Riot Headline Book Riot’s 2024 Read Harder Challenge
Fiction

Take This Cookout Quiz and We’ll Tell You Which Foodie Fiction to Read

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Susie Dumond

Senior Contributor

Susie (she/her) is a queer writer originally from Little Rock, now living in Washington, DC. She is the author of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You can find her on Instagram @susiedoom.

Summer means longer daylight hours, trips to the pool, transportive beach reads, and most importantly, cookouts! There’s nothing more delicious than eating grilled food in someone’s backyard, surrounded by friends, family, and neighbors. But if there’s anything that comes close, it’s foodie fiction. I adore books that make my mouth water with enticing food descriptions. If you love reading about food almost as much as eating food, take this cookout quiz to find out which foodie fiction book is your ideal summer read.

Foodie fiction comes in many packages. It can range from tasty literary fiction to sweet romances to appetizing mysteries and beyond. Light and heavy, historical and contemporary, the possible results of this quiz cover a range of genres and cuisines. You’ll be surprised by how your cookout tastes might correlate with your bookish preferences. If you’re looking for more than one foodie fiction book to whet your appetite, you can find a full list of potential book recommendations after the quiz. And if that’s not enough for you, check out Book Riot lists of romcoms for foodies, horror books for foodies, YA contemporary books for foodies, and 100 must-read novels for food lovers.

Now it’s time to grab your sunglasses and a glass of iced tea and head on down to the cookout!

Cookout Quiz

Cookout Quiz Results

cover of Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala

After a nasty breakup, Lila moves home and is tasked with saving her family’s failing restaurant. But when another ex (and notoriously mean food critic) dies immediately after a fight with Lila, she’s forced to solve the mystery herself to clear her name.

Cover of Chef's Kiss by TJ Alexander.

Chef’s Kiss by TJ Alexander

When a grumpy pastry chef and a cheerful nonbinary kitchen manager team up to make video content for their cookbook publisher, sparks — and lots of delicious baked goods — are sure to fly.

A Deadly Inside Scoop cover

A Deadly Inside Scoop by Abby Collette

Bronwyn took over her family’s ice cream parlor with a dream of serving her grandmother’s classic recipes again. But when she finds a dead body and the police think her father is guilty, Bronwyn has to balance running a business with clearing her dad’s name.

death by bubble tea cover

Death by Bubble Tea by Jennifer J. Chow

Two cousins run a food stall at an L.A. night market, and their delicious bubble tea makes them go viral. But when a customer ends up dead, the bubble tea he drank before he died makes them the prime suspects.

cover of Donut Fall in Love by Jackie Lau

Donut Fall in Love by Jackie Lau

When a handsome actor gets cast on a celebrity baking competition, he asks a local artisan donut shop owner to help him learn to bake. But with their chemistry, they’re sure to mix up more than just batter.

Hana Khan Carries On book cover

Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin

Hana is a waitress at her family’s struggling halal restaurant. When a flashy competing restaurant opens down the street, Hana turns to her anonymously run podcast to ask for advice from her listeners.

The Kitchen Front book cover

The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan

In the midst of WWII, the BBC starts a cooking competition to find the first ever woman host of their radio program, The Kitchen Front. Four women with very different lives and relationships to cooking will do anything to win.

cover of Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly

Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly

London is the first nonbinary chef on America’s favorite cooking competition. Dahlia makes a terrible first impression when she trips and drops her first dish on the show. Soon, the heat between London and Dahlia is hotter than the reality TV kitchen.

Cover image of Ramón and Julieta by Alana Quintana Albertson.

Ramón and Julieta by Alana Quintana Albertson

In this Romeo and Juliet–inspired romance, the heir to a fast food fortune falls for the celebrity chef owner of a failing taqueria. Can their star-crossed love survive a fierce food rivalry?

cover image of The Rib King by Ladee Hubbard, a yellow cover featuring the upper body of a person made of a collage wearing a black suit jacket with a crown scribbled over its head

The Rib King by Ladee Hubbard

As a white family’s fortune dwindles, they decide to bottle and sell a sauce recipe created by their Black cook, and use the face of their Black landscaper on the label. When the cook and landscaper learn they won’t get any of the profits, they become set on revenge.


We hope this cookout quiz helped you find the perfect foodie fiction to take you on a tasty adventure! You might also enjoy:

QUIZ: Are You Frog or Toad?

QUIZ: Which New LGBTQ+ Book Should You Read?

QUIZ: Create Your Perfect Spring Day and We'll Tell You What Cozy Mystery to Read