Tom Lambrecht, Nederland.  I love to rummage through the shelves of a library, not only to find a desired item, but sometimes just to see what titles they have. Every library collection has a “flavor” and most small libraries have a single buyer who selects and purchases titles which results in a collection of books that reflects their tastes and biases as well as titles requested by their staff and patrons. The Nederland Community Library is no exception. We have two entire bookcases of volumes pertaining to Colorado (duh), an above-average selection of outdoor recreation titles (especially skiing and hiking) and a surprising number of books on knitting and quilting to name just a few of our strong suits. We pride ourselves on our selection of new titles and … we feature a kick-butt cooking section.

As a former working cook who still enjoys preparing food for friends, many NCL cookbooks come home with me, are skimmed over and returned in a day or two. I own quite a few cookbooks and these days, with so many recipes available online, culinary books are usually a source of ideas and inspiration for me rather than a source of recipes. The ones that I explore more thoroughly fall into one of two categories: titles that feature solid timeless recipes and techniques and books that explore the intricacies and history of food.

In the first group, we have Anthony Bourdain’s latest, Appetites: A Cookbook. Bourdain stands out in the stodgy culinary profession for a number of reasons. He was probably the first culinary writer of note to use the f-word in his 2000 classic, Kitchen Confidential, an alternately philosophical and outrageous book which laid bare the world of the restaurant trade with hilarious digressions on substance abuse and why to avoid Hollandaise. One critic likened his writing to “Elizabeth David as written by Quentin Tarantino” and in homage to Bourdain, any number of other cookbook authors have taken to sprinkling liberal quantities of personal philosophy and profanity in their writing (witness the Thug Kitchen series).

Bourdain is older now. He has a nine-year-old daughter, a successful TV career and a seemingly mellower outlook, and Appetites is a straightforward cookbook with flashes of the younger Bourdain e.g., Chapter Fourteen, “Desserts,” which consists of a single page that begins with “F*ck desserts.” The recipes are mostly simple classics with the fine tuning of an accomplished chef, and the prose is equally artful. There is even a recipe for Hollandaise sauce along with a recanting of his earlier criticism of it.

Sarah Lohman has written her first book, Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine which explores the origins of eight spices and sauces that have profoundly influenced American tastes. Lohman is a blogger and self-styled “historic gastronomist” who became fascinated by food while cooking as a reenactor in a museum. The eight flavors in the title range from mainstays like black pepper and vanilla to newcomers like sriracha and soy sauce (oddly enough, the first Japanese manufacturing plant to open in the United States was for Kikkoman soy sauce in 1972).

Her well-researched book alternates the story of each flavor with recipes and personal anecdotes. My favorite food essays, such as Raymond Sokolov’s The Cook’s Canon and Mark Kurlansky’s Salt: A World History, are magical in their power to let us examine food through the lens of history and Lohman’s debut does the same, making for a very satisfying read.

Tom Lambrecht is a Library Assistant for the Nederland Community Library.