9 Cookbooks To Make You A Better Home Chef, According To A Cookbook Author

One of my favorite things when I go over to someone's house is to check out what cookbooks they have on their shelf—because typically, each has a story behind it: the first cookbook you ever bought, another that has your dream roast chicken, or the one stained with oil because the recipe has been beloved for years. "Sometimes I buy cookbooks simply because I love the way they look," says Hetty McKinnon, food blogger and cookbook author. "Others offer a chance to escape into another person's world."

McKinnon wasn't even into cookbooks until she got serious about cooking—and began telling her own story through food. She calls her latest—and most personal—cookbook, To Asia With Love, her "homecoming": "My story is one that children of immigrants always experience," says McKinnon, who grew in a traditional Cantonese household in Sydney. "You exist in this other space, this third culture. It's been a lifelong journey of coming to peace with my own identity as a Chinese Australian cook."

For many who follow McKinnon on Instagram, you may not even know her food is entirely vegetarian. "It's not an element I scream about," she says. "My whole thing is making vegetables as delicious and interesting and creative as they can be. I want to show people that meat-free cooking is about gaining something rather than losing. And what you’re gaining? Flavor and creative ways of cooking."

These are the nine cookbooks McKinnon thinks everyone should have in their kitchen.