Some cookbooks focus on a single fruit or vegetable, and these books typically go deep, with authors who are fully obsessed with their subject. Mark Kurlansky‘s book, The Core of an Onion: Peeling the Rarest Common Food, is a charming example, melding authority with a dose of irreverence.
First published in 2023, it’s a slim 200 pages, but the writer packs a lot in, covering the allium’s history and cultural impact, including the fact that ancient Egyptians tied them to mummies’ feet as a preservative. Kurlansky then offers loosely structured recipes for breads, sauces, and more, all centering the humble bulb.
Exploring Single-Subject Cookbooks
Amy Goldman Fowler‘s The Compleat Squash: A Passionate Grower’s Guide to Pumpkins, Squash, and Gourds is a canonical 2004 ode to members of the Cucurbitaceae family, showcasing the author’s passion for the subject. The book includes recipes, breed spotlights, resources for seed buying, and advice on growing your own.
Some single-subject cookbooks aim to introduce readers to less ubiquitous ingredients, such as radicchio, the subject of Lane Selman and Margarett Waterbury’s book, Radicchio: A Celebration of the Beloved Italian Vegetable. The book tells the “human and natural history” of the bitter chicory, along with instructions for how to grow it and cook with it.
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Diverse Approaches to Single-Subject Cookbooks
Anna Hezel’s Little Book of Olives: A Guide to Cooking, Eating, and Drinking for the Brine-Inclined presents recipes, shopping tips, and a breakdown of varieties, lending gravitas to an ingredient often relegated to garnish status. In contrast, Ed Ruscha and River Café chef Ruthie Rogers’s 2025 release, Squeeze Me: Lemon Recipes & Art, is a high-gloss love letter to the lemon, featuring pop art-coded photos and minimalist recipes.
While styles and forms vary, these books serve a common goal: to illuminate the sometimes surprising pleasures of a particular fruit or vegetable. As Kurlansky notes, “Onions have a way of taking on unexpected significance,” and this sentiment applies to all the ingredients featured in these cookbooks.
By focusing on a single ingredient, these authors are able to look into its history, cultural impact, and culinary uses, resulting in a rich and subtle understanding of the subject. This approach also allows readers to appreciate the complexity and versatility of individual ingredients, rather than just using them as a component of a larger dish.
