Which of these two dishes do you find more appetizing?

It turns out, that how we choose what to eat, is much more complex than just getting calories into our bodies in order to build muscles and heal. Food is also the vehicle via which our brains construct habits, which help us feel good, as well as contributing to us creating lifelong practices in order to remain lean, fit, and healthy as we get older.

“We eat with our mouth and digest with our stomach but it is our eyes that apparently drive our appetite. Because appetite is what aids digestion the way our food looks is now key to how much of its nutrients our body can absorb which means that great-looking food can help us get fitter and stronger in less time.” – Darebee.com

Evolutionary psychologists have shown that one of our brain’s key functions is its ability to forage. Since humans lack a powerful sense of smell compared to animals; dogs have 300 million olfactory receptors, compared to human’s lowly 6 million, we two legged need to rely on our vision to find good food. Humans evolved to survive by seeking out nutritious-looking food. We have learned to connect specific colors to certain foods for nutritional value and their desirability to our senses through our appetites. This is why food marketing utilizes so many bright images with packaging, and why cookbooks are usually stuffed full of glossy and highly delectable images.

Today’s cookbook recommendation list has a little something for everyone; traditional full meals, exotic flavor palettes, veggie focused creations, pro-gut imaginative concoctions, funny and playful anecdotes, and of course no list would be complete without delightfully delicious deserts!

From Crook to Cook, Snoop Dogg

This cookbook offers 50 recipes and is divided into many chapters, such as; Breakfast, Main Dishes, and Snacks. Although there are no references to Marijuana in the book, Snoop’s detailed, personal and very funny review of snacks, gives a not so subtle nod to what those treats could be paired with for a peak culinary experience.

Many of the recipes are fairly basic, and nothing in the cookbook involves an advanced level of cooking ability. That being said, it is a very creative and innovative book worth exploring for the interesting ideas and the level of artistry that the book carries with it. Most of the recipes are pretty straight forward, but absolutely worth sharing with family, guests, or whoever happens to hanging out at your house when hunger strikes. On Pg.25, Snoop offers a solid corn muffin recipe called “Not Ya Mamma’s Corn Muffins”, and his “Cinnamon Rollin’” recipe on pg.27 won a Buzzfeed cinnamon roll contest- even over his pal Martha Stewart’s recipe. It’s SO good!

“When I’m no longer rapping, I want to open up an ice cream parlor and call myself Scoop Dogg.”- S. Dogg

Vegan Nigerian Kitchen, Tomi Makanjuola

From savoury snacks, to one-pot porridges to spicy soups, stews, sweet treats and cocktails, Vegan Nigerian Kitchen is the essential cookbook for anyone who wants to escape into a unique and scrumptious culinary journey. You’ll encounter regional dishes from across Nigeria, with insights into traditional ingredients and cooking methods. Each recipe brings on big taste and enjoyment, even without the use of meat, eggs, dairy, and other animal products.

Eat Your Heart Out, Daphne Oz

With four young children and a busy career, Daphne is very familiar with how tricky it can be to find the right balance with our health and fitness goals. This appealing book is filled with useful tips and attractive photography to inspire happiness and health every day. Daphne shares the techniques she’s used to get her mind, energy and body back on track after each pregnancy—without ever losing the joy of cooking, the playfulness of mealtime, and the pleasure of creating intuitively.

No refined sugars, no gluten, limiting dairy, and taking the weekend off are Daphne’s four inspired rules and the template for all the recipes in Eat Your Heart Out. If you are in a time of your life when you are looking to bring your body back into balance, Daphne works to remove the guesswork from healthy eating and lets us relax and enjoy our meals again, knowing we’re making great choices.

Eat Your Heart Out includes a range of simple-but-special deliciously nourishing recipes like; Barbecue Pulled Chicken with Crispy Smashed Japanese Yams, Spicy Crunchy Cauliflower Tacos with Ranch Slaw, Nori Popcorn and Banana Brulee.

the gut-living COOKBOOK, Alana and Lisa Macfarlane

The food we eat (and how we eat it) can have a large influence on the number and type of microbes living in our guts. The microbes in our digestive tracts are very smart and work hard to help control our blood sugar, manage cholesterol, balance hormones, produce vitamins, boot immunity, monitor the calories we absorb and store, and communicate with the nervous system and brain.

Three important aspects of good gut health include are fiber, the importance of food variety and the power of fermented foods. Chapters cover meals, drinks, and snacks, as well as tips for fermenting and pickling, and many of great suggestions on how to help make our drinking and eating habits friendlier for our digestive systems.

Joy of Cooking, by Irma S. Rombauer

What’s great about the Joy of Cooking, is that you can learn how to cook almost anything, and just making one recipe a week from it would eventually turn anyone into a good cook. 1156 pages and weighing in at almost five pounds, the Joy of Cooking 2019, which is the latest edition, is a robust and comprehensive book. Published by the original author’s (Irma Rombauer) great grandson, John Becker, and his wife, Megan Scott, like the previous 1997 version, it’s not a glossy, photo-heavy book, but instead reads more like an encyclopedic in both its content and design, with small print and brief but precise notes for each recipe.

However, this enduring cookbook, which was first published in 1931, has lastly power for another reason-nostalgia. It’s not uncommon to find Joy in someone’s house, even now, having been passed down through the generations. It’s been 91 years since the first edition was written and released, and many believe it has earned its spot in the iconic cookbook category.

Just as previous editions looked at pertinent concerns around cooking and ingredients of their time, such as needing to ration during wartimes, so too does this newest edition. “Listen,” says Becker as reported by Jessica Battilana, “We’re not perfect recorders of culinary tradition. We’re not historians. We’re not anthropologists. I’m not even a professionally trained cook. But the book attempts to faithfully document cuisine through time.” For example, this edition of Joy instructs readers on how to make kombucha, has a quick pressure cooker pho recipe, and offers safety tips for working with shellfish to avoid neurotoxin-producing algal blooms.

Snackable Bakes, Jessie Sheehan

Using just one-bowl, and simple, fast, easy-peasy steps are what made Jessie Sheehan’s TikTok videos a hit with millions of bakers around the world. Sheehan’s fuss-free approach, dynamically cheeky energy, and kitchen-savvy advice, are all highlighted in this must-have new cookbook

“I know what you’re thinking (because, yes, I’m not only the queen of easy-peasy baking, but I’m also a mind reader), ‘what on earth is a snackable bake and is it possible to get on in my belly right now?!’ Well, a snackable bake is an utterly scrumptious, round-the-clock treat that is quick and easy to assemble, requires limited equipment, and satisfies a sweets craving whenever it hits. And, yes it is possible to enjoy such a bake sooner rather than later, because typically a snackable bake satiates the abovementioned craving in an hour or less. Oh, and to be clear, I’m using the work “bakes” loosely here, as this book includes all kids of snackable treats, but not every one of them requires an oven (you’re welcome).” – Chapter 1 Introduction Snackable Bakes

‘If you can read, you can cook.’ – Julia Child

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