Good Things (book)

Last updated
Good Things
Good Things (book) (Book Cover).jpeg
Author Samin Nosrat
Genre Cookbook
Publisher Random House
Publication date
2025

Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share With People You Love is a cookbook by Samin Nosrat, published in 2025 by Random House. [1]

Contents

Background

The book was published eight years after Nosrat's first cookbook, Salt Fat Acid Heat. [2] Nosrat originally intended to follow-up her first book with a sequel titled What to Cook, which would have focused on how to decide what to prepare to eat based on your time, resources, preferences, and ingredients. She eventually abandoned the idea after struggling to complete the book. Based on the advice of a literary agent, she decided to publish a cookbook that more resembled a recipe book than her first book, which focused on teaching techniques. [3] The book's title was inspired by the short story "A Small Good Thing" by Raymond Carver. [4]

Nosrat suffered from clinical depression [5] during the COVID-19 lockdowns following the success of her first book and the cooking show based on it, and the death of her father. She began hosting a weekly dinner party with her friends as a way to connect, and began compiling recipes which were used in Good Things. [6] When writing the book, Nosrat also chose to emphasize the enjoyment of cooking and sharing food with others. [7] The photographs used in the book were taken at Nosrat's home in Oakland, using her tableware and linens. [5]

Reception

In December 2025, the book was in fourth place on The Washington Post's non-fiction hardcover bestseller's list. [8] It was in ninth place on the Los Angeles Times' non-fiction bestseller list in January 2026. [9] The book was included on Smithsonian's top ten books about food of 2025, [10] and The New Yorker's list of the top ten cookbooks of 2025. [11]

Micheline Maynard of Food & Wine considered it to be part of a wave of cookbooks published after the COVID-19 pandemic that focused on simple cooking and the importance of social dining. [12]

References

  1. ↑ Block, Ron. "LJ Talks with Chef Samin Nosrat, Author of 'Good Things'". Library Journal. Retrieved 2026-01-09.
  2. ↑ Stanek, Amiel (2025-09-15). "How Samin Nosrat Got Her Groove Back". Bon Appétit. Retrieved 2026-01-09.
  3. ↑ Kois, Dan (2025-09-17). "How Samin Nosrat Learned to Love the Recipe". The New Yorker. ISSN   0028-792X . Retrieved 2026-01-09.
  4. ↑ Byron, Grace (2025-09-15). "Samin Nosrat Is Redefining the Good Life". Vogue. Retrieved 2026-01-09.
  5. 1 2 Kadvany, Elena. "Samin Nosrat on her favorite Bay Area farmers market and her hotly anticipated new cookbook". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2025-11-08. Retrieved 2026-01-09.
  6. ↑ Briger, Sam (2025-09-23). "Samin Nosrat once shunned recipes. Now she's sharing them". NPR. Retrieved 2026-01-09.
  7. ↑ Wilson, Sumiko (2025-09-29). "Samin Nosrat's 'Good Things' is Here and it's Her Most Personal Work Yet". S Magazine. Retrieved 2026-01-09.
  8. ↑ "Washington Post hardcover bestsellers". The Washington Post. 2025-12-31. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2026-01-09.
  9. ↑ Email; Facebook (2026-01-07). "The week's bestselling books, Jan. 11". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2026-01-09.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  10. ↑ Webster, Jim. "The Ten Best Books About Food of 2025". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2026-01-09.
  11. ↑ Goldfield, Hannah (2025-12-20). "Ten of My Favorite Cookbooks of 2025". The New Yorker. ISSN   0028-792X . Retrieved 2026-01-09.
  12. ↑ "Cookbooks Have Stopped Trying to Impress Us — and That's a Good Thing". Food & Wine. Retrieved 2026-01-09.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.