• Home
  • Our Shop
  • About Us
    • About MKB
    • Our Shop
    • MKB Board
    • Editorial Board and MKB Administrators
    • Our Contributors
    • For Bloggers: Join MKB
    • Books and Products from Our Members
    • Cultural Resources
    • Contact Us
  • Product Promotion Services
  • Blog Hops & Series
    • Holidays Around the World
      • Martin Luther King Day
      • Chinese New Year
      • Purim
      • Passover
      • Easter Around the World
      • Ramadan
      • Hajj (Eid al Adha)
      • Rosh Hashanah
      • Day of the Dead
      • Diwali
      • Hanukkah
      • Christmas in Different Lands
    • Heritage Months
      • Black History Month
      • Women’s History Month
      • Asian-Pacific Islander Heritage Month
      • Middle Eastern and North African Heritage Month
      • Hispanic Heritage Month
      • Native American Heritage Month
    • Blogging Carnivals
    • Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop
    • Global Learning for Kids
  • Resources for Raising Global Citizens
  • Privacy Policy

Multicultural Kid Blogs

For families and educators raising world citizens, through arts, activities, crafts, food, language, and love.

FEAST! Picture Books About Food and Friends Across Culture

January 31, 2022 by Terry Farish

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Here’s a list of new and recent picture books that celebrate food and culture. They all highlight people coming together to share delicious dishes and joy-filled cooking adventures. The list includes a book about a new family and how the children experience the different foods of each of their two sets of grandparents. It also includes books on the joy of a food truck festival and the excitement of curious kids discovering the variety of foods found in their neighborhood.

title image with books about food and culture

(This post contains affiliate links. If you click and purchase, Multicultural Kid Blogs will receive a small commission that will be used to maintain the site.)

EVERY NIGHT IS PIZZA NIGHT

by Jenji López-Alt, illustrated by Gianna Ruggiero, Norton Young Readers, 2020

Pizza is “the BEST. This is a scientific fact,” Pipo proclaims. But, to investigate her science, she surveys dishes her neighbors are cooking. When a neighbor invites her to taste bibimbap, she says, “I do not need it. I do not want it. But I will try it. For science.” She actually loves it. And so it goes, through visits to families in the neighborhood, as she tries tagine, red beans and rice, dumplings, and spicy green pozole soup. Then, Pipo has to think a lot about what her neighbors love and what “best” might really mean.

FOOD TRUCK FEST

by Alexandra Penfold, illustrated by Mike Dutton, Farrar Straus Giroux, 2018

This story follows the food truck cooks and one hungry family as they race to eat at the festival of foods. “Let’s get moving. No time to rest. Everybody’s going to the food truck fest.” In New York City, the food trucks circle round.  “Kimchi tacos, that’s no illusion, Korean and Mexican make a tasty fusion.” Ah, but there’s more. Belgian waffles, kebabs, crab rolls, shrimp, Vietnamese pho sho, and Texas brisket. This book is a veritable buffet of food and culture and the beautiful ways they come together.

GOING UP

by Sherry J. Lee, illustrated by Charlene Chua, Kids Can Press, 2020

A little girl is invited to attend a birthday party on the 10th floor of her apartment building. The story is about the ride up on the elevator, which includes people from all over the world and all walks of life. Along the way, she gets the opportunity to connect with their many foods, clothing, and animals.  And who’s birthday is it? Well, that’s a surprise.

LET ME FIX YOU A PLATE: A Tale of Two Kitchens

by Elizabeth Lilly, Holiday House, 2021

This story is about a family’s road trip. First, they visit Mamaw and Pawpaw in the mountains of West Virginia. While there, they eat banana pudding, blackberry jam, and sausages. Then, they drive “forever” to visit their other grandparents, Abuela and Abuelo, in Florida. This time, they eat corn flour cakes, arepas with queso blanco, and naranjas straight from the trees. This honest, delightful story captures both individual family relationships and extended family cultures.

THANK YOU, OMU!

by Oge Mora, Little Brown, 2018

This gorgeous story is told through the bright collages of a cook who is so amazing that people in the neighborhood find their way to her door. The people are of all colors and all jobs. Even the hot dog vendor comes! They all love the scent of Omu’s stew. When they arrive at her door, she offers them a taste. “A doctor, an actor, a lawyer, a dancer.”  Pretty soon she doesn’t have enough left for her own supper, but an act of generosity follows. Oge Mora came to the U.S. from Nigeria; the name Omu in the Igbo language means “queen.”

A FEAST FOR JOSEPH

by Terry Farish and OD Bonny, illustrated by Ken Daley, Groundwood Books, 2021

I’ll end with a picture book I co-wrote with OD Bonny. It captures our desire to bring people together. Joseph, born in Uganda, pulls off a feast in Maine where he now lives. To have a feast is his heart’s desire. He invites a little girl who lives upstairs and her mom who was born in the Dominican Republic. Between Joseph’s traditional food of kwon and dek ngor and Whoosh’s tres leches cake, the neighbors forge valuable friendships.

Related Posts

Exploring Culture Through Food

Global Gifts for Little Foodies

Food, Pride, and Family Values

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather
The following two tabs change content below.
  • Bio
  • Latest Posts

Terry Farish

Author of The Good Braider and other books for children and teens. I write a blog on children's books about our newest American families. To understand more about Nepali-speaking families from Bhutan, please visit my blog, Rabbit in the Moon, http://www.terryfarish.com/blog I'm a contributor to I'm Your Neighbor Books, http://www.imyourneighborbooks.org - building bridges across cultures with children's books.

Latest posts by Terry Farish (see all)

  • FEAST! Picture Books About Food and Friends Across Culture - January 31, 2022
  • Why Dance Each Other’s Dances? Feel the Beat of Our Cultural Histories - July 7, 2017

Filed Under: Books for Children, Cooking, Cooking with children, Learning About Culture, Teaching Diversity Tagged With: diverse children's books, diverse foods, food books, friends, friendship books, neighbors, pizza, stew

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required

Follow Us!

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on Google+Follow Us on TwitterFollow Us on PinterestFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on Instagram

Anti-Bullying Resource FREE Download

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Grab Our Button!

grab button for Multicultural Kid Blogs
<div class="multicultural-kid-blogs-button" style="width: 200px; margin: 0 auto;"> <a href="https://multiculturalkidblogs.com/" rel="nofollow"> <img src="https://multiculturalkidblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/button-take-3.jpg" alt="Multicultural Kid Blogs" width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div>
Multicultural Children's Book Day Co-Host

Archives

Copyright © 2023 · Lifestyle Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT