100 books like The Brain Health Kitchen

I believe 2 things without a shred of doubt: all humans are creative and anyone can cook. Samin Nosrat adds the critical finale: “…and make it delicious.”

Everyone can benefit from this book, especially those who appreciate good, well-executed dishes but don’t quite understand what makes them so irresistible. As someone who didn’t do much better than fail at high school and college science, Nosrat makes incredibly complex concepts simple and doable! Not to mention, it’s delightfully illustrated.

The infographics, tables, and flowcharts make the content engaging and accessible. It is a cookbook, indispensable kitchen reference, and testament to the power of creative collaboration. Here is evidence that cooking is an art and a science. 

Who doesn’t love a cookbook that includes A Thermos of Hot Virginia Country-Style Beef Consommé as the first item on a picnic list?

The Taste of Country Cooking is a cookbook and narrative of life in Freetown, Virginia where Lewis grew up. I feel comforted and assured reading Lewis’ stories and recipes. Here is an expert relating a way of life where eating is seasonal, healthful, and communal.

Recipes are directions on how to prepare and serve food, sure, they’re also medicinal formulas (lemonade is technically medicinal!), ethnobotanical records, and historical documents intimately tied to how humans all over the world live lives. I am a sucker for cookbooks tied to seasons, foodways, and history.

Lewis’ recipes are presented seasonally and organized into menus linked to events: Emancipation Day Dinner, A Cool Evening Supper, Morning-After-Hog-Butchering Breakfast. Food is what we eat but also who we are.

Wild Flavors follows Chef Didi Emmons over a year on farmer Eva Sommaripa’s farm 80 miles southeast of Boston.

Working as a line cook at Prune, Chef Gabrielle Hamilton gave me unforgettably simple advice as I struggled week after week to prepare a family meal on the fly: “you learn to cook by following recipes.” Duh! Five years later I followed recipes and learned to cook. I enrolled in herbal study at Commonwealth Holistic Herbalism in Brookline, MA.

I cooked out of Wild Flavors throughout my apprenticeship. Many of the plants we studied that year appeared in Wild Flavors in thoughtful, seasonal recipes that brought medicinal plants out of the classroom and into my kitchen, where they came to life.

Recipes like Chickweed Cheddar Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, sound familiar but feature unconventional, medicinal plant ingredients hiding in plain site in the fields and forests surrounding Eva’s Garden.

Amy is a friend and phenomenal vegetarian chef who defined vegan food as the executive chef of one of my favorite NYC restaurants: Angelica Kitchen (RIP).

At Angelica Kitchen, Amy used food to create a space for deeply nourishing solace and retreat from the intense demands of living in a wonderfully hectic city. At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen gave each us the skills, knowledge, and recipes to bring that space into our homes. It is not only a cookbook but a guide to building a kitchen that sustains and nourishes the body and mind.

I’ve referenced this book so many times that the pages have separated from the binding. Once you master these recipes, ways to adapt them to the seasons, local produce, and your tastes reveal themselves. After nearly 10 years I still make the Coconut & Quinoa pancakes weekly.

This sensitive, charming book shows how a child learns about what is going on in her granny’s brain.

It addresses the emotions that a young child may feel when they witness confusing changes in a loved one’s behavior. This story provides a wonderful opportunity to discuss dementia and what to do if a child has concerns or questions. 

The research on the gut-brain axis connection and how what we are eating and drinking contributes to our anxiety is beyond fascinating.

A cookbook and a breakdown of the foods to eat and avoid depending on the mental health concern, this book is one for the ages. When you consider how our foods are contributing to inflammation in the body, and thus an increased stress response, it’s no wonder we feel more anxious. Thankfully, Dr. Naidoo makes astute recommendations on how we can shift the course of our anxiety but changing what we put in our mouths.

Henry Molaison is surely the most famous patient in the history of neurology, widely known in the scientific literature and to psychology and medical students throughout the world as H.M. In 1953, he underwent brain surgery for the relief of epilepsy, which left him mentally stuck in the present, unable to remember past events or imagine future ones. Although the case is a tragic one, it led to significant advances in the scientific understanding of how the brain works. But the book is more than that; it is as fascinating for the backstory as for the case of Henry himself. Luke Dittrich is the grandson of H.M.’s surgeon, a maverick figure in the history of psychosurgery. It is an often uncomfortable but always fascinating tale of intrigue, ambition, secrecy, and surgical recklessness.

I truly loved this book because Dr. Daniel Amen is the best in his class. He is a dedicated brain scientist, author, and life changer. I’ve read all of his books because they teach us all how to benefit our brains to change our lives forever.

This book has helped me personally, and so has his research. He's a personal friend and one hell of a game-changer when it comes to recognizing the importance of altering the conversation from mental health to brain health.

He is an important figure of this or any time; the world is lucky he's here to make us all better, one brain at a time. 

Discussing the negative impacts of screen time (and its close cousin, sedentariness) can feel overwhelming. In contrast, discovering ways to make the brain stronger is empowering. In this startling book, Dr. Ratey explores exercise’s dramatic impact on the brain and shows how it can not only improve cognitive functioning but actually make the brain bigger and more connected. While as a psychiatrist I have long-prescribed exercise to improve depression, anxiety, and sleep, after reading Spark I had a newfound respect and awe for not just the power of exercise but for the plasticity of the brain itself. This book gives new hope to those who have or work with kids with neuropsychiatric conditions or who are struggling, stuck, or otherwise disadvantaged.

Can you imagine being a neuroscientist who specializes in identifying psychiatric disorders from brain scans, finds a scan of a psychopath, and it’s his? That’s what happened to Dr. James Fallon, leading to this book that discusses the inner workings – psychological and physiological – of a psychopath. Merging genetic, structural, and environmental factors, Fallon brings you “into the dark side of the brain,” explaining the science and his personal experience as a non-violent psychopath. He examines psychopathy at all levels, helping you understand the true nature from “functional” to criminal. I could not put this down – it’s a story not to be missed!