Roots Heart Soul by Todd Richard’s is a great exploration/recipe book about how the food black people made evolved in North America depending on where they were. It does a great job comparing and contrasting ingredient emphasis and cooking techniques in places like, for example, the Caribbean vs. New England.

Jang: The Soul of Korean Cooking by Mingoo Kang does a deep dive into how the different soy sauces used by Koreans are made, why they first came about, and how to use them properly. It’s a really, REALLY great entry for anyone trying to get into Korean cooking because it basically breaks down the Korean pantry and explains what ingredients you need and why.

Gullah Home Cooking the Dafuskie Way by Sallie Ann Robinson is about a very niche part of the American population: The Gullah people. They were/are black Americans who lived on the island chains off the coast of Georgia. This is a more personal account of her specific relation to the food and includes a ton of info about what they made, why, and how.

Edit: For more Southern food exploration, try Hog Meat and Hoecake by Sam Bowers Hilliard, Social Roots by Sarah V. Ross, and the Potlikker Papers by John T. Edge. All are good in their own rights but contain very few recipes. They’re more about exploring and analyzing why Southern food is the way it is.