100 books like A Cheesemonger's History of The British Isles

I could almost immediately smell the gorgeous scent of citrus wafting from the pages of this beautiful book through the magic of Helena Atlee’s precisely detailed writing.

Who would have thought that the story of Italy’s varied and numerous citrus plantations would take me on a journey all across the country, from Sicily’s west coast to the fragrant lemon gardens of Lake Garda, and in time from when the Arabs introduced bitter oranges up to the workings of the citrus industry today.

I love this book because it simply tells the fragrant story of how fruit, in various manifestations, has come to be cultivated all around the country and to represent something of the soul and the spirit of the Italian people.

Salt, neither you nor I would be alive without this mundane, everyday product that we scarcely give a second thought to. Salt is essential for human life, explains Mark Kurlansky, and the ingenious ways in which it is harvested and utilised all around the world, from antiquity to now, is the subject of this fascinating book.

I traveled in this book from China to western Sicily, from the North Atlantic, where fishermen preserved their catch of cod in salt, to the Indian sub-continent, where salt marches were eventually to lead to the emancipation of a nation. The Chinese wrote about gathering salt 8000 years ago; methods were perfected by the Phoenicians and the Romans, and salt is still evaporated by the sun and wind alone, hand-harvested through evaporation with hand tools as it has been for millennia.

The story of salt is the story of human civilisation.

I love travelling to Italy’s great cities: Florence, Venice, Rome, Naples, Palermo, Bologna, Turin. One of the great pleasures is enjoying the local foods and wines. In this book, John Dickie demonstrates that Italy’s famed regional cuisines have origins not in the countryside but in the peculiar and particular workings of these great urban entities.

By exploring foods through links to cities, and cities through the foods that are unique to each, whether because of foreign influences, systems of agricultural tender, or through highlighting differences between working, merchant, and aristocratic classes, Dickie gave me greater insight and appreciation into place through the food that you or I will encounter on our plates, wherever in Italy we might happen to find ourselves.

I love travel, wine, and learning more about the people who create wine. This book ticks all these boxes.

It takes me all across Sicily, one of Italy’s most exciting and dynamic wine regions. In the course of these travels, I get to meet the people who have transformed Sicilian wine from pedestrian to world-class.

Camuto is a masterful storyteller. His descriptions of encounters with winemakers, what they look like, and the meals they share together are as interesting as the up-to-the-minute information he imparts about the wines they are now bringing to the world. This is a must-read for lovers of Sicily and all lovers of Italian wine.

This book made me laugh out loud. There were so many cheese puns that my face hurt from my perpetual grin after reading it.

I love having a queer book with lots of heart and low stakes, where I can just relax and enjoy the fun. And the outfits! I need these dresses and suits in my life!

I came across this cool and edgy “bible” for the cheese obsessed as I began working on my cheese-themed snack board book.

I enjoy good cheese and know a thing or two about it, but I am no expert, and this book has been and continues to be an invaluable resource for buying, serving, and enjoying cheese.

Cheese Sex Death: A Bible for the Cheese Obsessed written by Kubick, an ex-cheesemonger, is truly an encyclopedia of cheese. The book is written in a cheeky tone playing into biblical references regarding the worship of “Cheesus.”

It is smartly laid out, explaining the history of cheese, how to buy and properly store cheese, a breakdown of types of cheese, tools to serve it, and lots of clever food and drink pairings.

This book has all you need to know about the ritual of enjoying cheese.

Since it is written in a fun… show more.

Whether for reasons of ethics or health, more and more people are looking for dairy cheese substitutes. Commercial versions are often poor imitations. This book is like winning cheese lotto! There are 60 plant-based cheeses (no easy feat) made using vegetables, tofu, seeds and nuts, ranging from firm to sharp, creamy to mild. These recipes draw on only natural ingredients and techniques. You can create the perfect cheese platter with spreads, sauces, sprinkles, block and wheel cheeses, soft and fresh cheeses, and accompaniments. Easy to follow. Beautiful photography.

The humor in this book is delightfully… cheesy. Pun intended. Tweet Cute is about Jack and Pepper, son and daughter of the owners of a mom-and-pop deli and a massive fast-food chain, respectively, who get into a Twitter war once it is revealed that one has stolen the other’s secret family grilled cheese recipe. This book has three things that I absolutely adore: It’s set in New York City, the characters engage almost constantly in witty banter, and it’s packed with puns about—you guessed it—grilled cheese. But humor aside, Tweet Cute is a terrific story about tight-knit families, teenagers dealing with the pressures surrounding high school graduation, and ultimately, following your own path.

To truly stay ahead of failure, one must embrace discomfort and avoid becoming stagnant. Life is a constant race, and if you stop running, you cannot win. Who Moved My Cheese? serves as a great example that is easy to read, digest, and a powerful reminder to keep pushing forward in the race of life.

The book highlights the importance of not taking good fortune for granted and avoiding getting too comfortable. It teaches that everything is constantly evolving, and it is essential to remain vigilant and open to new opportunities.

I once used this book to teach a group of high schoolers how to stay alert to opportunities and overcome the fear of discomfort.

This book starts with the heroine stumbling home drunk after eating a lot of cheese at her village’s harvest festival. The irreverent tone continues as she rescues a man in the forest, discovers he’s a demon from another dimension and gets swept up in his quest to take down an evil witch.

The whole story is so much fun. Even when violence and destruction happen (along the lines of “half the city was destroyed”), the goofy nature of the book helped me move past it without taking it seriously. (I wasn't thinking too hard about the destruction, but some readers might not like it.) And, of course, the demon becomes a sexy love interest.