SHELFIE: Kerry Diamond

Find Out About Cherry Bombe Founder's Favorite Cookbooks

Kerry Diamond, founder of Cherry Bombe, and her cookbook SHELFIE

We asked our friend, Kerry Diamond, founder and editor of Cherry Bombe a few questions about her cookbooks and to show us her SHELFIE. She sent us these photos and delightful answers! Kerry is pictured above with her cat, Dusty and you’ll see a stack of her favorite books below.

How long have you been collecting cookbooks?

I wasn’t a cookbook collector until I started dating a chef and then launched Cherry Bombe. Before that, I only had a few cookbooks and a black-and-white marble notebook with my favorite recipes that I had torn out of magazines and newspapers. I stupidly threw it in the garbage after I got divorced back in the aughts. I still miss some of the recipes in there.

For the past several years, the Cherry Bombe team has been building a collection of cookbooks by female authors. I need to count and catalog them one of these days! Our dream is to have a library somewhere, accessible to all, where folks can hang out and read, do research, or borrow a book or two.

What are your top 10 (or 3 or 5) Cookbooks?

My favorites change constantly. I don’t really cook from cookbooks, but I do collect them. I flip through to get inspired, and to see what is or was going on from a cultural, historical, and/or design perspective. The changes in cookbooks say a lot about us as a society!

—I have Ruth Reichl’s first cookbook, Mmmmm A Feastiary, which I would grab along with my cat if there was a fire.

—The first cookbook I ever bought, Kathleen’s Bake Shop Cookbook. Fun fact, Kathleen went on to be the founder of Tate’s, the famous chocolate chip cookie company.

—The Cherry Bombe Cookbook, of course

—Edna Lewis’s A Taste of Country Cooking, which I think everyone who is serious about food should own

–The Silver Palate Cookbook

A stack of Kerry’s Favorites!

Do you have a favorite cookbook of all time?

Probably The Silver Palate Cookbook. It’s truly a time capsule and the founders of Silver Palate, Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, were true trailblazers.

Which books do you use most?

When I do cook from cookbooks, I like ones with straightforward recipes that are bulletproof. I use Ina’s books a lot for that reason.

I do love food memoirs. If there are any food books I turn to the most, it’s them. I just finished Laurie Woolever’s engrossing Care and Feeding. I love Kitchen Confidential because of how it changed the restaurant world and Crying in H-Mart because Michelle Zauner is both a brilliant writer and musician. Amazed that she is so talented in so many mediums. Honorable mention to Dr. Jessica B. Harris, Padma Lakshmi, Ruth Reichl, and Madhur Jaffrey for their memoirs. Chef Iliana Regan has written two memoirs and has an incredibly distinctive voice. Her writing has moved me to tears. Two more shoutouts: Stephanie Danler’s Sweetbitter is a novel, but reveals more about food and the people who love food than most cookbooks do. And The Secret Lives of Color. I’m very moved and inspired by color and colorful food and this book gives a little insight into the hues that surround us.

What do you look for in the books you love?

That they not be boring. There are a lot of boring cookbooks out there.

What is missing from your collection/ what cookbook(s) do you need?

The honest answer is I don’t need a single other cookbook, but anyone reading this knows you can never have enough cookbooks.