Recent Food Memoirs I've Read and Loved. First Up: Notes from a Young Black Chef

While my editor and I bang out a concept of my next cookbook, I've thought, why not forget the recipes for now, and just write something food-lovers would enjoy reading? Not all people who love stories of food are cooks, and not everything that's happened to me in my food and wine life merits a recipe. There's so much more to tell.

So, I’ve rolled up my sleeves and started writing a food memoir. And while I’ve been writing, I’ve also been taking some deep dives into a slew of current and recent food memoirs to see how they tick. Some have been amazing, some just so-so, while others have been thoroughly annoying. I especially eschew braggy food memoirs where the writer recounts his/her own genius moves at every turn. I want to hear about triumphs, for sure, but the flops along the way make you human -- and keep me turning the page.

I thought I'd share the three best recent food memoirs of the lot, so far. If you, like me, are spending more time at home than out and about, perhaps you'll enjoy them too.

Here's the first one I'd like to share:

1. Notes from a Young Black Chef: A Memoir
by Kwame Onwuachi and Joshua David Stein

How does one go from being a  drug-dealer to a James Beard award-winning chef, before the age of 29? Kwame Onwauchi did it through immense talent, hard work, disruptive awakenings and sheer moxie -- including a (post drug-dealing) stint selling candy on the subway to raise money to launch his own catering company. All this, while having to endure outright racism and senseless kitchen bullying along the way.

Onwauchi's journey from his childhood -- growing up in the Bronx and in Nigeria, with stints in the American South -- to becoming the chef of one of D.C.'s hottest, most anticipated restaurants, then losing it all, is, as the New York Times put it, "fierce and inspiring."

The most inspiring takeaway from the book is his singular insistence on being himself, from the way he dresses to what he cooks: He's less interested in cooking what people think that he, as a Black, Culinary Institute of America-trained chef, should cook (e.g., upscale versions of fried chicken and mac-and-cheese, for example) than in telling his own thoroughly singular story through food.

Now in paperback, the book snagged a Goodreads Choice Award in the category of Best Food and Cookbooks. He came in third, edging out my little tome, which came in fourth. No hard feelings — the best book definitely came out ahead here!

And another thing: "Notes from a Young Black Chef" is currently being made into a feature film starring Lakeith Stanfield. For this and other reasons, it will continue to be talked about for a long, long time.

Check out my reviews of other food memoirs I’ve admired:
• Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger, by Lisa Donovan
• Dirt, by Bill Buford