One of my warmest, most endearing memories from my childhood is of watching my mother cook as she read from her very rugged recipe book, complete with scribbles from when she filled it in, daal stains, and pages falling apart with every flip. This book still sits dusty in one of the many drawers in our house, reminding us of my own childhood.
Such is the kind of relationship most of us have with food. While it is the only way we nourish our bodies, it’s so much more than just that. Food is memory, it’s storytelling, culture, love, and tradition, all cooked up with ingredients that come from across the world. And these stories are stored and read through cookbooks.
Cookbooks have always been more than just collections of recipes. They are time capsules of the past, in the form of culture, memory, and flavour, offering us a glimpse into the kitchens, traditions, and creative minds that shape the way we eat. Within their tightly bound glossy pages, recipe books house the philosophies behind our favourite chefs’ signature dishes, document treasured family recipes, and offer a peek into a deeply personal world where food is the story, setting, plot, and main character, all in one.
In fact, in recent years, cookbooks have also evolved beyond the kitchen counter. They double as coffee-table centre-tops, travel guides to regional tribes and cuisines, and sometimes even memoirs filled with poetry, anecdotes, and wisdom. Whether you’re looking to master a new technique, experiment with the flavours of the world, or simply read about food the way many read novels, a good cookbook can be endlessly inspiring, and oftentimes, motivating.
So if you’re hoping to refresh your culinary bookshelf, or just want something delicious to flip through, these are a few cookbooks that definitely deserve a spot on your reading list!
Meher Verma’s Anayu – Recipes And Stories From Vana
Part cookbook, part philosophy of how to eat mindfully, Anayu – Recipes and Stories from Vana draws from the culinary practices of Six Senses Vana, the wellness retreat that’s known for its holistic approach to health and hospitality. The book captures and documents more than a decade of cooking in the retreat’s kitchens, translating the food philosophy developed there into recipes and wisdom that can be used in home kitchens every single day.
Rather than presenting food through a unidirectional lens that treats it as a trend-driven wellness concept, the book focuses on how cooking at Vana is rooted in ideas of nourishment, attentiveness, and a deeper relationship between the body, ingredients, and the environment.
Right from the title itself, the book makes its ideology obvious. The title ‘Anayu’ is an amalgamation of the Sanskrit words ‘anna’ (food) and ‘ayu’ (life), essentially referring to “food for life.” And hence, throughout the book, Varma explores the idea that food can serve as both nourishment and medicine.
He draws on Ayurvedic concepts and the retreat’s own work. Recipes served to guests at Vana appear alongside adapted versions for those cooking at home, emphasising ideas of seasonality, minimal ingredients, and cooking methods that support both personal wellbeing and environmental awareness.
But the book is not simply about recipes. Interwoven with the dishes are essays and reflections on food systems, farming practices, and the interconnectedness of people, ecosystems, and ingredients.
Megha Kohli’s India In A Bowl
Chef Megha Kohli’s India in a Bowl takes a refreshingly contemporary approach to cooking at home in India, reimagining the structure of a traditional Indian meal as a single, wholesome bowl rather than the many different plates we’re used to.
Drawing inspiration from the balance of flavours and components found in a classic thali—including grains, vegetables, proteins, chutneys, and sauces—the book transforms these elements into compact and nourishing dishes designed for modern lifestyles. The idea is simple yet extremely clever: a complete Indian meal that is quick to assemble, satisfying, and packed with varied textures and flavours in every bite.
At its heart, the cookbook embodies Kohli’s inherent belief that Indian food can be both deeply rooted in tradition and adaptable to modern routines. The recipes draw on familiar dishes and flavours from across India, like bowls inspired by rajma chawal, biryani, or podi idli, while presenting them in an approachable format suited to everyday cooking—even for beginners. The chapters get into a range of grains, vegetables, meats, seafood, and condiments, encouraging readers to mix and match ingredients to create bowls that are flexible, balanced, and tailored to their tastes or dietary needs.
By bringing together the familiarity of Indian home cooking with the convenience of one-bowl meals, India in a Bowl offers a thoughtful way to rethink everyday meals in an Indian context—one bowl at a time.
Price: INR 1,443
Pages: 224
Publisher: Roli Books
Rushina Munshaw-Ghildiyal’s ‘Chutney: A compendium of stories and recipes’
In her book Chutney: A Compendium of Stories and Recipes, culinary chronicler Rushina Munshaw-Ghildiyal spotlights one of Indian cuisine’s most overlooked yet intrinsic elements: chutney. I always tell people just how much of a chutney-and-condiment person I am, because, truly, I could never do without them. To my surprise, many don’t care for them enough, which, in my opinion, they must!
Often treated as simple sides occupying a little corner of a plate, chutneys are placed centre stage in this cookbook, which explores the incredible and impressive diversity of condiments across India’s culinary landscape. Through more than 230 recipes, the book documents regional variations, such as fiery chilli pastes and herb-based chutneys, as well as rare indigenous preparations made with ingredients we might’ve never expected.
What makes the book particularly fascinating is the way it combines recipes with storytelling and research. Spread across hundreds of recipes and even more pages, Chutney compiles essays, oral histories, and contributions from chefs, home cooks, and food experts across India. Hence, one could even call the book a culturally rich archive of culinary knowledge! The author’s primary aim remains not to define chutney rigidly, but to show how its identity shifts across regions, communities, and households. And at its core, the book is also a tribute to home kitchens and the generations of cooks who have preserved these recipes through memory rather than written records.
Price: INR 3,500
Pages: 500+
Publisher: Her Culinary Content Studio, A Perfect Bite Consulting.
Sona Bahadur’s ‘Invitation To Feast’
Food writer Sona Bahadur’s Invitation to Feast is less a conventional cookbook and more a cross-country journey through some of India’s most beloved dishes. Instead of cataloguing hundreds of recipes consecutively, the book focuses on eleven iconic dishes—like biryani, dosai, butter chicken, vada pav, undhiyu, chhole, smoked pork, and rasgulla—tracing their origins, regional variations, and cultural significance in India. Through travels spanning cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Goa, Assam, Surat, and Lucknow, Bahadur follows each dish to its source, meeting the chefs, street vendors, and home cooks who uphold their identity and keep these traditions alive.
What makes it particularly compelling is the way the book blends food writing, travel narratives, and history. Each chapter explores how a single dish has evolved across regions and communities, revealing the stories and identities embedded within everyday Indian food. Therefore, it ends up reading less like one recipe after another and more like an encyclopedia of some of our favourite delicacies from across the country. Alongside these narratives are also recipes gathered from restaurants, local kitchens, and culinary experts encountered along the way.
By looking beyond stereotypes of Indian cuisine and focusing on the people, places, and memories that shape these dishes, Bahadur has written a book that is as much about telling the stories behind food as it is about learning how to cook said food, which is exactly what makes it so fascinating to pick up and read.
Price: INR 705
Pages: 288
Publisher: Aleph Book Company
Rujuta Diwekar’s ‘Mitāhāra: Food Wisdom From My Indian Kitchen’
In Mitāhāra: Food Wisdom From My Indian Kitchen, nutritionist and bestselling author Rujuta Diwekar explores the traditional Indian idea of “mitāhāra,” which means mindful, measured eating. This philosophy comes from yogic and Ayurvedic traditions and highlights balance, moderation, and living in harmony with nature. Rather than following modern diet trends, the book encourages readers to return to food practices that have stood the test of time in India for generations. These include eating seasonal foods, using local ingredients, and paying attention to the needs of our bodies and the world around us.
The book is organised as a year-long journey, guiding readers on what to eat throughout the seasons. It shows how ingredients change, like enjoying mangoes in summer and root vegetables in winter, and offers tips on adjusting meals as the year goes on. Diwekar includes easy home recipes and shares personal stories and advice about daily habits, such as when to eat and the importance of traditional foods like ghee and pickles.
Mitāhāra reflects Diwekar’s broader food philosophy, which holds that Indian culinary traditions nourish not only the body but also the mind and community, rethinking ideas of health and wellness.
Price: INR 726
Pages: 240
Publisher: Penguin Random House India
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