My favourite cosy food memoirs

Nourish yourself with this autumnal book round-up with recipes galore 🍒🧅🥐

Nora Ephron’s Julie and Julia is my favourite comfort film and just the sight of Meryl Streep, Stanely Tucci and Amy Adams cooking delicious food in apartments in Brooklyn and Paris makes me feel warm all over, like climbing into a giant bowl of Julia Child’s french onion soup.

A few months ago, I wrote about my favourite books that got me through burnout. An extension of this (or Part Two of sorts) would be the books that made me feel inspired and nourished. These would most likely be grouped together as ‘cosy food memoirs’. When I look at the pile of books on my desk right now that have given me the most pleasure recently, food is a main theme shining through. I nourished my spirit while also nourishing my tastebuds. Lots of olive oil, fish, herbs, butter, fresh vegetables and salt. Writing about food is famously really hard and I admire anyone who does it well.

The scariest time during my burnout was when I had no appetite. It was not like me. For a week or so I didn’t want to eat anything. Nothing appealed. Grief (even if it’s work-related creative grief) can do that to you. When my appetite finally came back (I remember eating a huge bowl of pasta my sister made me and feeling relieved at how good it tasted) it was as though this act symbolized that I was ready to engage with life again. On that note, it was fun putting my favourite foodie books into a list for you.