Celebrity chefs offer more than recipes in new cookbooks

Celebrity chefs and foodie faves have whipped up some specials - and this time, it’s not just recipes.

Rachael Ray poured her heart and soul into her new book, “This Must Be the Place: Dispatches & Food from the Home Front.” The Emmy Award-winning daytime TV staple wrote 16 essays on life lessons, dealing with devastating loss and the memories that make a house a home, written from her kitchen in the Adirondacks. ****

Social influencer Tabitha Brown’s “Feeding the Soul (Because It’s My Business): Finding Our Way to Joy, Love, and Freedom” was another runaway hit this year.

The 42-year-old married mother of two rose to internet prominence through her motivational messages promoting her vegan lifestyle.

While she offers more about her emotional life’s journey (including struggles with undiagnosed chronic autoimmune pain) in her debut, the McCormick spokeswoman also offers a few of the plantbased recipes that made her famous, such as Vegan Tuna Salad, Vegan Fried Peaches and Biscuits, Lobster Mushroom Pasta and Vegan Fish Sticks.

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For his genre-defining cookbook, “Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora,” Bryant Terry delivers a beautifully crafted literary work. It explores Black food culture within America and around the world, with contributions from more than 100 Black cultural luminaries - including New York City’s top chef Alexander Smalls and Queens College scholar Jessica B. Harris - offering recipes, moving essays and captivating artwork.

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The “Real Housewives” TV franchise has already successfully expanded into other areas such as music, literature, apparel, wine and experiential marketing. Now, there’s a cookbook written by a comedian known for satirizing the series.

Comedian and SiriusXM radio personality

Amy Phillips has teamed up with celebrity Irish chef Stuart O’Keeffe for the newly released “Cook It, Spill I, Throw It: The Not-So-Real Housewives Parody Cookbook.”

Though “unauthorized,” the tome has the blessing of “Real Housewives” kingpin Andy Cohen, who referred to it as a “tasty tribute.”

The book feature 110 recipes inspired by some of reality TV’s biggest stars and viral moments, such as I Am Very Shrimp and Rich B---h Grits (Nene Leakes), Tardy for the Party Mix (Kim Zolciak), Oysters Romanafeller (Ramona Singer), Who Gonna Check Me Blue Cheese Buffalo Dip (Sheree Whitfield), and Gorga-zola Balls (Melissa Gorga).