I have a fondness for cookbooks which I collect and read like cherished novels.
For those who adore the food porn that are cookbooks as much as I do, we all have our favorite authors. In honor of Pride Month, let me introduce you to some LGBT cookbook authors.
Zoe Adjonyoh
Adjonyoh takes traditional Ghanaian recipes and adds her own style and point of view in Zoe's Ghana Kitchen. From kyenam (fante fried fish with shaved papaya) to aboboi (bambara bean stew), you're sure to find many recipes you'll love.
“As a mixed-race, Black lesbian from a working-class immigrant background who works at the intersections of food, culture, identity, and politics, I’m driven to create change in the food landscape. I hope for an equal balance in the representation of global cuisines. I want to see jollof as readily accessible as curry in supermarkets and in the minds of diners,” she writes in her bio.
Paul Arguin and Chris Taylor
On their first date in 2009, Arguin suggested they bake together over the phone. He let Taylor choose the recipe. Five years later, Arguin and Taylor were married. Today, they share a home in Atlanta with a commercial kitchen in the basement, and they just published a new cookbook, “Fabulous Modern Cookies” from The Countryman Press. Why cookies? Well, according to what they write in their book, cookies are the “most approachable of all desserts.”
Von Diaz
Diaz is a writer, documentary producer, and author of “Coconuts & Collards: Recipes and Stories from Puerto Rico to the Deep South.” Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, she explores food, culture, and identity. In addition to her debut culinary memoir, she has contributed recipes and essays to several cookbooks and anthologies and her work has been featured in the New York Times, The Washington Post, Bon Appétit, NPR, Food & Wine Magazine, Eater, and Epicurious.
Ceyenne Doroshow
In “Cooking in Heels,” Doroshow offers up 40 Southern-style favorites with a Caribbean twist. A transgender woman who was inspired to write her book while serving prison time for a prostitution conviction, she writes with good humor and begins with the story of her life. Doroshow proves that food and love are the ties that bind, and family is what you make it.
Elizabeth Falkner
If you've ever wondered how a professional chef cooks during their downtime, chef Falkner, best known for her appearances on Food Network and her successful restaurants, gives you a peek behind the kitchen door in “Cooking Off the Clock: Recipes from My Downtime.” The cookbook provides casual, everyday recipes that are exciting and inspiring. If you're looking for all-purpose recipes that are both practical and delicious, start with this.
Hannah Hart
If you're a fan of Hart, host of the hit YouTube series My Drunk Kitchen, you'll love this cookbook that combines her culinary knowledge with her hilarious sense of humor. Recipes for saltine nachos and latke shotkas are both entertaining and delicious, exactly kind of food you make when you’re drunk. If you can follow a recipe.
Edd Kimber
Kimber is a baker, food writer and TV personality. Kimber realized the corporate world wasn’t for him after entering and winning The Great British Bake Off. His cookbooks, “The Boy Who Bakes,” “Say It With Cake,” “Patisserie Made Simple” and “One Tin Bakes,” are British staples, and he currently hosts the popular "Stir the Pot" podcast.
Tim Mulligan
While Mulligan isn’t a trained chef, he worked for years in restaurants and picked up delicious, satisfying, and failsafe recipes from fellow home cooks, adding some of his own touches along the way. He’s a gay dad who prepares meals every night for his family. In “The Perfect 10,” Mulligan provides fail-proof recipes from breakfast to appetizers and sides, to salads, entrees, desserts, and a full holiday menu.
Bryan Petroff and Douglas Quint
Fans of “Big Gay Ice Cream,” the titular cookbook, written by the founders of the beloved ice cream shop, this is for you It gives you the scoop on everything you need to know about making homemade frozen treats. Along the way, you can enjoy Petroff and Quint’s stranger-than-fiction stories, cheeky humor, vibrant photography, and illustrations, and plenty of culinary and celebrity cameos (including an introduction by the late Anthony Bourdain).
Lou Rand Hogan
Of course, a discussion of LGBT cookbooks would not be possible without including chef Hogan’s “The Gay Cookbook.” A reprint of the original edition from the 1960s is now available. The book is campy, and chatty. But, while written humorously, the recipes often are complex and cosmopolitan, and hold up surprisingly well.
Jesse Szewczyk
“Tasty Pride,” compiled by Szewczyk, features 75 recipes submitted by members of the queer food community. This rainbow cookbook is an eclectic mix of recipes ranging from spicy strawberry ice cream sundaes to everything bagel beignets. Each contributor shares a short personal story — some funny, some sad, and all filled with hope. Szewczyk is a food stylist and writer based in New York. He was named a Forbes 30 Under 30 of Food & Drink for 2021. “Tasty Pride” has already raised $50,000 for GLAAD.
Rick Karlin is SFGN's food editor. Visit SFGN.com/Food to read his previous reviews. Have a culinary tip to share? Email Rick at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
