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Food media is everywhere. It’s on your TV screens, landing in your mailboxes on magazine pages, stacked high on bookshelves, and probably on your smartphone right now. And chefs have their favorite books, magazines, TV shows, and websites covering the industry they’re a part of. From Netflix’s Chef’s Table series to Anthony Bourdain’s classic memoir Kitchen Confidential, discover what food media these Phoenix chefs cherish.
What books, magazines, TV shows, or websites are on your must-read or must-see list for food lovers and chefs?
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Samantha Sanz, chef of Talavera
I’m currently in love with the Peru: The Cookbook from Gaston Acurio, Eataly, and The Wine Bible. I scroll through them constantly just wishing to have more time in my days to read them completely.
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Cruz Robles, chef of BevvyI get asked this a lot and I always give the same answer. The book is called Ratio and is written by Michael Ruhlman, and it is definitely a must-read for anyone looking to get into cooking. The reason I love this book is it makes thinking about cooking easy. It gets you to understand that all recipes are just a ratio expressed by ingredients. Wrapping your head around that concept really opens up the world of cooking and makes cooking more spontaneous and fun.
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Anthony DeMuro, chef of Different Pointe of View I love Art Culinaire Magazine. It has been around since the mid-’80s, and it’s still going strong. It illustrates how trends and the preparation of certain foods and ingredients have changed over the years.
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Jose Farias, chef of Vintage 95 Wine Lounge
On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee is a must-read for all professional cooks. It’s all about the history of food and cooking and the science behind why certain things prepared a certain way taste so good. Also a very entertaining read.
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Kody Harris, executive chef of Fresko Courtesy of Helio Basin Brewing
A magazine I have always been a fan of is Saveur. It’s a great read and reference for novice and professional chefs.
Tamara Stanger, chef of Helio Basin Brewing
The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine by Steven Rinella. I read the entire book during a plane ride to and from Idaho. He has quickly become my chef idol. He’s beginning to draw attention now that his show Meat Eater is on Netflix, but he’s been legit for a while. He hunts and personally sources every ingredient he uses. He’s super humble. And his wife is vegetarian, which makes him even more interesting.
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Courtesy of Luci’s Healthy Marketplace
Rachel Ellrich Miller, chef of Pistol Whipped Pastry
I just got my first issue of Milk Street that I’m enjoying. I love Life & Thyme. Just picked up Deep Run Roots by Viviane Howard, Classic German Baking by Luisa Weiss (there is a lack of excellent German baking books in English so I am thrilled for one!), and French Country Cooking by Mimi Thorisson.
Lucia Schnitzer, co-owner of Luci’s Healthy Marketplace
Saveur magazine is my new favorite. It has food articles with a unique spin. The most recent issue I had they did a feature on potatoes in Peru. Did you know they have 600 varieties of potatoes? Another feature talked about the history of forks. It’s a different approach to a cooking magazine.
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Donny Fawcett, chef of Phoenix Ale Brewery Central Kitchen
For chefs, an easy must-read is What Einstein Told His Cook by Robert Wolke. It’s fun, informative, and written for a chef’s short attention span, but I’d also recommend it for the home cook. For food lovers, Lucky Peach is a great magazine. Many home cooks and food lovers may not be familiar with it, but it is ready to break out in every home kitchen.
Christopher Nicosia, chef of Sassi
Eater is a great website for foodies and professionals alike. Each city/region has their own Eater, so you can keep up on what’s going on locally and nationally. It’s also nice to actually flip through pages, so for that I like Saveur magazine, although it has changed over the years. Also, Art Culinaire. The photos are really great, and you get to see really good chefs pushing the limits.
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Jim Gallen, chef of Tom’s Tavern
CUESA.org is a seasonal website that educates the user about all seasonal foods and seafood. Also, the Monterey Bay Aquarium website, as they educate the user on how our seafood is managed in a global effort. For wine lovers, Winesearcher, as this website gives really straightforward and easily understood wine education to inform and help the shopper make great wine selections.
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Beau MacMillan, chef of elements at Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort
I still read Cook’s Illustrated and Saveur. I love those magazines. Also, if you haven’t seen Documentary Now! make sure you check out the episodes “Juan Loves Chicken” and “Rice on There.”
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Brian Archibald, executive chef of the Boulders Resort & Spa
The past two seasons of Chef’s Table are just so well filmed. My non-chef friends watch it, and it’s just amazing to see these great chefs and their stories.
Garrison Whiting, chef of Counter Intuitive
Hands down: On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee, 1984. That book taught me more about science than all of my years in public school. Also, Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain is very entertaining.
