Received a free PDF of this book from Net Galley.

What a beautiful and heartfelt cookbook! The illustrations, history, and personal storytelling drew me in immediately. I feel like I learned a lot without even meaning to -- it was so accessible and also made me really want to cook Thai.

Some cookbooks that include narrative or background text are more like poems or a stream you can dip in and out of. This one made me sit down and read it through like a comic book, following along and noting recipes I'd want to come back to later.

So far, I've only made a Thai style omelette but it was a perfect quick and flavorful lunch that I'd never made before. Some of the other recipes are more intimidating or seem complex, but the cute step by step drawings are a great guide. I would recommend for more confident or advanced chefs, or folks who already have the equipment mentioned + access to a great Asian grocery. Knowing all the work and special ingredients that go into creating such delicious food also makes me feel completely justified in eating at Thai restaurants and giving them all my money.

You can feel the love for Thai food and culture all throughout this book. It would be a beautiful gift for yourself or a cook in your life to treasure.

Review also posted on goodreads.

I love Thai food so this cookbook was right up my alley. I thought this book was very clever being in the graphic novel style. It was also well organized. It gives an introduction of the various regions of Thailand and their culinary differences, as well as an Asian grocery and ingredients/tools 101. Some of this will be review for those that already cook Asian food but overall, I think it's important though so home cooks aren't intimidated by the ingredients. I also liked how it organized the recipes: noodles, rice dishes, soups, etc. Some of the graphic novel story pieces didn't interest me but I could see others liking it. Some of the recipes require you to make another recipe for a piece of it, which can get time-consuming but it all seems to be authentic. I look forward to making more recipes but as I said, they will probably be weekend meals when I have more time. Overall, I would recommend this fun, whimsical, as well as authentic cookbook.
Thank you to NetGalley and for providing me with an ARC. All opinions expressed are my own and were willingly given.

Noodles, Rice, and Everything Spice is an appealing, clever, and useful cookbook in comic form by Christina De Witte and Mallika Kauppinen. Released 7th May 2024 by Penguin Random House on their Ten Speed Press imprint, it's 208 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats.

The art is very simple but appealing and fun, full of energy and whimsy, and at the same time ingredients and prep methods are clear enough to follow easily. The text is direct and unvarnished and the authors have included an intro on their meeting and friendship leading up to this collaborative effort. Despite coming from disparate backgrounds, there's fertile common ground and the "origin story" is well worth a read.

The recipes themselves are arranged thematically: tools and supplies, ingredients (and a tutorial for shopping at Asian stores which was helpful and fun), snacks & starters, noodles, rice dishes, soups & curries, desserts & drinks, and staples and accompaniments. Most of the standard recipes which readers can think of are included in some form here.

Recipe ingredients are written in an illustrated bullet list, followed by step by step instructions. Ingredients are given with imperial (American) units, not metric. There's no nutritional info included. Many of the ingredients will be available at any well stocked grocery store in North America, but a significant proportion of the ingredients will require a trip to an Asian market or grocery store.

Thai food is a brilliant fusion of salt & sweet, spicy & savory; really an explosion of flavor, and this book captures an honestly surprising amount of variety and breadth. Don't let the comic format come in the way, this is a *real* cookbook, made by authors who are familiar with and experienced at cooking the cuisine.

As an aside, the authors' family histories are fascinating and varied and sensitively told - they've both moved extensively, both live in Europe now, one is from a varied (multi-ethnic) background, the other has a Finnish husband and Finnish/Thai son. The experiences aren't hammered on or waved around, but they are warmly and positively mentioned and representation is important. One reason they connected (giving rise to the cookbook collaboration) is Ms. De Witte's wish to connect to her Thai roots and learn Thai as a young adult (Ms. Kauppinen is a teacher and Thai + Finnish tutor).

Five stars. A solid cookbook. It would be an excellent choice for public or school library acquisition, home use, and gift giving purposes.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This cookbook provided such a great introduction to Thai cuisine for home cooks. I especially loved the introductory sections, including the portions devoted to history and grocery shopping, as well as the Staples & Accompaniments section at the end. The illustrations are so bright and colorful that they pop off the page and make you want to get cooking right away!

Noodles and Rice and Everything Spice is a delightful book to browse, learn and cook from. The illustrations are full of energy and enthusiasm for the information and recipes.
Although some of the recipes look pretty in depth, I feel like they would be worth the extra effort to get the authentic Thai food experience.
A fun book with lots of delicious recipes and ideas!

Thank you Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press, Ten Speed Graphic, and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this book. This book is a great visual guide to Thai food that is easy to follow and recreate at home. It provides recipes from different regions of Thailand with some history and even gives a tour of an Asian market and suggestions about the ingredients.
I enjoyed the non-traditional, graphic novel format and step-by-step preparation illustrations of each dish. It would also be nice to include real photos of finished dishes so those unfamiliar with Thai cuisine could see what the dish should look like. Overall, this is a great book that is both educational and fun.

I’m beginning to love graphic novel cookbooks and this one was perfection! Lots of good info and recipes to try. Love! Definitely a keeper

I absolutely adored this book. It was so cute! I read it with my son who is nine and he loved following along with the illustrations. Very engaging book and loved the conversational tone and step by step images of the recipes.

I enjoy learning about cultures beyond my own, and cooking food from other countries to enjoy and share. I've just finished savoring my very first comic cookbook, and what a delight it is! The cookbook is just about as friendly and helpful as it could be, and packs a lot of history, culture, and personal memories into each warm and fuzzy page. I would love to see this cookbook start a trend.

A local farmer's market carries whole coconuts, but I've always felt intimidated by using them in cooking. I appreciated learning more about coconut milk and meat, and how it's collected. And how charming is it that the first, richest 'squeeze' is called the "Head" of coconut milk and the last watery gleanings are called the "Tail"?

Many of the ingredients used in the 50 recipes contained in this comic cookbook aren't easily found around my neighborhood, but I was cheered to see that the authors not only mention, but encourage the use of canned and bottled sauces, marinades, soup bases and the like. This should guarantee that more people will actually try cooking the dishes.

The section titled "A quick note about..." is misnamed, as it's really several pages long and gives us a solid overview of commonly used spicing, flavor balances, ingredients, and even serving utensils.

About 40ish pages in, having been well-grounded in Thai food culture, we finally come upon the recipes, beginning with "Snacks and Starters". All the recipes are accompanied by step-by-step illustrated instructions, even more information about Thai culture, childhood memories, and little tips and tricks from the authors cooking experiences.

The recipes are varied, and there's going to be something in the collection to appeal to every palate. There's extensive coverage of the different types of curries that are so popular in Thai cuisine. I could tell that the goal of that section was to demystify cooking with curry. If curries are intimidating to you, this will arm you with enough information and assurance to prod you towards cooking curry dishes yourself.

'Desserts and Drinks' is a sweet treat in itself, filled with more history lessons and personal memories from the authors. There's a good handful of complex, average, and simple recipes. I am going to try making Khai Waan (Sweet Egg) this afternoon, since I have all the ingredients (there's only four, and one is water!) and the instructions are very simple.

'Staples and Accompaniments' is very helpful for cooks wanting to stock their kitchens with ingredients for Thai food. You'll also learn about good side dishes to support the main dish you've chosen to cook.

If a cookbook could become a gesture, "Noodles, Rice, and Everything Nice" would be a warm hug. Pick up a copy and gather your family to create your own new taste treats and lasting memories.

My thanks to authors Christina de Witte and Mallika Kauppinen, Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a digital review copy of this book. This review is my honest and unbiased opinion.

This was very nice to read, even though it is part cookbook. The stories that accompanied the recipes were very fun to read and I really love the concept of this sort of cookbook. I also really liked that the creators of the book made this out of their own experiences.

Even if you won't be making the recipes, this is very nice to read!

I absolutely love every single thing about this comic/cookbook. Before even getting into it, I was so ecstatic that this even exists. As a Thai girl wanting to cook more Thai recipes, this was an easy grab and it blew out of water. I loved going through the artwork, the illustrations, and the story. But the recipes truly are what stood out. I'm so ready to try every single item in the book. The nostalgia and the excitement surrounding each dish will definitely make me a much better cook! I can't rave enough, all the stars for this!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this amazing cookbook. All opinions are my own.

This was a one-of-a-kind cookbook. The authors put so much heart into telling their stories and teaching about their culture in their cooking. This book brings together cute art, beautiful stories of people finding identity through cooking, and delicious Thai recipes. A wonderful read!

A fun way to making cookbooks approachable is turning them into graphic novels. It was such a pleasure to read Noodles, Rice and Everything Spice by Christina de Witte and Mallika Kauppinen. I’m a fan of Thai food and this book took me on a tour through the country’s various regions sharing recipes and stories along the way. The stories and facts included helped to make a more immersive experience before dipping into each sections recipes. Not only were there stories and recipes but tips, tricks, info on cooking supplies and how-to’s were sprinkled along the way. From starters to main dishes this was such an enjoyable and handy book. I also loved the bright and fun art style as well as layout. It was easy to read, and a book I will be returning to for recipes. I would love to see more cookbooks like this!

Thanks to Clarkson Potter, Ten Speed Press and NetGalley for this Arc in exchange for my honest review.

Noodles, Rice, and Everything Spice is written is a comic book style focusing on Thai cuisine and history through different regions of Thailand. The cookbook explores northern, northeastern, eastern, central, western, and southern Thailand cuisines.

The sections are snacks and starters, noodles, with rice, soups and curries, desserts and drinks, & staples and accompaniments.
Each recipe has a brief on the dish, servings, ingredients, and then step by step directions with illustrations. The directions are very fun and straightforward.

I really enjoyed the little comics and the built in storyline. The illustrations are so cute. The cookbooks fun nature is perfect for someone wanting to get into cooking more Thai food. The drawings of grocery store staples is perfect to know what to look for and buy. I HIGHLY recommend this cookbook!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A delicious book, filled with wonderful thai recipes and a rich introduction to thai culture through food. I very much enjoyed the recipes I made from the book, and would definitely make more in the future! In addition, the art and the unique way of learning about thai cuisine through small comics and stories, made it a very fun and cute read.

If you love comic books, you'll love this cookbook. It has a nice introduction section in the front that explains the premise of how the book came about and the basics (ingredients, etc). The recipes are well illustrated and seem to completely outline the steps necessary to make a variety of dishes. While I found the cookbook to be cute and I enjoyed perusing it, I like very clean recipes when I cook. If you are like me, and like everything laid out nicely, this probably won't work as well for you.

An absolutely delightful book that's so much more than a graphic cookbook-- it also provides a lot of cultural context and education to the reader. Highly recommend.

As a fellow Thai native and restauranteur, the information in the cookbook was not new to me but the presentation was. Comic book or graphic novel style cookbooks do the due diligence of making an intimidating cuisine feel obtainable. That’s what I loved about this book. The authors very accurately explain Thai cuisine, and all the cultural mannerisms associated with our food. It included a beautifully written origin story introduction made even more impactful with the illustrations! To the non-Thai reader, there is a story arc that is educational. Through this I can see Mallika’s background in teaching really shine through.

Recipes ranged from what we would consider more “common” Thai food/dishes (Pad Thai) to educating the reader on the very traditional ingredients native Thai people regularly eat that might not be as well known (Khanom Jeen). It encompasses a very intentional history of Thai food that reflects the many surrounding influences in our regional dishes. Many don't realize that several dishes they associate with Thai food are actually borrowed from surrounding countries. Noodles, Rice, and Everything Spice colorfully illustrates this history, all while teaching the reader how to prepare the dishes they know (and a lot they may not know!) and love.

Thank you to the publisher for providing this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thai food has never looked more delicious. Yet it's not as simple as asking for curries and noodles; six different regions in Thailand vary in their spice choices and specific dishes. This cookbook talks about first how not to order like a tourist if you visit the country, the ingredients to get if you want a go at it. The authors discuss how to get these ingredients at different stores if you don't have a primary source.

I am not a high spice person so I would not be putting in about twenty hot peppers or chili sauces into any dish that I cook. The recipes, however, are accessible, and come with comic illustrations for reference! That helps a lot for someone who would be a newbie at such cooking, like me. If I were to take up Thai food, I would be using this book a lot.

I really enjoyed reading this book! I found it fresh and original. All the ingredients aren't available to me, but with some substitution I can cook many of these recipes.