As 2016 comes to a close, there’s probably one thing we can all agree on: It’s been a rough one. It has, however, been a banner year for books that delve into one of the few things that can bring people together: food and drink. Though their settings range from the American South to the bogs of Ireland and back again, all tell a story bigger than any one dish. These tales hint at the inner and sometimes invisible workings of society at large, the ones that turn tables and minds right under our noses. We all eat, they seem to say; we all have that in common, at least. Whether you’re curious about how bourbon shaped American politics or interested in how vegetarianism became all the rage in India, here are our favorite food history and culture books of 2016.

The French Chef in America: Julia Child’s Second Act

Julia Child’s great-nephew Alex Prud’homme takes on the famed chef’s TV and cookbook years in his latest work, a near-sequel to Child’s autobiographical My Life in France, which Prud’homme co-authored. The French Chef in America shows us a newly famous Child, who at times struggles with her celebrity but manages nonetheless to define a new kind of food television and secure her own enduring legacy. Through it all, though, Child remains somewhat nonchalant, once telling Prud’homme, “Well, if it wasn’t me, it would have been someone else.” “But it was her,” Prud’homme counters in his book. “And it is unlikely that anyone else could have done what she did, when she did, and how she did it. Julia Child changed the nation, even if she didn’t like to admit it.”