Our favorite cookbooks of 2025

"The best cookbooks of 2025 inspired us to return to the kitchen again and again. They brought us not only inspiration and deliciousness but solace, beauty, delight and a sense of home in a challenging year, especially for Los Angeles. Our list of favorites defined connections to a place, whether geographical - Bahrain, Paris, a Palestinian garden - or reframed as a world view such as the legend of Turtle Island,"

"Recipes came from a world-class baker who remembers the kinds of cakes her mom would regularly put out on the counter; a defining French bistro known for its perfectly executed classic dishes and the warm glow of its unfussy atmosphere; an iconic New York "appetizing" store continuing a hundred-plus years of cured-fish tradition; and a groundbreaking Los Angeles chef who wants to meet home cooks where they're at, with an emphasis on being kind to yourself - the reassurance we all need."

"Ari Kolender opened his always-crowded clam shack, Found Oyster, in 2019 in a tiny 28-seat space on Fountain Avenue across the street from "Big Blue," as the Scientology command center is casually known. More than five years (and a million oysters) later, Kolender and co-writer Noah Galuten have penned an essential book on cooking seafood at home, "How to Cook the Finest Things in the Sea" (Artisan)."

The best cookbooks of 2025 encouraged frequent returns to the kitchen by offering inspiration, delicious recipes, solace, beauty, delight and a renewed sense of home, especially in Los Angeles. The selections emphasize connections to place, from Bahrain and Paris to a Palestinian garden and the Turtle Island worldview rooted in Indigenous creation stories. Contributions include a world-class baker recalling her mother's cakes, a French bistro celebrated for classic dishes and warm atmosphere, an iconic New York appetizing store preserving cured-fish tradition, and a Los Angeles chef prioritizing kindness for home cooks. Ari Kolender's Found Oyster story and technique-focused seafood book help readers cook diverse fish and shellfish with confidence.

Read at Los Angeles Times