Eater's Best Spring 2026 Cookbooks
Los Angeles Times Best New Cookbooks for Spring 2026
From Diaspora Spice Co., the progressive spice company rooted in flavor and equity, comes a cookbook celebrating beautiful, simple, and seasonal cooking with 85 recipes adapted from India and Sri Lanka's best family spice farms.
Diaspora Spice Co. sources the most flavorful, fresh spices in the world from 150 regenerative farms across South Asia--from elders, indigenous communities, young changemakers, and brilliant multi-generational farming families across India and Sri Lanka who are leading the way in sustainable and climate change-resistant agriculture. Filled with culinary storytelling, The Diaspora Spice Co. Cookbook highlights these farmers and their spices with profiles and evocative photography, plus 85 recipes for simple, seasonal, and powerfully delicious meals.
CEO and founder Sana Javeri Kadri and recipe writer Asha Loupy realized that eating with the people who grow our spices unveils a whole new dimension in our cooking. For instance, the Mir family, who works all year to grow and harvest their saffron, shared not only their technique for blooming the vibrant spice and how to make sure every thread is fully utilized, but their unforgettably delicious dishes. Adapted for a global pantry, these recipes share the warmth of true South Asian home cooking at its truest and tastiest, starting with chutneys & pickles, snacks, and veggies, traveling through to mains from the sea and from the land, rice and breads, and ending with drinks and desserts.
Sana and Asha also note which recipes are the most beginner friendly, freezer friendly, good for a dinner party menu (like a Diwali feast!), and which lend themselves to be pantry building blocks, all for a super easy-to-navigate cookbook.
- Burst Tomato Chutney
- Perfect Pakora
- Spiced Maple-Roasted Carrots with Carrot-Top Sambol
- Aloo Masala
- Jammy Egg Curry
- Coconut Lamb Biryani
- Fennel Tom Collins
- Turmeric-Banana Snacking Cake
- Apricot-Saffron Frangipane Galette
This incredibly fresh, beautifully photographed, powerful collection is a celebration of these farming families, their precious harvests, and how they season recipes with big flavor.
