The idea of Food to Die for is a fun one. Bruni shares experiences and personal anecdotes about her paranormal career before ushering in succinct rundowns of renowned haunted places. Corresponding with these places are recipes that are tied to or inspired by these places. The photography is dark and moody with rustic cutlery, tasteful taxidermy, and aesthetic cookware. If the reader is new or budding into the paranormal/haunted/spooky world, this is a great text to gift. Each location is a single page of information and each recipe is a single page of instructions and ingredients. The formatting is simple and to the point. However, those who are more involved or informed may find this to be too surface level. At the very least, it's a wonderful reference point to add to your library. Those who are more interested in the cooking aspect may be disappointed with the seemingly lack of attention given to it. The author even adds that readers should feel free to dress the recipes up or adapt them at will. Rather than providing well-thought out recipes with detailed instructions, readers get blueprints. Cooks who rely on visual aids should note that not every recipe has a photograph of the end product; some merely have the ingredients arranged in a tasteful fashion. Those excited by the notion of historical recipes should also be told that the majority of these recipes are loosely connected to their locations, or are merely inspired by them. There are also a handful of cocktails to shake things up. Overall, Food to Die for isn't a cookbook, but a haunted location guide with some recipes added in for a bit of levity. The end of the text includes a suggested serving menu with different themes (Civil War Era, Golden Age, etc.) which was a thoughtful touch. This is best suited for paranormal enthusiasts, and not the aspiring or professional chef in your life.

What a concept for a cookbook. This is full of great ghost stories based upon locations. This is not broken out like your usual cookbook by courses, This is broken out by haunted locations. The author is knowledgeable about the places and people. The Potato Dijon soup was really good, the dijon was a wonderful and new to me addition.

Thank you to Harper Celebrate Books for the e-ARC of Food to Die For!

I LOVE cooking - it’s one of my absolute favorite things to do outside of reading & making art! And I adore cookbooks with fun themes — like Food to Die For which focuses on haunted places. This cookbook was put together by Amy Bruni, paranormal investigator from Kindred Spirits.

This cookbook was SO good, because not only does it give you tasty recipes from various haunted locations, but it also gives you a bit of background on each of those places, — making it a cookbook you want to read from beginning to end.

I tried two of the recipes — a corn chowder that was served aboard the USS The Sullivans during WWII & cinnamon sugar cookies that were originally from the Alcatraz Women’s Club Cook Book. Both were a solid 10/10 & things I will definitely cook again!

🕸️This is an incredibly smooth and engaging read that I particularly loved, being a big fan of the paranormal and related investigations. An exhaustive collection of places the author has explored throughout her life, linked to an unusual element, food. Like Proust's madeleine, historical and unexpectedly delicious recipes are proposed for each case featured. The schematic division of the book helps the reader immediately identify the different locations (hotels, houses, inns, ships, asylums). Among my favourites are literary references, such as Hemingway's house and Mark Twain's, which have unusual legends.
The perfect mix of mystery, geography and cuisine, with a unique dedication: to Lizzie Borden.

🖤 A must-read for all lovers of the genre, and not.
🍁My next spooky recipe is already in the oven!

Loved this whole cookbook!
Of course I knew I would, Ami Bruni! of course this will be unique, interesting and a wonderfully told haunting history.

The cookbook shared a journey through some of America’s most haunted places and the recipes that tie into the story makes this cookbook a darkly inclined cooks dream addition!

The Photography is visually stunning, mixed with well told haunting stories and of course the recipes, make this such a wonderful addition to any spooky kitchen!

Definitely a must have for the collection! I can’t wait to try out some recipes!

Thankyou NetGalley, Harper Celebrate and Ami Bruni for the Arc.

Thank you Harper Celebrate, Netgalley and Amy Bruni for the eArc of Food to Die for.


Oh this recipe book really is to Die For! Being a fan of food and anything paranormal, this book is so well put together, I loved how the book was set out, with details of places of so called paranormal. Some history to the places, whether that would have been recent or back in time, complete with a recipe to try. Whether you are into cooking or not, the recipes were easy to follow ( I did a few of the soup options ) and has little anecdotes. The photography side of the book was very well done. Often having a photo of the place, whether it be a castle, hotel, pubs ( waterholes ) as well as a photo of the finished food product. The little details and props that were used were well done and added to to overall aesthetic to the book itself.
Would make a great fun gift around Halloween for foodies and paranormal lovers no matter the age!

5 stars for Goodreads, Amazon and Waterstones

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Amy Bruni for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Food to Die For coming out July 30, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I was really excited to receive this book. I love cookbooks and the subject matter is really fun! I love exploring haunted houses and places in America! I loved that two of the places on the list were in my home State. I thought the format of the book was really organized. I loved the 1-2 pages about the backstory of the place and then the recipe. There was a lot of great information and I definitely learned some things. I loved all of the themes of ghost towns and eerie locations. I thought the recipes sounded really delicious and the pictures were great. I loved all of it!

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys haunted places and food!

I loved this! Not only the fun haunted locations and Amy's experiences with them, but a nice variety of both simple and complicated recipes. Some of these are familiar places that I've either been to or watched episodes about, as well as a few new haunts. It felt like a fun ride around America via hauntings and food.

I'll be trying three recipes in a few days and will report back!

Update: I made three recipes - a porridge called Lumpy D**ks (delicious, A+), muffins (excellent), and cinnamon sugar cookies (super good, will be making again.)

Book Review: Food to Die For: Recipes and Stories from America's Most Legendary Haunted Places

Rating: 5 Stars

If you’re like me and have a penchant for the eerie, the delicious, and the historically rich, then Food to Die For by Amy Bruni and Julie Tremaine is an absolute must-read! This delightful cookbook offers not just tantalizing recipes but an intriguing journey through some of America’s most haunted places.

From the very first glance, I was struck by the cover of this book. It perfectly sets the tone for what lies within—spooky yet inviting. The blend of culinary creativity with ghostly tales is a match made in heaven for anyone who enjoys themed cookbooks. And as a huge fan of Amy Bruni from Kindred Spirits, this book was like a dream come true for me.

The concept is simple yet brilliant: each chapter takes you to a notoriously haunted location, complete with spine-tingling stories and a recipe that ties back to that place. I mean, who wouldn't want to whip up Lizzie Borden's meatloaf while learning about her infamous history? Or bake sugar cookies from Alcatraz while getting goosebumps from ghostly prison stories? It’s a culinary adventure that feeds both your stomach and your curiosity.

One of my favorite aspects of this book has to be the stunning photography. The images are not only gorgeous but hauntingly styled, making them ideal for both inspiring your kitchen endeavors and serving as captivating conversation starters. The book feels like part historical, part ghost stories, and part cookbook! Each recipe is an invitation to experience the history and hauntings that accompany it.

In summary, Food to Die For is perfect for anyone who loves a spooky thrill alongside their culinary adventures. With nearly 60 unique locations, fascinating stories rooted in history, and mouthwatering recipes that are beautifully illustrated, this cookbook is a delightful haunt. Whether you’re a history buff, a thrill-seeker, or just someone who enjoys good food with an eerie twist, this book is sure to bewitch you!

So grab your apron and prepare for an enchanting culinary experience that just might give you shivers! I wholeheartedly give Food to Die For a five-star rating—it's a killer addition to any kitchen!

⚠️This review was written based on personal opinions and experiences with the book. Individual preferences may vary⚠️

This is a really fun book. Ghost stories with historic recipes is a great idea, even If some of the recipes are the true frights, (nutraloaf, hard tack).
I am a fan of anything paranormal and Amy Bruni herself, so I expected to enjoy this book. I was not disappointed. Bruni makes the history interesting, highlighting a bunch of historical, haunted locales. Highly recommend to anyone who likes ghost stories and is adventurous in the kitchen.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of this book.

To get it out of the way, I'm a fan of Amy Bruni and her show <i>Kindred Spirits</i>. I read her paranormal-themed memoir when it first came out.

Right off the bat, the interior design and food photography were amazing. I loved the style and it complemented the book's contents.

The book was part cookbook and part historical lesson. I'm a sucker for macabre history and I liked that there was a mix of popular and not-so-popular locations.

A side note that I really liked is that when an indigenous tribe was referenced, the tribe's name was given. There was an instance of one time where this didn't happen, but in context it made sense. (I didn't note where or when in the book this happened, but I understood why it was written that way.)

With each new chapter and before the locations are discussed, there's a little "introduction" bit. Within this introduction are really stunning photographs, however, there aren't any captions. I think it would have been great to include captions so the reader knows where certain locations are. For example, a chapter opening showed a beautiful home and Bruni discusses a home. I immediately thought the two were connected; they weren't. Instead, the photograph was Twain's house (memory's fuzzy) which most definitely wasn't the house from the text.

The recipes are pretty basic which is weird for a cookbook but also intriguing. I don't know how many times I've looked at a recipe in a cookbook and wondered why everything had to be so difficult.

I wish there had been a one-page conclusion to wrap up everything because it ended quite abruptly. Thankfully, in the back, there was a themed menu, recipes by course, and an extensive bibliography.

Many of the most famous haunted places are or were hotels, prisons, or asylums and had some kind of food service associated with them, so it does seem logical to package recipes and ghost stories together, as this book does. And one of the things I like best about ghost stories is the different angle on history they often come with; it’s usually the small things that wouldn’t be included in a history book but are still interesting—like the widowed owner of the Mount Washington Hotel marrying a French prince and becoming a princess. So it was really fun to read through the introductions that are in front of each recipe. I actually tried three of the recipes. All of them were from the hotel section (I didn't think hardtack sounded particularly appetizing... or really any of the prison/asylum recipes, so from a practical standpoint, this is less a cookbook and more an 'experience' book), and all of them were pretty good. I particularly liked the potato dijon soup. It was really tasty. Generally, I think this was a fun book. If you like cooking and ghost stories, you could have a fun time making a recipe and eating it while reading the associated ghost story.

Interesting stories, beautiful pictures, recipes that are related to places and stories.
A book that can be appreciated by those interested in paranormal or want to learn some new recipes
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Food to Die For caught my eye immediately when it popped up on my horror releases radar. Sure, I’ve never reviewed a cookbook before, but I do love them. One based on haunted places written by Amy Bruni? I had to check it out. Bruni has decades of experience in the paranormal field, hosting “Kindred Spirits” and being part of the “Ghost Hunters” team. It makes sense Harper Celebrates would work with her for a collection of recipes like this. If by the end of this you want to try your hand at making some yourself, you only have to wait until July 30th.

Now, before I get into the recipes, I want to address the non-cooking part of this book. As I just mentioned, Amy Bruni knows her history. Every single recipe is accompanied by a description of the location, the reported haunting, the story. Even if you don’t cook, it’s a fun book. I had a lot of fun flipping through this while looking for recipes to make. And if you do cook—automatic conversation starter. The organization of the cookbook also lends to this idea, with recipes grouped together around a theme to make a menu. Now, let’s get into the cooking.

First and foremost, I am not a professional chef. But I do cook. A lot. I chose two recipes to try my hand at. First, the “Cripple Creek Crab Cakes” from Cripple Creek, Colorado, because I’m a Marylander and had to choose the crab recipe. Since I needed a side to go with them, I went with “Legendary Potatoes” from the Lighthouse Inn. To tie it all together, I asked my boyfriend for help with the cocktail. The most qualified “chef” in this review, he’s been a bartender for nine years whose current job has him doing some R&D for cocktails. As big King fans, I really just wasn’t trying this cookbook without the recipe from The Stanley Hotel: “The Ghostly Vieux”.

First up, those crab cakes. Now, since they are from Colorado and not Maryland, they don’t have Old Bay in them, which I accepted but it felt wrong. They turned out pretty delicious, but I did have to double the mixture that acted as the binder. Recipe as written, they kind of just fell apart. Another big difference—the serving size. This recipe said it makes four servings. Now, it doesn’t say how many a serving is, but this definitely yielded at least double that. Two crab cakes per person for four nights. Maybe my hands are just small (they are) but I was not complaining about the extra food. Crab is pricey! I do think with the modifications I made, and some different seasoning, I’d definitely make these again.

Now the potatoes, the legendary potatoes. Apparently these potatoes were so popular that the community made sure everyone could cook these when the Inn closed. That’s a beloved recipe. Making the potatoes is about when I said, “I am prepared to order pizza.” I underestimated the transformative power of baking soda. The casserole dish I placed in that oven contained potato soup—and not the “Potato Dijon Soup” from the Copper Queen Hotel. It was potato chunks in cream covered by a floating breadcrumb mixture. And it turned into something delicious. Paranormal and cooking do have an overlap: sometimes you just have to trust the process.

Lastly, the cocktail. I may not have made it, but I did drink it. Of note, I am grateful Bruni did not choose the Redrum Punch, as I do not enjoy rum. And the name is a fun play on words. The recipe is based on both the traditional New Orleans cocktail, The Vieux Carré, and a cocktail from the The Stanley Hotel Whiskey Bar. If I had to guess, I’d say maybe their Dunraven Manhattan. Anyway, I asked my boyfriend what he thought about the recipe from a professional standpoint. The ratio of ingredients was a little odd, but it ended up working out fine. I don’t think it’s something we would make again, though. Case in point, we have not yet had the drink again.

And there you have it, a meal created entirely from the Food to Die For cookbook. We both did not grow tired of the food, even though we ate it four days in a row. The extra information is a lot of fun and provides a new lens to view food history. As long as you have somewhat of a basic knowledge of cooking, the recipes shouldn’t be too difficult to make work. I think this will find a happy—hopefully not haunted—home on many she

Food to Die for is a visually stunning and delightfully unique book that deserves a spot in every library collection (even if staff are uncertain as to whether that spot should be with the cookbooks in 641s or the haunted guides of the 133s). Professional ghost hunter and amateur chef Ami Bruni takes readers on a culinary tour of the haunted kitchens of the United States, blending "how to make this dish" with "how to investigate this haunting" before adding a slice of history and serving with a dash of personal experience.

The photographs of the dishes and locations are stunning, and the diversity of both the historical sites selected and the types of dishes presented is excellent. While there are simple dishes perfect for the new cook there are also more complicated offerings, and even a few "better left untried" recipes that are sure to prompt a few laughs. While the lack of a detailed ingredient index may frustrate serious chefs, the suggested menus and the index of recipes by course should provide sufficient guidance for casual cooks. Readers who are interested more in the haunted history will enjoy the engagingly informative tone and be thrilled to find a well organized bibliography just for them. No matter who picks up this book, it is sure to delight. Thank you to NetGalley for access to this unique arc!

Man, the stories in this book were beyond cool and genuinely very interesting. The pictures were stunning and made me want to take a trip to check out some of the places. I learned things about a few of the haunted places that I didn't know or didn't realize was made up.

My only issue with the book is that some of the recipes were kinda boring. While I realize that it was recipes of the time, I just didn't find myself wanting to make more than maybe a a handful. I guess I expected more delicious sounding recipes from those time periods. Hardtack doesn't interest me and some of the ones from the penitentiaries weren't even things served inside (I realize prison food would be disgusting but still...)

Anyway, I definitely recommend picking the book up even if the recipes aren't something you might enjoy because the stories and pictures made this book amazing.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I happened upon this cookbook due to the interesting cover. Imagine my thrill when I read it was from Ami Bruni! Having watched all of the Kindred Spirits episodes, this was such a gem to find! I liked the pictures and recipes. This is a great addition to any collection!

This was fun! Combining short back stories about legendary locations with recipes that were either made there or inspired by the location, I found this very interesting. I may even make some of the recipes.

I'm loving this mix between haunted history and food! I'm a fan of Amy Bruni from Kindred Spirits, lover of haunted history, and love to cook so this books is perfect for me!

First, my absolute favorite thing about this book is the pictures. They are so gorgeous and haunting. I wish they were prints because I want to hang them up in my kitchen, especially for Halloween. The recipes are unique and intriguing. Not everything is something I'd make as some of the recipes are a bit out there. But the tie in with haunted or macabre history is so intriguing. I like how with each chapter/recipe we get a look in not only the background and history of it but we get Amy Bruni's unique experience with the location. And the location range from prisons to pubs to homes to hospitals. There's something for every type of haunt.

This book is a perfect addition to my kitchen.

** “Food can bring the dead back to life. … All it takes is a whiff of something nostalgic or the taste of something familiar to send your senses and memories into a time warp. One bite can transport you back to memories and places you hadn’t thought of for years.” **

Amy Bruni, known for her roles on paranormal shows “Ghost Hunters” and “Kindred Spirits,” steps back into the literary world with “Food to Die For: Recipes and Stories from America’s Most Legendary Haunted Places.”

After getting into how she got into the ghost hunting world (she has her father to thank) and explaining different types of paranormal experiences and tools one can use, she goes through six different types of haunted locations and then shares a recipe connected to that location either through its past or current history. She also shares histories of each location, who might be haunting the location, and its reported hot spots.

Featured locations include:

* Eerie Hotels — including a hotel that inspired Steve Spielberg’s “Poltergeist” and the infamous Stanley Hotel that inspired Stephen King’s “The Shining.” One intriguing recipe was Goober Pea (Peanut) Soup from Gettysburg.

* Horrifying Homes — including the Lizzie Borden House, Villisca Axe Murder House and the Conjuring House. A recipe of note is Ernest Hemingway’s Bloody Mary.

Other-Worldly Watering Holes — including restaurants and bars.

Hair-Raising Historic Landmarks — including ships like the Queen Mary, forts and the Donner Pass. A recipe to note: the White House’s Mary Todd Lincoln’s White Almond Cake.

Hellish Institutions — including asylums like Waverly Hills Sanatorium, and jails and prisons, like Alcatraz.

Ghoulish Ghost Towns — both mining and religious communities, including the infamous Tombstone, Arizona.

Bruni wraps up the book with a Meals to Die For section, which includes themed feast ideas like A Civil War Feast and Ghost Town Grub, utilizing the recipes found in the book.

Deeply researched, the books does include an extensive bibliography. She does an incredible job of simply yet interestingly sharing the history of a number of legendary haunted locations, while cleverly adding a culinary addition to its story. “Food to Die For: Recipes and Stories from America’s Most Legendary Haunted Places” is also beautifully designed, with color photos, historical photos, and full pages for both the recipe and a full color photo corresponding to each recipe. My only issue was there were no captions for any of the photos.

Fans of the paranormal, Amy Bruni herself, cookbooks and diving into the history of locations will love this book, which comes out July 30.

Five stars out of five.

Harper Celebrate provided this complimentary copy through NetGalley for my honest, unbiased review.