On Food and Cooking
On Food and Cooking by Harold McGeeby Harold McGee
Shares rank 2 of 7 cookbooks by recommenders
People recommend it as a standout, foundational reference on the science of food and cooking, and other food writing builds on its work.
People recommend it as a standout, foundational reference on the science of food and cooking, and other food writing builds on its work.
3 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 3
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 3 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Foundational reference for food science
“it owes a strong debt to Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking”
Comment from 26 Feb 2026 in “Men in their 50s may be aging faster due to toxic 'forever chemicals'” Stands out among cooking books
“The food lab and on food and cooking stand out”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode”
Other cookbooks people recommend
The four most recommended other cookbooks, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Food Labby J. Kenji López-Alt | 7 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| On Food and Cookingby Harold McGeeThis page | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Modernist Cuisineby Nathan Myhrvold | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| The Sourdough Frameworkby Hendricius Ruppel | 3 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| The Flavor Bibleby Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg | 3 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
All 3 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The food lab and on food and cooking stand out”
“Probably not, but it'll get you somewhere along that way.”
“it owes a strong debt to Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.