Is there some kind of word-play here? On now 3-4 separate occasions I've seen 'cooking' books be implicated as yuri books, and all in Kemono Friends fan works.

Nell said:

Is there some kind of word-play here? On now 3-4 separate occasions I've seen 'cooking' books be implicated as yuri books, and all in Kemono Friends fan works.

in the first season of the kemono friends anime kaban is the only human, and as a result she's capable of doing things humans are known for doing, such as cook and read.
both are made plot points at certain parts of the story.
料理（りょうり）'cooking' and 百合（ゆり） 'yuri' don't really have any word play but it's an obvious joke to make in the context of kemono friends as a result of the aforementioned plot points.