Best books…chosen by J. Ryan Stradal

J. Ryan Stradal is the author of the best-selling novels Kitchens of the Great Midwest and The Lager Queen of Minnesota. His new novel, Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, focuses on a mother, a daughter, a grandmother, and the family business.

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (1989). I wasn’t ready for this book when I read it in high school, but it recalibrated my notions of long-form narrative, genre conventions, and food writing all at once. Esquivel’s novel remains a load-bearing wall of food fiction, and its magnificent descriptions are as sensuous and moving as any in the intervening decades.

The Cook by Maylis de Kerangal (2016). A painfully short book I didn’t want to end. I could’ve read it in an afternoon, but instead rationed it like a box of exquisite chocolates. This beautiful story following a young cook’s career path is that good—you’ll be left wanting much more.

Love & Saffron by Kim Fay (2022). Fay wrote her debut novel after decades as a food writer and avid home chef, and the book joyfully bursts with her life experience. Inspired by the food writing of Los Angeles Times stalwart Barbara Hansen, Fay’s epistolary book follows two passionate cooks as they introduce each other to new ingredients and help each other navigate life’s challenges.

My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki (1998). Of Ozeki’s books that deal with food, her debut remains my favorite, and not just because the main character, Jane Takagi-Little, shares my Minnesota heritage. I also worked in entertainment, as Ozeki has, and I’ve never read a novel that so effortlessly blends the subjects of television and food, and does it with such brilliance, humor, and expertise.

Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lillian Li (2018). Another dazzling debut, Li’s book focuses on the friction between brothers who inherit a family-run Chinese restaurant, and the consequences of their differing notions of success. Filled with a large cast of memorable characters, generational discord, and a vivid setting, this novel is a true delight.

Cheap Novelties by Ben Katchor (1991). While not strictly about food, the food-centered stories in this understated collection are peerless. Katchor’s protagonist, a beleaguered real estate photographer, muses humorously on such subjects as the economics of a value-priced dinner special and the cruelty of individual sugar packets.