It is one of the most ambitious world-spanning collections of recipes I have ever encountered. In just 100 pages, the author, recipe developer, designer, and illustrator have made the case that there is a uniquely American cuisine: the story of migration, colonialism, and what comes after. 

It’s a scholarly feat of hyper-locavore delight that could intrigue the appetite of even a California reader, and Harris’s brand-new book, Festive Maryland Recipes, has already garnered national acclaim. In an ode to community cookbooks at the core of her research, it’s a collection of over 20 holiday recipes—some classic, like Thanksgiving sauerkraut and Christmas oyster stew, and others unexpected, like Korean chop-chae for the Lunar New Year or Greek koulourakia for Easter—with ruminations on the stories they tell in between. Each was modernized by recipe developer Rachel Rappaport, with a retro design by Sara Tomko and illustrations by Ben Claassen, who are all from Baltimore, too.

This cookbook is a real treasure—it’s as if a team of first-class writers and designers got hold of a community cookbook and really did it right. It is also a bit of a hodgepodge, since it is difficult to easily define Maryland cuisine, given the diverse groups that landed there, from the Welsh and Germans to the Italians, Greek Orthodox and South Koreans. There are more than a few gems here, such as stuffed ham, roast turkey with sauerkraut, oyster stuffing, white potato pie, pudding cake, Cornish saffron bread, japchae (noodle stir-fry), kinklings (potato doughnuts), ginger cream cake, strawberry cobbler and spinach ricotta pie from Liguria. Whether you make any of the recipes or not, this book should be high on your gift list for anyone who loves culinary history.