Have a look through this selection of books we are recommending for summer reading and as seasonal gifts. Click through to read our reviews. Use the 'click and collect' function on our website to reserve your copies.
If you don't find what you're looking for here, come and talk to us: we have many other interesting books on our shelves.
Indo-Persian food conveying the flavours and culinary approaches of the Mughal Empire.
Three-course meals from some of the world's leading chefs, all using overlooked, undervalued or waste ingredients. Beautifully presented. "These dishes could change the way we feed the world, because they can be cooked by anyone, anywhere, on any budget. To feed the planet, first you have to fight the waste." - MB
>> See some spreads.
>> See some chefs reducing waste.
Profiles, photographs and recipes from the eateries on Wellington's favourite street.
"Cooking plants is a uniquely different art from cooking meat or fish - it requires not only a solid grounding in traditional cooking techniques, but also a deeper understanding of new techniques specific to plant based cookery." Nicely presented.
The Michelin star chef shares his gastronomic vision, springing from the area at meeting of France and Italy on the shores of the Mediterranean. Meet the local suppliers of Mauro's ingredients, try the recipes, drool over the photography.
A celebration of modern German home cooking from Anja Dunk’s young family kitchen. Strudel, Noodles and Dumplings is a long-awaited revival of this national cuisine, proving that there is more to German food than Bratwurst and Black Forest gateau. Anja Dunk’s German food is gently spiced, smoky and deeply savoury. From recipes such as whole-wheat buttermilk waffles to caraway roast pork and red cabbage, quince and apple slaw, her way of cooking is vibrant, quick and deeply intertwined with the seasons and the weather. Featuring over 200 recipes for the everyday family table, as well as for snacks and special occasions, Anja’s cook book is an essential guide to all the basics of German cuisine, providing inspiration for appetising and comforting meals throughout the year.
>> To live the good life.
A beautifully presented large-format book, with stunning diagrams and very clear step-by-step photographs.
Eden travels from Odessa to Bessarabia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey's Black Sea region, exploring the interconnecting culinary
cultures. A beautiful book, with very tempting recipes.
A beautifully presented and very appealing book of delectable and authentic dishes from western India, all absolutely at home in New Zealand.
As well as building the "hideous monstrosity" that has become France's foremost visual icon, Gustav Eiffel also build the Thuir Distillery in 1873, which was the origin of many of France's iconic aperitifs, including Pernod Absinthe, Byrrh, Lillet, Ricard and Suze. The first half of this book features photographs of the restored distillery, the second contains illustrated recipes from some of the world's foremost bartenders for cocktails based on these aperitifs. All in all a very pleasing book.
A definitive collection of over 400 regional and traditional recipes, organised by course and accompanied by insightful notes. Soups, noodles, rices, pickles, one-pots, sweets, and vegetables - all authentic and achievable at home.
A neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood guide to the best of the Danish capital's food and eating places. Nicely illustrated, and with 70 mouthwatering recipes.
A selection of the best food writing from 'The Poet Laureate of Appetite', and author of the hugely enjoyable The Raw and the Cooked.
"A celebration of eating well and drinking even better as a recipe for the good life." - Kirkus
Profiles and portraits of over 100 chili varieties.
Definitive, wide ranging.
"For a long time, vegan cooking has lived in the shadow of the health food movement of the Sixties and Seventies, but here's a cookbook that blasts away the past and jumps boldly into a multi-culinary future where veganism isn't just about saying no to animal products but is instead about saying yes to hundreds of mind-blowing dishes from Iraq to Ireland, and from the Philippines to Peru."—Amanda Cohen
Yasmin Khan harvests black olives from the groves of Burquin in the West Bank, hand-rolls maftool - the plump Palestinian couscous - in home kitchens in Jenin and finds time to enjoy a pint with workers at the Taybeh brewery, which is producing the first Palestinian craft beer. As she feasts and cooks with Palestinians of all ages and backgrounds, she learns about the realities of their everyday lives. Zaitoun includes herb-filled salads, quick pickles, fragrant soups, tender roasted meats and rich desserts, and has a special focus on vegetarian versions of Palestinian classics.
"A moving, hugely knowledgeable and utterly delicious book." -Anthony Bourdain
Well illustrated, attractively presented and full of clear and useful information on how to make a variety of delicious breads.
>> It is not as difficult or as time-consuming as you might think.
Too compendious to digest in one sitting, this vast, astounding volume contains every possible fact about everything humans eat or drink, beautifully and clearly displayed.
Build a repertoire of enjoyable vegetarian food loved by families of varying backgrounds. The family stories and then-and-now photographs are delightful, too.
The Maloufs' books are always beautiful and a pleasure to cook from. Fruit; Dairy; Frozen; Cakes; Cookies; Pastries; Doughnuts, Fritters & Pancakes; Halvas & Confectionery; Preserves; and Drinks.
The skills that we learn bind our lives together. Do you want to know how to grow your own food? Or how to keep bees? How to forage for edible seaweed along the shoreline, or wild greens down by the stream? Maybe you're curious about growing mushrooms or how to grow the perfect tomato. You're invited to make these skills your own. Uses permaculture as a basis for a practical, sustainable and ethical antipodean lifestyle.
>> Visit Milkwood.
>> Living like it matters.
Visit Catalonia's buzzing metropolis through its local dishes. An exciting addition to the excellent 'Cult Recipes' series.
The absolutely definitive guide to every possible sort of pastry, biscuit, cake and bread originating in Scandinavia (with regional variations). Highly recommended.
An intimate glimpse into life in a traditional Venetian neighbourhood (beautifully photographed!), with 130 delicious and achievable recipes of authentic everyday family dishes. Another excellent book from the author of Polpo.
A special Slow Food investigation into authentic regional cuisine.
Ottolenghi’s cookbooks take us to new levels of appreciation of food. His recipes, mostly with a Mediterranean inflection, are always both reliable and exciting, the food is always a pleasure to make - and even more of a pleasure to eat. This new book, Simple, has everything you love about Ottolenghi - made simple, or quick, or both simple and quick. The letters of the title are a key to the recipes within: S = short on time: less than 30 minutes; I = 10 ingredients or less; M = make ahead; P = pantry; L = lazy [suits me]; E = easier than you think. So, whenever you have the inclination for Squid and Red Pepper Stew, or Roasted Aubergine with Anchovies and Oregano, or Pasta with Pecorino and Pistachios (if you’re feeling alliterative), or No-Churn Raspberry Ice Cream, you’ll be able to whip it up in no time and still have the benefit of Ottolenghi’s subtle mastery of flavours.
"We are no longer like our ancestors. We no longer depend on our skills as foragers, gatherers, scavengers, hunters and fishers for food. We are only part-time food raisers at best. Our biology, on the other hand, has changed far less. Now there is a mismatch between who we are and what we eat. And it is in the gap created by this mismatch that chronic diseases can take root."
Wasted Calories and Ruined Nights: A journey deeper into dining hell with Jay Rayner $15
You aren't really interested in glorious prose poems celebrating the finest dining experiences known to humanity, are you? You want a food reviewer to suffer abysmal cooking, preferably at eye-watering prices, so you can gorge on the details and luxuriate in vicarious displeasure. You're in luck.
Four times named the world's best restaurant, Noma has its own fermentation laboratory (headed by Zilber). Here world fermentation traditions are tested, understood and enhanced. This is an astounding book.
The deliciously cosmopolitan story of the restaurant, from eighteenth-century Paris to El Bulli. What does eating out tell us about who we are?
A 'method' companion to the hugely useful and enjoyable Flavour Thesaurus, this book promises to be just as useful and enjoyable. The book is divided into 12 chapters, each covering a basic culinary category, such as 'Bread', 'Sauces' or 'Custard'. The recipes in each chapter are then arranged on a continuum, the transition from one recipe to another generally amounting to a tweak or two in the method or ingredients. Which is to say, one dish leads to another: once you've got the hang of flatbreads, for instance, then its neighbouring dishes on the continuum (crackers, soda bread, scones) will involve the easiest and most intuitive adjustment. The result is greater creativity in the kitchen: Lateral Cooking encourages improvisation, resourcefulness, and, ultimately, the knowledge and confidence to cook by heart. Entertaining, opinionated and inspirational, Lateral Cooking will have you torn between donning your apron and settling back in a comfortable chair.
In answering a lot of silly questions about what can and cannot be done in the kitchen, rather a lot of useful information about cooking is conveyed. A funny and attractively illustrated introduction to kitchen culture for young cooks.
>> Some spreads here.
A good introduction to authentic French cooking techniques.
>> Here they are.
>> And here.
Cuban cuisine is notable not only for the appreciation of 'ordinary' ingredients but for the inventiveness in their treatment. This book is meticulously researched and beautifully illustrated.
As it says.
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