Beans, beans, they’re good for your heart, the more you eat, the more you, well, appreciate cookbooks from authors like Joe Yonan who makes legumes cool again. The James Beard Award-winning food and dining editor takes humble but mighty chickpeas, lentils and—you guessed it—beans to concoct crave-worthy mains, snacks, soups and even desserts. And they’re not boring or one-noted! From harissa-roasted carrot and white bean dip to smoky black bean and plantain chili, there is a recipe to please any palate and personal preference.

If your immediate answer to this cookbook title is “no,” then this may just be the text for you. Affectionately named as a nod to his mother (and the first words he would hear from her daily), Woo takes the Asian-American staples we know and love, but incorporates his own special pizzazz and trademark humor. Standouts include chicken congee with pork floss and x.o. sauce, as well as a gochujang grilled skirt steak. And while many of us may dream of having the former model for dessert, his caramelized Hong Kong egg tart is an unsurprising star.

It’s important to remember that the LGBTQ+ community represents humans from nearly every part of the sexuality and gender spectrum. Tasty Pride does an excellent job of highlighting writers from all backgrounds by rounding up their most cherished recipes and the significance behind each of them. Contributors include Chopped’s Ted Allen, Top Chef Master Anita Lo and Bon Appetit host Rick Martinez, who have their own popular cookbooks, but take the time to share additional stories so that they can be woven among a quilt of other queer chef voices. 

Healthy meal options don’t have to be complex or one-noted. Simply Julia has found a way to take classic comfort foods and transform them into high-protein, low-carb delicacies like ricotta and potato chip fish cakes, as well as a white pizza-inspired kale. But it’s her vulnerability and effortless charm that make her feel as if she’s the best friend you never knew you needed in your life. Dishes are paired with poignant vignettes about anxiety, charity work and childhood food memories that will have you laugh, cry and question what else you can be doing to make your life more meaningful.

Americanized Mexican food gets a bad rap, but not with Esteban Cabilo at the helm. The Mexican-American chef who hails from Santa Ana, California specializes in the traditional cooking methods and preparation of his ancestors. In fact, this cookbook is an extension of his wildly popular blog, which bears the same name. Expect some familiar dishes like chicken and corn masa dumplings and chorizo-spiced squash tortas, but revel in Cabillo’s creativity with mac and queso fundido and a toasted coconut horchata. A trip down to Mexico is an obvious must for any gastro-minded traveler, but this cookbook may just be the next best thing.

Husbands That Cook equals #relationshipgoals. The adorable duo share 120 of their all-time favorite vegetarian recipes, but with sweet backstories of their lives together in Eagle Rock, California (with cat Sylvia!). Even the most vegetable-averse will fall in love with offerings such as pad see ew and tofu and chickpea cacciatore, so much so that they’ll forget meat isn’t even on the plate. But it’s the couple’s dessert section that really shines: cakes, cookies, caramels—all sinfully rich, but as sweet as their personalities that radiate from the pages.

While serving prison time for a prostitution conviction, Doroshow wrote this cookbook to detail her life as a transgender woman and the role food has always played in it. The result: a fascinating, inspiring read, anchored in humor, but with 40 Caribbean-inspired Southern eats that will have you hankering for a culinary trip below the Mason-Dixon Line. She also leads with a wonderfully intricate intro that delves deeply into her childhood and the people who influenced who she is (and the values she cherishes) today.

If you consider yourself a certified grazer and proponent of the ever-so-trendy “girl dinner,” Volger’s Snacks for Dinner will inform all of your noshing needs. The book is broken down into seven components: Crispy-Crunchy (Savory Bites), Tangy-Juicy (Pickles & Marinades), Scooped and Smeared (Dips & Spreads), Centerpiece-ish (A Little Heartier), Small but Mighty (Spoon Salads & Soup Shots), Vessels (Crackers, Breads, & Chips) and Dips-Sweets (Drinks & Desserts). Skeptics may go into this text assuming that they won’t leave satiated, but they’ll immediately be proven wrong.

Cooking is the bond that connects us all, transcending differences in cultures and backgrounds to create a sense of unity and belonging. This exciting text bridges political activism with mouth-watering food by supplementing recipes with essays from activists in the worlds of restaurants, politics and social causes. All profits go to the ACLU, so it’s a book you can feel even more good about purchasing for yourself, a friend or family member.

You don’t have to venture somewhere tropical to pour out a fruity cocktail and enjoy a mid-week happy hour. As the IACP 2020 winner in the Beer, Wine & Spirits category, this book is heralded as so much more than an excuse to imbibe outside of the go-to beers and wines in your refrigerator or bar cart—it’s a lifestyle. Brooklyn-based Mustipher capitalizes on the emerging trend of Caribbean rum and indigenous flavors, which is ironic, considering tiki drinks have been around for ages. But she cleverly makes them more accessible and exciting for a more modern audience with creative flavor iterations and interesting factoids.

You don’t have to be good at math to understand why The Flavor Equation deserves a permanent spot in your kitchen. This is so much more than a cookbook—it’s an education, with science-backed explanations as to why we use certain herbs, spices and ingredients, and how our palates perceive them. Recipes are divided into seven sections to reflect some of the most common flavors that hit our tongues on a daily basis: brightness, bitterness, saltiness, sweetness, savoriness, fieriness and richness.

I’d be remiss to not plug my own cookbook on this list. If you often gravitate towards simple, yet dependably delicious dishes like avocado toast, acai bowls and cauliflower pizza, this is the coffee table read for you. Brimming with the self-deprecation, sass and daily complaints you’d expect from an often-hangry gay boy, my mission was to create a cookbook that was inspirational over aspirational so that cooking was more accessible and fun.