. "Where did you dig up these Post-Its?" I'd ask my cat. He never answers. The completely engrossing cookbook, separated by, uh, seasons (early spring, late summer, etc.), has so many recipes that made me point and proclaim "I want that" that I've had to space them out in my Google cal. They're all centered around vegetables, and each recipe has minimal ingredients (rarely more than 10!). Last weekend, I made a cabbage, onion, and farro soup that sounds like "dinner party at the commune" but, I swear, when garnished with Parmesan, it's as comforting as mac 'n' cheese. Other favorites include the crispy broccoli with my beloved tonnato, the tuna melt casserole, and a broccoli rabe + Italian sausage thing that yielded no leftovers. McFadden sprinkles breadcrumbs on everything like they’re fresh cracked pepper at the Olive Garden (that’s…a great thing). The Google Books word cloud of the cookbook is hilariously accurate. See how big "Parmigiana-Reggiano" is? That's all you need to know.
– Alex Beggs, bonappetit.com senior editor
Get the recipe for Joshua McFadden's Celery, Apple, and Peanut Salad
9/13Moro East by Sam and Sam Clark
The dishes in Moro East are nourishing and unpretentious—interesting, vibrant meals made from the humblest ingredients. Communal meals are grilled and shared over open fires, soups ladled out of large soup pots, and big salads served family-style on expansive platters. The recipes are resourceful, letting little go to waste. The ingredient lists are often beautiful, colorful, and diverse, out of necessity. The book is a reminder: If you have this in your life, try to protect it. If you don’t, try to cultivate more of it... Read about why 'Moro East' is Heidi Swanson's top healthyish cookbook.
10/13Salad For Dinner by Jeanne Kelley
A few years back, if I told my kids they were having salad for dinner, the next question would most likely be something like, “Yeah, okay. And what else?” Not because they don’t like their leafy greens. It’s more that they thought of salads as a side dish, something thrown together at the last minute because, you know, parents are so annoying and need to have something—anything—green on the plate. I confess, I sort of defaulted in that direction, too. Then Jeanne Kelley’s book Salad for Dinner arrived in our lives, and everything changed. The salads in her book are complete meals and artfully composed, the exact opposite of “thrown together.” Beautifully photographed and organized by protein (Salads with Meat, Salads with Chicken, Salads with Fish, Vegetarian Salads, etc), there’s a recipe for every craving, especially the after-a-weekend-of-eating-pie-I-want-something-healthy craving. Our go-tos range from her throw-together Wilted Swiss Chard with Caramelized Onions, Croutons, and Fried Eggs to her more ambitious Singapore-style Chinese New Year Salad made with, among other things, raw fish, wonton strips, and grapefruit. But all her recipes strike the perfect balance between healthy and indulgent. One of them, the Indonesian Slaw (made with chicken, cabbage, pineapple, cilantro and a silky, spicy peanut sauce) might've even earned a spot on my kids' top 10 most requested meals. And that's saying something.
– Jenny Rosenstrach
11/13Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson
Chickpeas and dandelion greens—that was the first thing I made from this book. They were sautéed in olive oil with garlic, crushed red pepper, and lemon zest. It was the first time I ever ate weeds, and I can’t shake the taste memory. I was fresh out of school, still getting my toes wet in the kitchen, and Super Natural Every Day was definitely the most “granola” cookbook I had in my early canon. (Yeah, in fact, I started making my own granola thanks to page 26.) Should have known after dog-earring every page that it would have a pivotal role in the trajectory of my cooking today. Heidi’s recipes are rooted in whole, seasonal ingredients; they are unfussy, healthful and simply delicious. Her writing has a way of making you feel like you’re old pals just whipping up some millet muffins together in her San Francisco flat. She draws on inspiration from her home and abroad, and her recipes are at once familiar and unexpected; they always inspire me to take my own liberties with ingredients and flavor profiles. To say she’s informed my own culinary creativity is an understatement. (I’m still riffing on that dandelion dish to this day.)
– Alaina Sullivan, Bon Appétit senior designer
Get the recipe for Heidi Swanson's Chickpeas and Dandelion Greens.
12/13Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook by Alice Waters
Originally published in 1999, Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook is a compendium of the best recipes served at the cafe that sits above Chez Panisse, the birthplace of healthy California cuisine, in Berkeley, CA. Opened in 1980, the cafe gave would-be diners a more casual entry to Alice Waters’s food, and the Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook does the same. It includes classic recipes dating from the original cafe menu and spanning the years—Heirloom and Cherry Tomato Salad, Pickled Beets, Grilled Endives with Sauce Gribiche, Fennel Sausage with Red Wine, and Duck Confit with Baked Figs. Emphasis is on the quality of the ingredients and the pleasure of eating. Looking at the Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook today, it’s clear how much Waters has influenced everything from restaurant cooking to snack food. The chef and activist famously introduced French and Mediterranean flares, herbs, and greens, to the American diet, and her belief in eating food with flavor was a huge leap away from the widespread use of frozen and canned convenience food in the '70s. If the Joy of Cooking is the Swiss Army knife of the kitchen cookbook––full of hard-tack facts like accurate baking soda to salt ratios––then Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook is the back-to-the-land flintstone every cook should have at hand––teaching intuition and encouraging the sensual and practical pleasures inherent in cooking and eating. – Genevieve Walker
Read Genevieve’s essay on how Alice Waters gave rise to today’s the meal-kit generation.
13/13Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen
What started as a 30-odd-seat cafe in a sleepy college town in upstate New York in the early '70s bequeathed, arguably, the most influential meat-free cookbook of all time: The original Moosewood Cookbook, written by former Moosewood Collective member Mollie Katzen. Published in 1974, it’s a culinary bible of sorts for a generation of diehard and flirting-with-it vegetarians, and it remains one of the best-selling cookbooks of all time, selling upwards of 20,000 copies each year. With its distinctively homespun, illustrated, decidedly of-its-era aesthetic, the book introduced American cooks to ingredients you can find in nearly every grocery store today: tahini, tamari, whole grains. While much of the vegetarian world has caught up to—and surpassed, in some ways—the original Moosewood ethos, we have them to thank for the grain bowls at our local cafes and, even, spiralized veggies. – Leah Mennies
Read Leah’s story on why Moosewood matters more than ever in 2017.
