This Is TASTE 698: Best Cookbooks of the Year with Now Serving and Kitchen Arts & Letters
Dec 8, 2025
In this engaging discussion, cookbook aficionados Matt Sartwell and Ken Concepcion share their insights on the evolving world of culinary literature. Matt highlights bestsellers from his New York store, revealing intriguing titles like the East Village Cookbook and emphasizing the growing interest in specialty techniques. Meanwhile, Ken showcases favorites from his LA bookstore, including Sean Sherman's Turtle Island. Both guests advocate for greater diversity in cookbooks, calling attention to underrepresented cuisines that deserve more spotlight.
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Cookbooks Offer Deep, Durable Value
- Cookbooks remain uniquely valuable because they enable deep, immersive dives that other media rarely provide.
- Physical format adds resilience, usability, and an archival, tactile record of cooking activity.
Ask First, Recommend Precisely
- Ask customers about experience level and intent to match them with the right cookbook rather than a generic bestseller.
- Recommend specific books based on cooking goals, time, and desired depth to avoid information overload.
Unexpected Bestsellers: Community And Niche
- Kitchen Arts and Letters' top seller was a community fundraiser, the East Village Cookbook, which sold nearly 500 copies.
- Their second bestseller was a $150 self-published Laotian book, The Child of the Rice Fields, showing appetite for characterful, niche works.
