Around the Table: 52 Essays on Food and Life

by Diana Henry

'No one writes about food so beautifully...' London Evening Standard

'Reading her recipes is almost as satisfying as making and eating them.' Daisy Buchanan

'Diana writes like a dream' Daily Mail

'This is an extraordinary piece of food writing, pitch perfect in every way. I couldn't love anyone who didn't love this book.' Nigella Lawson on How to Eat a Peach

'...beautifully written and endlessly inventive...' Felicity Cloake, The Guardian, on Diana Henry's beloved culinary classic Simple

'She has become the Delia of my generation' Clare Finney, The Telegraph

'The food writers' food writer' Mark Diacono


***


For Diana Henry's many fans, her evocative writing about places, people and food brings just as much pleasure as her delicious recipes. Around the Table is a selection of some of Diana's very best essays, handpicked from over two decades of her beloved cookbooks.

From the bustling Turkish groceries of the Edgware Road to the kitchen table of a cottage in rural France, a trattoria tucked away in the suburbs of Rome to the chilly Vermont countryside famed for its maple syrup, Diana Henry has followed her tastebuds around the world.

In this collection, Diana's writing brings ingredients to life on the page. Tuck into salty and sweet, buttery and inky purple and black olives. Blood-red threads of saffron that turn whole platters of food into gold, bleeding yolk-yellow streaks over creamy chicken and milky white yogurt. Mouth-puckeringly citrusy, easy to peel and almost seedless Valencia oranges. The simple pleasure of a warming slice of toast.

This vivid and nourishing collection of essays on the joys of good food is an utter delight for the senses.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction, Essays, Cookbooks, Food and Drink, Cooking, Food Writing

310 pages, Hardcover

Published October 14, 2025

Reviews

[Literary Redhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

The blurb by Stanley Tucci, whom I adore, sold me on this book and I agree with his assessment. This is a lovely, gorgeously written, must-read for foodies! Will make you laugh, drool over the food descriptions, and cheer with gladness.

[Anna Linda]

Diana Henry could probably make water sound delicious. The 52 Essays inspired me to get my cooking (and reading!) mojo back post-move, after two months of feeling like I needed just a few more days of settling in before I could take out the cast iron again. However, featuring the essay "From Russia with Love" Anno Domini 2025 is certainly a choice. Wonder if that was her or the editor.

[Sadie E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this is like sitting down with a friend who really loves food and is eager to share their memories and traditions with you

Thank you to NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

[Debby Binns · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this on BBC sounds and enjoyed it so much that I got the book from the library. Its 52 concise chapters which are a joy to read and reinforce that smells and textures in food are so important. I wholeheartedly recommend this book – I also loved that she gives us great ideas without complicated recipes. I’ve just poached some rather hard pears in rose water and juice and am going to have them for lunch – its these small ideas that are easy made the book such a joy.

[Greta Wolny · Rating 4 out of 5]

They say you can’t be good at everything, but Diana Henry can cook AND write, so that’s pretty much as good as it gets.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gift ☀️

[Lisa of Hopewell · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Interest

Thank you to #Netgalley for a free copy of this audio book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a frustrated foodie. Why frustrated? It’s an hour’s drive each way to just about any unique, non-chain restaurant and my budget is very, very tight. I am blessed to have Jungle Jim’s and my 2nd-to-the top level Kroger nearby [and a top of the line store on my way to work] for cooking adventures.

So when I saw this book on some UK “Best of 2025” book list I was interested. I admit I’d never heard of the author but it sounds very enjoyable. I searched #Netgalley, found it and won it.
The Essays

“Cooking should be about pleasure, not exhaustion….”

“You could see the colours–and the emotions–of Mexico’s most famous painters, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, in the food on your table.”

“…it was like eating a series of haiku.“

Tell me to read essays and my eyes roll to the back of my head. I instantly think of school–which I did not enjoy. Over the years I’ve discovered all essays are not dull. Not by a long shot. When I remember that many “essays” used to be written by people known as “columnists” in newspapers or today by bloggers my eyes stay focused and my brain engages.

Diana Henry, who grew up in Northern Ireland, is a superb food writer. Each of the 52 essays in this collection entertained and educated me in the most delightful way. I learned so much!! I’ve never actually seen, for example, a ripe fig. I’ve only had the candied or dried ones. I vividly recall my parent’s annual gift of a canister of them–complete with the camels and palm trees just like she described. But by the end of her essay I wanted a darned fig!

Another essay sent me to my cookbook shelves. Why?

“As a child in the 1970s I used to pore over the cookery pages in my mum’s magazines mentally noting what I would evenutally need to pull off a bit of entertaining when I grew up…”

I still have 2 or 3 such magazines, yes, from the 1970s and, yes, I still cook from them!

Then there is our mutual fascination with menus. For her The Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook is still a great favorite. I began with the “big white cookbook” [as we called it] that Mom received as a wedding gift–it even had menus for invalids! Today I have a few other cookbooks with menus that I like and I have certainly enjoyed the Chez Panisse one from the library.

Here are some of the delights:

“…blood orange mixed with pomegranate juice and vodka makes a stunning granita or garnet shards and glassy seeds….” Doesn’t that sound amazing!
“[Prunes]…whipped out in an emergency and poached in wine of Earl Grey tea and sugar.” WHO would ever have thought of poaching a prune in Earl Grey tea? I almost want to try it!
“[Pomegranates]…look like something one of the Magi would have given.” Right?? Perfect description!
“…bitter Belgian endive can be…braised in butter and bacon, maybe adding a little cream or even orange juice” I love good old-fashioned Midwestern wilted lettuce [red or green leaf lettuce] or spinach or other greens, but those tiny Belgian endives never seems like something you’d “braise.” And to put some orange juice in with bacon on top of them….I may just have to taste it!
[Cranberries] “they are spectacular gently poached in sugar syrup, mixed with blood orange slices”. [My obsession with blood oranges comes from visiting an a food warehouse as a kid with my salesman Dad–the owners were Hasidic Jews in long coats and beards–I was mesmerized! When one of them cut open an orange and it was….wait for it….RED I was delighted! Oh, this all happened on Christmas Eve in Chicago]
“The there is pumpkin soup….making it with a good spash of bourbon, scattering the top with smoked bacon…” might just get me to try pumpkin soup!



Other things I learned:

Sloe gin, which I had only learned of in English novels, is made apparently with a fruit –a berry, known as a “sloe.” True! Google it.
Venison should NOT be marinated in red wine vinegar. I’m not sure why because it tastes much nicer when you do that, but the author claims “The alcohol draws out the moisture; you might as well pickle the meat.” Maybe that’s British venison? Indiana and Ohio venison doesn’t seem to dry out from this, so we’ll agree to disagree on this one–if I’m ever given more venison.
Rosehip, of which I knew only that juice from them was given to British children in WWII as a source of orange juice (and it was even on Call the Midwife so there you have it!) “It was a dollop of rosehip jelly I had in Northern Italy that made me realize how good it was with charcuterie.” I’ll check Aldi’s–the source here of al things charcuterie. So far I’ve only found fig spread.

My Thoughts

This book deserves the hype 100%.

If you are a foodie, you may want to savour this book, one essay a week, for the next year. It is that wonderful.

If you are blessed to live in New York or London or some other place with unbelievable shopping on your doorstep [ok, a long subway ride from home, but still….] you’d be well served to try everything in here ala Julie and Julia (book or film). Imagine a year of wonderful foodie writing to read and wonderful foodie adventures and great food? Perfect.
My Verdict
4.5

Around the Table: 52 Essays on Food and Life by Diana Henry

This is the first book on my list for Best Book Read in 2026,

I read the Kindle version.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

To read Around the Table is to leave the American grocery store with its aisles of higlhy-processed food products behind and enter a world where plums harvested locally and roasted with pork; chutneys made by hand from recipes handed down through the generations; cranberry bogs in New England; and aromatic herbs and spices commonly used in Turkey and Morocco can delight one's senses and taste buds.. This book of 52 essays by Diana Henry covers her lifetime exploring and experiencing food in all its simple and fresh magnificence around the world.

Henry is the author of numerous acclaimed cookbooks. Remarkably, I wasn't familiar with the cookbooks she's written. However, her book of essays provided a sensory experience of food that is reminiscent of Ruth Reichl's Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table. As I read Henry's Around the Table, I wondered: "Is this world she's describing still accessible?" How can I find and enjoy the freshness and delightful range of flavors she has described?"

Although the book does not include recipes, Henry provides a high-level overview of how certain foods are typically prepared or cooked, In these essays, the author focuses primarily on the experience of eating and enjoying foods from many cultures in Europe, Asia, Africa, and, to a lesser extent, North America. As I'm able to explore new foods and new countries, I will likely return to this book to learn about regions of a particular country I may want to explore or dishes I may want to try. However, if I were never able to leave my own town, I would still want to savor this book from the comfort of my own couch. Reading Around the Table is a delightful and engaging sensory experience reminding all of us about the joy that fresh food and culinary experiences throughout the world can provide.

[The Book Elf · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those delightfully informative books that I love having around the house to just stop and dip into every now and then rather than reading it all in one go. Each chapter leaves you with a lovely little nugget of foodie information for you to either simply digest as it is or go away and try for yourself. One new staple food item in my fridge is now strained Greek yoghurt which seems to find it’s way into,or onto, nearly everything I consume in so many delicious combinations and it is so easy to make. Consequently my kitchen worktop seems to have a permanently dripping muslin bag hanging over a bowl on it, providing conversation and queries from everyone who visits.

One of the best things about the book is that it is not a collection of recipes, it is an introduction to the world of food and what is important in so many different countries along with its importance about its place in our lives. Food brings us together , sharing our love as well as our need of it, through generations of sitting together partaking of what has been lovingly prepared, often from simple beautiful ingredients that do not need much work to be enjoyed. For me there is nothing more satisfying at a mealtime than a small bowl of a single estate olive oil and a chunk, or two, of a crusty baguette.

Diana’s book focuses on these experiences and introduces you to many more that, if you are like me, you will go and try yourself and possibly find that you have more firm favourites in your fridge moving forwards.

Like good food this is a book not to be rushed but to be savoured slowly , chapter by chapter whilst it enriches your life.

[Sonia Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been a fan of the authors cookery books and writing for many years and looked forward to reading this set of essays. 52 concise chapters with musings on pivotal and impactful food moments for the author. The essays are a joy to read and reinforce my belief that foods, smells, textures and setting bring memories into sharp focus, where a smell can transport you to a location and a taste to another time and place.
It is hard to choose a favourite amidst the many beautifully written chapters but Craving Salt resonated with me as to be honest there are times when I find myself eating a pinch of Maldon sea salt just for that salty tang. I also loved October is my favourite month, which it is for many reasons among the ones listed by the author, but also as my birth month and it brings a plethora of forageable bounty along with the scent of bonfires on the air.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book - let it open on a random page and read the chapter, it is your gateway to a less troubled world.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for access to this ARC, all views are my own.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was everything I hoped it would be, and more.

A first time reader of Diana Henry, I quite quickly fell in love with not just her writing, but her attitude to life (and food!). As an avid fiction and non-fiction food reader, Food Essays are right up my alley and it did not disappoint. Essays on food can quickly become very dull - either too personal and hard to relate to, or too educational and it feels like you're back in school. This book has the balance just right, teaching us about the history of ingredients, local uses, Diana's experiences and great hints and tips on how to cook them (Without annoying recipe pages!). Not to mention perfect poetic descriptions leaving you craving just about every element of the book. Everything from herbs, to fruit, marmalades, potatoes and toast!

I'll have to go buy the actual book now because it is a must-have for the Food shelves!

[An eARC from NetGalley & Octopus Publishing - Thank you!]

[Elizabeth Currie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love to cook and personally can happily take a cookbook to bed and read it like it’s a novel! But for something extra special I can wholeheartedly recommend Around The Table, the most gorgeous collection of essays on food and life.

It’s a wonderful blend of personal reflections, a journey around the world, an exploration of the history of ingredients and the evolution of the culinary world, and even some cookery tips. With topics ranging from fruit and vegetables to maple syrup and even toast, from Russia to France and the US it really does cover the gamut of the food universe!

But what sets it apart is her beautiful writing style, evocative and often poetic. As a reader I found myself both informed and entertained - and often drooling over the most glorious descriptions of food. My best suggestion would be don’t read it hungry!

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, what a good idea, collecting all of Henry’s cookbook essays in one place! Those are frequently my favorite part. And given Henry’s vibrant enthusiasm for food and cooking, there’s a really good chance I’ll be picking up at least some of her cookbooks. (There are so many, *sob*. RIP my shelf space.)

For me at least, one of the elements of really good food writing is a bit of poetry and romance in one’s prose. Not so much that it no longer has anything to do with reality, but enough to transport the reader. And Henry’s writing has that in spades, with a seep sensuality and a sense of wonder she never loses through her years of cooking and publishing. I devoured her pages.

And that gets you five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Octopus Publishing US for the free ARC. All opinions within are my own.

[Barbara Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Around the Table is a book to savor. Diana Henry has taken essays that accompany recipes in her cookbooks and compiled them into one book, without the recipes. The gorgeous prose remind me of the writings of MFK Fisher.

Like courses in a good meal, each essay is best tasted by chewing slowly and thoughtfully, reflecting on the thoughts and words within. Leave the book in the kitchen near the chair where you sip your morning coffee or wait for the pasta water to boil, then escape for a few moments to explore a different country or consider a single ingredient. Around the Table would be a wonderful gift for a host or hostess or anyone who enjoys beautiful food writing.

Thanks to NetGalley and Octopus Publishing for sharing and ARC in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are my own.

[Daniela · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this collection of essays, Diana Henry has taken us on quite the journey. She has given me quite a bit of inspiration to bring to my kitchen in the near future. I found myself nodding along to her thoughts on so many things while reading: the beauty of pomegranates, the month of October (being the best!), the comfort in knowing there is soup waiting at home, feeling the history in the baking of flatbreads, the poetry of menus.
I also think that the title she chose is perfection! She mentions that the table is where we eat, talk and connect—but these days, with all of our technologies and busy schedules the table is under threat. We stand at our counters, we sit in front of the television, we shovel something quick in while driving. These essays serve as a great reminder that there are so many incredible flavors to explore out there and they are best experienced with others. A reminder that we should get back to living more in the moment, remember our sense of play and wonder, savor our plates and nourish our souls.

[Cherryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

** Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review **
I love Diana Henry. Her latest is as inviting as its title suggests, though if you're in need of recipes, turn away -- this one book is a collection of her gorgeously written essays and personal reflections. Her writing is just so beautiful. I found myself bookmarking page after page, drawn to her balance of comfort and elegance. It's a joy to see so many of her essays collected here. If you're of a certain age (as I am), it's a time travel experience (and fun!) to trace what's changed and what's stayed the same in the food world.

[Deanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an absolutely incredible collection of essays about food and life. This was my first time reading anything by Diana Henry and I was not disappointed. Reading about her experiences through food and learning new pockets of information as I continued was truly a great time. The writing style in this kept me flying through each essay.

I was skeptical before I started this that I would get bored, but that couldn’t be more far from the truth. As a foodie myself, this truly fueled my love for the art of food and how it is so much more than just a meal. I need all foodies to pick this up. I appreciated every essay.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sending me this arc!

[Moushmi Karmokar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diana Henry’s Around the Table is more than a cookbook, it’s a memoir through flavors. Across 52 essays, she blends personal anecdotes, historical tidbits, and sensory explorations that bring each dish to life. From the sticky dates and ripe figs of Middle Eastern markets to the delicate glass phials of flower essences, the book transports readers to kitchens and tables around the world. Every essay is a celebration of culture, memory, and the simple joy of sharing a meal. Whether it’s fritti arancini in Italy or honey-sweetened rice from Bahrain to accompany lamb, Henry’s writing makes you taste, see, and feel every bite.

[Melissa Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have several Diana Henry cookbooks whose pages are dogeared with use. But its easy to forget that she isn't only a great recipe developer, but her writing is superb. Her descriptions of her travels and the food she tasted leave me hungry to not only eat, but to slip into the kitchen and cook.

I'll be honest, I wanted recipes from this book, but I'm plenty happy with evocative food writing.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook as I love the lilt in Ms Henry’s voice. But she has so many delicious recommendations that now I have to buy a hard copy so I can make some of her simple ideas from this book!

Warning: do not read while hungry. Her words make everything - even things you don’t think you like - sound wonderful.

[Amit · Rating 5 out of 5]

My last book of food related writing in 2025, and I feel like I saved the best for last. Some of these essays are some of the finest food writing I have read. And trust me, I've read a lot in last 2 years. Just pick this up, and randomly read something that catches your fancy. It'll be worth your time, if food is something that fascinates you.

[Christine Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glorious food writing. Every chapter left me with thoughts of buying and eating whatever was being described (except game - my pescatarian preferences were far from tempted). The description of the hotel that offered 30 flavours of jam at breakfast struck a particular chord after my jam-filled advent!

[Ruba Abu Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Around the Table’ by Diana Henry is a a beautiful collection of essays on food and life. Reading it has been an absolute honor and joy.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the e-ARC.

[Malcolm Balster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another enjoyable book. The essays feel like the openings to chapters in recipe books, but that does not detract from the quality of the writing.
Its a book that will be dipped into many times I feel.

[Niamh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most sumptuous morsels of food writing and the food writing that I love the best. Completely aspirational, deeply middle-class in their approach to the world, and making for delightful escapism as I read it.

[R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some essays are genuinely lovely and interesting, unique and insightful perspectives on specific places and food; others are just lists of how a specific food is served round the world, which is much less joyful to read.

[Isabella Wordsworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The worlds were a lyrical piece of magic, mouth watering delicious bites of information and storytelling. This is food writing and more importantly descriptions done right

[Alex McLaren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I would have loved if there were recipes however understand this was a different direction for the author in writing essays about food and the stories that surround it.

[Telma · Rating 5 out of 5]

apesar de não ser um conjunto de testes inéditos, mas sim uma coletânea de textos dos livros de receitas já publicados, adorei e não conseguia parar de ler

[Shanna McClennen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent mouth-watering collection of food essays