The Best Philadelphia Cookbooks, From New Releases to Old Classics

Want to recreate Kalaya's tom yum goong soup? Need pizza-making tips from Joe Beddia? Attempting to make scrapple from scratch? These are the local cookbooks you need.


Photography by Kae Lani Palmisano

Cookbooks are far more than just a collection of tried and true recipes. They’re invaluable compendiums dedicated to preserving the stories about the people and places that influence the way we connect with food. Every book is a snapshot of a specific time in our culinary history. Every dish is an invitation to build a meaningful connection. And if you pay close enough attention, you can see how trends and tastes have changed over time.

I have a library of over 80 cookbooks ranging from World War II rations pamphlets with instructions on how to bake a cake with vinegar instead of eggs (there’s a science to it, I promise) to hyper-niche community cookbooks for motorcyclists who need a hearty meal before hitting the road, Beanie Babies enthusiasts organizing a plush-themed potluck, and KFC fans trying to decode Colonel Sanders’s secret recipe.

Aside from some pretty obscure titles, roughly half of my vast collection are written by Philadelphians. (And before you ask me, no, I don’t have any of Luisa Florence’s cookbooks which may or may not be AI-generated.) As a food editor, they’re a valuable resource for better understanding our local scene and the people creating it. Though restaurants and chefs come and go, their contributions can still be found in print, ready to be studied and savored for years to come. But as a home cook, each book is a wealth of knowledge offering up tips on how to recreate the flavors of the city’s best restaurants right in my kitchen.

Below are not just the newest Philly cookbooks that have hit the shelves this past year, but also the essential books that food-obsessed locals need to have. And since we’re talking about local cookbooks, we’re also including a short guide to independently owned bookshops where you can find many of these titles.

New Philly Cookbooks

Kalaya’s Southern Thai Kitchen by Nok Suntaranon with Natalie Jesionka

Kalaya’s Southern Thai Kitchen

Since opening Kalaya, Nok Suntaranon has had one mission: to show Philadelphians the depth, complexity, and aromatic richness of southern Thai cuisine. When she first entered the dining scene in April 2019, she made waves by telling customers “no” if they dared ask her to tone down the spice level of her cooking. (Nowadays, she just rolls her eyes.) These are her mother’s and her grandmother’s recipes, she told us in a previous interview. The authenticity of these recipes — which traveled across thousands of miles from the Trang province market where her mother worked — deserves to be preserved and shared. Now, nearly six years, a James Beard Award win, and an episode of Chef’s Table later, we’re lucky that she was unwilling to compromise her vision. Not only do we have a nationally recognized Thai restaurant in Philly, but we now have a cookbook where we can learn how to bring Suntaranon’s cooking into our own homes.

Kalaya’s Southern Thai Kitchen is a stunning collection of recipes, Suntaranon’s personal stories, and photography (by frequent Philly Mag photographer Michael Persico) that you’ll salivate over. Yes, there are homey versions of Kalaya favorites, including the tom yum goong shrimp soup, stir-fried beef, and the yellow curry with chicken. But there are also recipes for breakfast, a collection of stir-fries for busy people, and the essential building blocks for a Thai kitchen, including pantry essentials, how to use a mortar and pestle, and the bases for sauces, curry pastes, and spice blends. Whether you’re new to Thai cooking or looking for a way to level up your curry-making skills, this is one you’ll want on your bookshelf.

Zahav Home: Cooking for Friends & Friends

After publishing Zahav, Israeli Soul, and Federal Donuts: The (Partially) True Spectacular Story, Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook of CookNSolo wanted to make an even more approachable cookbook. It’s not to say that their previous works are difficult for home chefs, but this new collection of recipes was developed with busy families in mind. There are 125 recipes featuring easy lunches, salads loaded with spiced vegetables, and quick weeknight meals to feed yourself and your growing kids. There’s even a one-pot, harissa-coated leg of lamb that’s simple enough to make on a school night.

The Vedge Bar Book: Plant-Based Cocktails and Light Bites for Inspired Entertaining by Kate Jacoby and Rich Landau with Brian Bolles and Ginevra Reiff

The Vedge Bar Book: Plant-Based Cocktails and Light Bites for Inspired Entertaining

Since opening Vedge in 2011, Kate Jacoby and Rich Landau have changed the way Philadelphia thinks about vegetables. The intent was never to make vegan versions of meat dishes, but rather to show how delicious and versatile plant-based cooking could be. Same goes for their bar program, which has been centered around building a cocktail menu around seasonal ingredients long before seasonal cocktail menus became a big deal. Well, you can now recreate the joy of sitting at Vedge’s bar with some celery root rillettes and a Ginny’s Freezer Martini at home.

The Vedge Bar Book is broken out into seasons, so whether you’re inviting friends over for a summertime backyard barbecue or hosting a swanky holiday party, you can craft crowd-pleasing vegan-friendly cocktails and pair them with plant-based snacks that even meat-eaters will enjoy. My biggest tip for anyone trying out Jacoby’s and Landau’s recipes is to leave lots of time for prep work. Some recipes call for ingredients that have their own recipes. The Daffodil, for instance, calls for a saffron syrup and a quick mint syrup that need to be made ahead of time. These recipes are labeled “Worth the Effort,” and though they require a little extra legwork and planning, they are indeed worth the effort.

You Gotta Eat: Real-Life Strategies for Feeding Yourself When Cooking Feels Impossible

I have an alphabet soup of mental health disorders (MDD, ADHD, C-PTSD, oh my!) and I oftentimes get overwhelmed by the demands of everyday life. So, when Margaret Eby, the food editor over at the Inquirer, published You Gotta Eat, I was relieved that I wasn’t alone in being too damn tired to cook sometimes.

This one is perfect for times when cooking feels like a chore — when you’ve run out of metaphorical spoons, and you only have enough capacity to open a jar of beans to make a bean salad or microwave a potato that can be dressed up with some cheddar and bacon bits. It’s not your average cookbook with ingredient lists and formal measurements (in fact, there’s a whole page dedicated to eyeballing it). Instead, it’s more of an instruction manual with advice and tips on how to make something delicious with limited energy, like mixing peanut butter and hot sauce into your ramen noodles or turning last night’s leftovers into a casserole because, as the title says, you gotta eat. In a world of cookbooks filled with complicated, show-stopping dishes meant to impress, this is a refreshing invitation to be imperfect.

Coming soon: We the Pizza: Slangin’ Pies and Savin’ Lives

We love Down North Pizza’s beef pepperoni and spicy Norf sauce Roc The Mic Pizza and love to get our hands dirty on those honey chipotle wings. That alone has us pumped for We the Pizza to hit shelves this February 11th. But seeing their story of educating and supporting the formerly incarcerated documented in print next to glossy photos preserving this pizza shop’s moment in Philly dining history is inspiring. For anyone who loves pizza and stories about the people who make this city great, this is a must for your Philly cookbook library. You can preorder We the Pizza here or get a signed copy through Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books.

Essential Philly Cookbooks

Pizza Camp: Recipes from Pizzeria Beddia by Joe Beddia

Pizza Camp: Recipes from Pizzeria Beddia

Philly has always been a great pizza town, but I’d argue that the artisanal pizza slinging so indicative of this generation was sparked in 2013 by the humble pies Joe Beddia sold out of that little shop on Girard Avenue. Even before opening his pizza cathedral in Fishtown, Beddia’s pies were considered the best in the country by Bon Appétit.

“I feel like I came to pizza by being observant,” Beddia writes at the beginning of Pizza Camp. From his point of view, pizza is the sum of its parts, and if you pay close attention to each part and are present during each step, you’ll be well on your way to making an excellent pie. Quality ingredients plus quality time equals quality pizza. The very first step in the process? Turn off the phone and don’t talk — just listen and observe. This is as much of a cookbook as it is a meditation on pizza.

Dinner at the Club: 100 Years of Stories and Recipes from South Philly’s Palizzi Social Club

There are numerous Italian restaurants in this region, but the most historically significant one is Palizzi Social Club. Back in 2019, to celebrate 100 years (technically 101, since Palizzi was founded in 1918), Joey Baldino and Philly Mag contributor Adam Erace chronicled the recipes and stories that make this place so special. In addition to the history of Palizzi Social Club, which includes a family tree as well as a map to important places in Philly’s Italian-American history, there are recipes for club staples like calamari and peas, stuffed artichokes, and one of the richest ragùs you’ll ever make featuring the holy trinity of Italian meats (beef, pork, and veal). For anyone interested in how South Philly has evolved over the past century, Dinner at the Club is a must-have.

Slow Drinks: A Field Guide to Foraging and Fermenting Seasonal Sodas, Botanical Cocktails, Homemade Wines, and More

Danny Childs, the foraging beverage consultant behind the Slow Drinks Instagram account, won a James Beard Award in 2024 for this cocktail book. Childs has proven that there is an abundance of flavor growing all around us, hiding in plain sight, whether it’s berries growing in your backyard, spruce tips from trees at a local park, or even chestnuts growing in the liminal green space between a highway and a parking lot. If you’re an outdoor enthusiast looking to capture the essence of every season in a cocktail, this book is an incredible resource for preserving and transforming foraged ingredients and provides the best tips on how to make your own amaro.

Magpie: Sweets and Savories from Philadelphia’s Favorite Pie Boutique by Molly Ricciardi with Miriam Harris

Magpie: Sweets and Savories from Philadelphia’s Favorite Pie Boutique

Once upon a time, there was a shop on South Street that served nothing but pie. For six short but glorious years, Holly Ricciardi would serve sweet and savory pies and would blend her confections with Bassetts ice cream to make the thickest milkshakes in town. She’d even host classes for the many pie-curious patrons who wanted to perfect their crust and conquer the lattice technique. It was heartbreaking when she closed up shop in 2018, but lucky for us, she published the Magpie cookbook three years prior. Now, her delicious desserts and savory meat pies live on in a 256-page tome of the best pies that have ever graced this city.

The Philadelphia Chef’s Table: Extraordinary Recipes From the City of Brotherly Love

Imagine a community cookbook chronicling the best dishes across Philadelphia: That’s what The Philadelphia Chef’s Table is. Now, there are two editions of this cookbook, each a snapshot from the time in which they were published, featuring recipes from restaurants that have since closed. The first edition has Percy Street Barbecue’s cheddar and jalapeño cornbread, the pappardelle with duck ragù from James, and Capogiro’s strawberry-and-absinthe gelato. The second edition, published in 2020, is a unique look into what Philly’s dining scene looked like right before the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the hospitality industry. It features Poi Dog’s chicken long rice with scallions and crispy chicken skin, LALO’s lechon kawali with garlic fried rice and tomato salad, and Bibou’s roasted duck with potato crique and asparagus (a recipe featured in both editions).

The Philadelphia Cook Book of Town and Country by Anna Wetherill Reed

The Philadelphia Cook Book of Town and Country

I am a history nerd, and when I’m not keeping up with the latest dining trends happening in Philadelphia, I’m diving into the past, analyzing where we’ve come to better understand where we’re going. Published in 1963, The Philadelphia Cook Book of Town and Country was a response to the “tide of America’s new gourmet cook books.” (I guess “cookbook” was two words back in the ’60s.)

In an attempt to preserve Philly’s historically significant recipes before they got lost in a sea of mid-century Jell-O salads and Campbell Soup casseroles, author Anna Wetherill Reed compiled this unique collection of recipes and menus. Whether you want to recreate George Washington’s birthday dinner, mix up an authentic Fish House punch, or make a snout-to-tail scrapple from scratch, this rare and delightful cookbook will connect you with Philly’s history in unexpected ways. It’s out of print and hard to come by, but you may be able to find it at a second hand bookshop or on eBay.

Where to Buy Cookbooks

Binding Agents

Located right in the heart of the Italian Market, Binding Agents is a women-owned bookshop specializing in cookbooks for expert chefs and novice home cooks alike. They also host events where you can meet your favorite authors, get signed books, and mingle with other food lovers. 908 Christian Street.

Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books

Uncle Bobbie’s has always been a pillar in Philly’s literary community. This independent, Black-owned shop has an extensive collection of cookbooks — both from Philly and elsewhere — and hosts events focused on spotlighting Philly talent. 5445 Germantown Avenue.

Harriett’s Bookshop

In a world where online commerce has nearly decimated brick-and-mortar retail, Harriett’s Bookshop owner Jeannine A. Cook reminds us that the digital marketplace will never replace the personal connections and experiences we create within our communities. Whether she’s hosting a pop-up in Paris or delivering books by horseback in Fishtown, Cook is always finding innovative ways to get people excited to read. Pop into Harriett’s Bookshop and its sister shop, Ida’s Bookshop in Collingswood, for your cookbook needs, and keep an eye out for events. 258 East Girard Avenue.

Molly’s Books & Records

In addition to being a place to buy and sell old records, Molly’s has an entire section in the back of the shop dedicated to second-hand cookbooks and food-writing anthologies. Chances are, if you’re looking for an obscure, out-of-print tome of Philly recipes, you’ll find it here. 1010 South 9th Street.