We're pretty sure most Serious Eats readers have a copy of The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science by Kenji López-Alt, since it's indispensable, which means you know how great a gift it will be for anyone who is interested in improving the quality of the food coming out of their kitchen.
The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science
$33.96
from Amazon
Stella Parks's BraveTart:
Bangkok: Recipes and Stories from the Heart of Thailand
$20.68
from Amazon
Hawker Fare: Stories and Recipes from a Refugee Chef's Isan Thai and Lao Roots by James Syhabout, the chef behind the Michelin-starred Commis in Oakland, and award-winning author John Birdsall, is a great introduction to some of the flavors that make Isan and Lao cuisines unique.
I've written about why I think The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael Twitty should be read by just about everyone, but I also think it makes a wonderful gift for anyone who is interested in history, food, the history of food, and this terribly flawed but nonetheless beautiful thing we call America.