Ann Yonetani

Founder and owner of NYrture Food

https://www.nyrture.com

Biography

Ann Yonetani is the founder/owner of NYrture Food, making natto in NYC, a microbiologist with life-long passions for both food and science. As a professor at the New School university in New York, she teaches about the intersection of these two worlds. Before becoming a natto maker, Ann worked for over 15 years as a biomedical research scientist in labs at Columbia University, Harvard Medical School, UCSF, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the Basel Biozentrum. Along the way, she also enjoyed cooking in restaurants and soup kitchens in Philadelphia, San Francisco and Boston. She received her BA in Biology at the University of Pennsylvania, MS in Biochemistry from the University of California, San Francisco, and PhD in Microbiology from Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons.

The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook

Cook's Illustrated

I've always been a fan of this great publication for their thorough, scientific approach and analysis to recipes--the "why?" of cooking.

The Joy of Cooking

Irma Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker

I know this is such an old-school cliche, but I really do turn to this book a lot for tried and true standards to which creative twists can be added.

Harumi's Japanese Cooking

Harumi Kurihara

I was gifted this book by a Japanese friend and use it often for simple, modern, everyday Japanese home cooking ideas.

Plenty

Yotam Ottolenghi

So gorgeous, I want to eat the book itself. I love the huge range of vegetarian dishes in here, encouraging me to use and combine new plant-based ingredients in such delicious ways.

Momofuku

David Chang and Peter Meehan

I've been a hardcore fan of Momofuku & co. ever since being one of their very first ramen bar customers. Love his creative, casual and critical approach, a fun read as well.

Bar Tartine, Techniques & Recipes

Nicolaus Balla and Cortney Burns

This is my most recent cookbook purchase after having the great pleasure of dining there. An amazingly beautiful, thoughtful and original cookbook with which I hope to recreate a bit of the meal I enjoyed.

The Art of Fermentation

Sandor Ellix Katz

This is the essential book on fermented food--so comprehensive, thorough and precise in its coverage of a huge range of ferments, including both recipes and delightfully extensive culinary/historical/medicinal information.

Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

Nathan Myhrvold , Chris Young and Maxime Bilet

This is a humungous five-volume set of art books detailing the science & applications of modernist/"molecular" techniques. Might not actually make it to or be of practical use on the desert island, but an incredible illustrated encyclopedia of knowledge in this area of cooking which interests me a lot, as you can see from these last three choices on my list.

Cooking for Geeks

Jeff Potter

The title is accurate; this book is much less a cookbook than an easy-to-read molecular gastronomy (as defined by Herve This) textbook on the chemistry of cooking with great interview material from experts in the field. It does, however, contain many recipes, many with an unconventional "molecular" twist and useful cooking tips. A fun book.

The Kitchen as Laboratory: Reflections on the Science of Food and Cooking

Cesar Vega , Job Ubbink and Erik van der Linden

This book is primarily a collection of essays by deep food geeks, examining the biology, chemistry and physics of various dishes with scientifically-informed recipes. A very academic book for food science fans.

What's playing in Ann's kitchen?

Bjork, I would love for her to write a cookbook; I want to know what she eats.

Listen to Ann's playlist