Karen Coates

It's a classic, my go-to book for the basics, and it's a vital contribution to an overall well-rounded kitchen.

A classic in Southeast Asian cooking, and the most spot-on, comprehensive Thai cookbook I've encountered.

The most accessible rural Lao cookbook I've found with explanations of obscure ingredients, culturally specific tools and the culture of eating in northern Laos (one of my favorite cuisines).

This is a work of history with long-forgotten royal recipes from a culinary era that no longer exists.

This is feel-good comfort food, and every recipe I've made from this book is outstanding. I've never been let down.

Favorite recipes from one of my favorite Phnom Penh restaurants. This book reflects the culture of Cambodia, ancient to modern, and it doesn't shy from unusual ingredients.

My go-to curry book. This is my Indian comfort food.

Caveat: some of the recipes needed an editor. But at 800+ pages with 1,000 recipes from all across this vastly varied country, I can't imagine a more comprehensive guide to Indian food.

I've been gluten-free for 13 years, and finally this book gave me a chance at sweets & desserts that taste strikingly good... and frequently similar to wheat-based cousins.

A lesson in history and culture as much as food. These are the recipes I have eaten time and again in the field across Laos and northern Vietnam. There, recipes are handed down from mother to daughter. Nothing is written. The authors had a huge challenge in putting age-old traditions to paper. And they succeeded.