I love to cook. I enjoy feeding others. While I’m not a total foodie, I do enjoy trying out new foods. Confession: when I’m eating at home, I like to watch the Food Network or food shows on the Travel Channel because it makes my food taste better. And sometimes there can nothing quite as pleasant or satisfying as enjoying a novel that has tons of food in it.

Why are books about fiction satisfying? Because I get to learn about new foods. I get to read about how food is prepared and enjoyed. It’s just enjoyable reading about cooking and eating in a novel format vs reading a cookbook (which while sometimes can be satisfying as well provided there is narrative in it). The story doesn’t HAVE to be 100% about food. But it can talk about the food in the characters’ lives and how they revolve around it. The key to a good foodie fiction is an excellent story with the added benefits of the love of food thrown in.

You can totally tell when an author is just putting food in the story just because they have to and when they really enjoy it themselves. Characters don’t eat just because it’s a necessity, they enjoy and savor their food.

Here are some recommendations of foodie fiction (all with glorious recipes so you can enjoy what you have just read) that I have enjoyed over the past year:

A Table by the Window by Hillary Manton Lodge (2014, Waterbrook Press)

My blurb: Online dating adventures plus Italian/French food plus family secrets with a surprise dash of Doctor Who references = I WANT TO EAT THIS BOOK

The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris by Jenny Colgan (2014, Sourcebooks Landmark)

My blurb: Paris. Chocolate. Storylines that alternate between here and now? More helpings please?

Out to Lunch by Stacey Balls (2013, Berkley Trade)

My blurb: Friendship, food, and geeks. What more could I want in a book? (PS HAWKEYE GETS A SHOUT OUT. SO MUCH WIN)

Stones for Bread by Christa Parrish (2013, Thomas Nelson)

My blurb: Thanks to this book, I have totally learned to appreciate what good bread is. Plus learning about reality cooking shows.

The Girls’ Guide to Love and Supper Clubs by Dana Bate (2013, Hyperion)

My blurb: If you don’t know what a supper club is before reading this book, when you finish you will have already joined one.

What are some of your favorite fictional books about food?