Street Food

The Urban Cookbook: Creative Recipes for the Graffiti Generation (Thames & Hudson, 2008; $24.95) isn’t much of a cookbook at all. Sure, it has some 50 recipes from author King Adz’s international quest to uncover the best in uncomplicated “street food.” But it’s not so much about cuisine; rather, it’s a veritable almanac of street style, music, and art with voices of the featured cities’ designers, DJs, photographers, and skaters woven throughout. And the recipes aren’t just for food; learn to throw together a stellar English spaghetti pie, where to get the best sandwich on New York’s Lower East Side, and some of the best tracks to listen to while doing it. It’s the anti-cook’s cookbook — and that’s what makes it so cool. It’s on shelves at Barnes & Noble (660 Beacon Street, Boston, 617.267.8484).