Best cookbooks of 2025: Soju Party, Fat and Flour, Salsa Daddy, Italo Punk, and more

When I was first I got a copy of one of this year’s greatest CookbooksIt stopped me in my tracks. There’s such a rush of books at the end of the year that I usually put two stacks of books at the far end of my desk and then methodically attack them, but this one was different. The cover was inviting, as if I had arrived at a party where the people and drinks looked interesting and lovely, and at the same time it immediately started answering questions about the food and culture. Amazingly, that coincidence happened five times this fall.

What makes this collection of books unique is that they are all great artistic twists. It’s as if the authors, photographers, editors, and people in the art department stood in a circle, put their hands in the middle, counted to three, and shouted “Bankrupt!”

There have been isolated versions of similar greatness in the past few years, often in surprising corners of the cookbook kingdom. They include recent favorites from the past few years World of Korea, Korean American, Start here, Oaxaca, Significant energy declineAnd maybe even a Molly Paz trio More is more. The resulting efforts opened me up to a favorite piece of art, made me happy and made learning easy, all working together to draw me in for more.

I hope this is the beginning of a new way forward, because once you start comparing this collection to old-fashioned cookbooks, or books from publishers with strict, repetitive styles, they soon start to look boring. This year’s bumper crop touches on salsa, instant ramen noodles, drinking culture, country, and home baking. It’s not exact, but it gets you cooking, eating, drinking, and dreaming, which sounds like the perfect cookbook to me. More really is more. Enjoy!

We’ll have another batch of cookbooks to recommend before the end of the year, so check back next week for the full list of the best books of 2025. In the meantime, also check out our latest recommendations for Diaspora cookbooks. See also the winning titles from 2024 and 2023.