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Any fiction books where the main character is a chef?

Any fiction books where the main character is a chef?

Jacob #recommend #fiction

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77 Answers

Kathy

Every Elin Hilderbrand book I’ve read revolves around restaurants somehow. At least one of the main characters will be a chef.

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Trisha

The Last Chinese Chef is pretty good. Secrets of the Tsil Cafe is also fine.

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Heather

Kitchens of the Great Midwest was about the journey of a girl who becomes a chef. I really enjoyed it.

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Deborah

Was just about to suggest that.

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JacobQuestion author

Looks good.. On my list. Thanks

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Eve

I just finished Kitchens of the Great Midwest. I enjoyed Delicious! but I am somewhat of a foodie!

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Therese

I loved Kitchens of the Great Midwest.

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Trisha

Delish completely revolves around food and cooking food creators.

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Trisha

the comment below by Laura Atwood is the book I was referring to. It’s a great romp.

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Laura

@Trisha, ha ha, I was going to see if I could find “Delish”!

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Laura

Delicious by Ruth Reichl. The protagonist had been a baker, and then goes to work for a food magazine. (A surrogate for the late, lamented Gourmet magazine, of which Reichl was editor-in-chief.)

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Jennifer

The Hundred Foot Journey.

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JacobQuestion author

Looks good.. On my list. Thanks

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Patricia

I loved this. It was also a movie.

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Ethel

i saw the movie… best!

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Deborah

Better movie than book, perhaps. The book meandered and was twice as long as the story it told. Mind you that’s an opinion. Subjective. It’s OK to disagree.

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Cathi

Year One

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Gary

Odd Thomas is a fry cook chef although it doesn’t feature that prominently in the series.

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JacobQuestion author

Yes I tried that.

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JacobQuestion author

I saw the movie.

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Gary

It’s quite a good adaptation to be fair. The whole series is pretty good though.

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JacobQuestion author

Iloved the movie

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Jen

Little earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner

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Olga

It can’t always be caviar by Johannes Maria Simmel. Basically more upscale James Bond who loves to cook…

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Deborah

The British tv series PIE IN THE SKY

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Dotia

Oh, I never thought to look and see if it was a book buy I loved that series on television!

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Kim

What a fabulous thread

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Sarah

Julie Hyzy has a cozy mystery series about a chef for the POTUS who solves mysteries on the side.

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Joy

I remember enjoying Poppy Z. Brite’s Rickey and G-Man series.

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Nancy

“Someone Is Killing the Great Chefs Of Europe” by Nan and Ivan Lyons. I believe it’s out of print but you can easily find it online on used books sites. I lost my original copy several years ago and was able to find another one recently. The book is very funny. It’s a mystery but hilarious.

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Brenda

The Last Chinese Chef. Great imagery!!

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Autumn

Lizzy and Jane by Katherine Reay

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Nancy

Kitchens of the Great Midwest.

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Holley

School of Essential Ingredients by Bauermeister

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Judith

The Barbara O’Neal books. They’re great!

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Harry

Fowl to the Bone is a fun murder mystery by a fabulous French chef

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Peg

Table for Two (Nora Roberts)

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Melissa

Diane Mott Davidson’s series. Her main character Goldie is a caterer who stumbles on lots of dead people 🙂

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Kathy

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Amiee Bender, is great. Not exactly about a chef, but definitely about food.

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Julia

Agnes and the Hitman, she cooks the whole way through. The description of the waffles will make you drive to ihop, I kid u not.

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Mary

Julie and Julia, by Julie Powell. The “Julia” is Julia child. Great story.

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JacobQuestion author

I watched the film. Sounds interesting

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Guinevere

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal is excellent.

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Aly

Kerry Greenwood wrote a few books lighthearted and funny about a cook in a bakery.

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Gabbie

The Corinna Chapman series

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Kathleen

Scarlet Feather and Quentin’s by
Maeve Binchy

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Shannon

Julie Hyzy’s White House Chef mysteries.

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Shannon

Also Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen Mysteries…recipes in every novel!

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Kathy

Cool. The Hilderbrand novels have recipes too. A couple I actually want to try. ?

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Shannon

Hannah’s specialty is cookies and dessert!

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Cindy

The 100 foot journey so good and they made movie of it think Helen Mirren was in it

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Danielle

Like water for chocolate

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Ruth-Blandina

The Art of Baking Blind. Not a chef as main character but a good book

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Beth

The Chef’s Apprentice by Elle Newmark. A chef in a great house in Venice during the Italian Renaissance takes in a young apprentice. Turns out the chef is a guardian of knowledge, possessing a book of mankind’s knowledge that the Church wants to destroy. Really a great book.

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Laura

The Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman is very funny, and quirky. The protagonist trains to be a chef (in response to earlier events in the story), and the book is full of interesting and sometimes hilarious food scenarios.

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Mari

I love most of her books.

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Laura

@Mari, that’s the only one I’ve read so far, but I do want to read some more. Do you have any other favorites from her?

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Mari

I love the Tess Monaghan series, which starts with Baltimore Blues. I liked Wilde Lake. Lately she has been moving toward standard fiction, with mixed results. One had cruelty to animals. I burned it. Sometimes authors are not the best judges of their own work. ?

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Laura

Thanks for the heads up on what to pick, and what to steer away from, @Mari.

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Valerie

Go to Goodreads and use ‘chefs’ as search term. There are lots of ideas.

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Susan

Cooking for Picasso.

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Lisa

I like the novels of Stacy Ballis – lots of chefs/cooks; also Barbara Samuels/Barbara O’Neal & The School of Essential Ingredients

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Adina

School of Essential Ingredients.

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Chan

Sweetness at the bottom of the pie

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Susan

A chef?

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Chloé

Babette’s Feast, a short story by Karen Blixen (in the collection entitled Anecdotes of Destiny) It was adapted into a film a few decades ago.

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Sylvia

loved that movie!!

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Mari

AKA Isaac Dinesen.

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Louise

Amy Myers wrote an amusing series of detective novels set in late Victorian/Edwardian England, featuring a French chef called Auguste Didier who keeps unwittingly getting involved in murders, although he only wants to be left in peace to cook. There is quite a lot about cooking as well as murder in the books. The first one is called Murder in Pug’s Parlour. They are available on kindle, or if you prefer real books there are lots of second hand copies available on amazon.

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Barbara

Katherine Hall Page. Cozies that come with recipes.

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Sofia

Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel

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Marie

Oh I love that book! One of my favourite quotes about love ever (about the matches).

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Sallie

Skinny Bitch in Love, Kim Barnouin. Clem is a vegan chef.

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Marie

I just saw this on another list! “Yes, Chef” by Marcus Samuelsson

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Marie

Another one just popped up on the list too: The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (or at least there’s a link to chef/restaurant within it).

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Becky

Diane Mott Davidson wrote a whole murder/mystery series with the chef/caterer named Goldie. The first is “Catering to Nobody.” Light reads but fun and she includes recipes of items in the stories.

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Lori

The Last Chinese chef by Mones

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