LITTLE AND FRIDAY EVERY MEAL
by Kim Evans and Sophie Beck
(Penguin Random House, $50)
Kim Evans' back story, from a baking stand at Takapuna markets to make ends meet to a one-day-a-week bakery in an unfashionable suburb to a bunch of cool city eateries, has always been based on "ethically correct" food. Not just sustainably sourced ingredients but a community created among her 70 staff, neighbours and suppliers, even to how she redistributes the business' waste. This beautifully photographed book includes plenty of Little & Friday's delightful baking (that honey-spice pear loaf, those sausage rolls), but it also features the winners from the take-out dinner shop. Sure, there's great meat, but also flavour-packed vegetable-only soups and salads, with comforting instructions and easy-to-find ingredients. Perfect for: the baker who needs to branch out to main meals now.
THE RAW KITCHEN
by Olivia Scott
(Beatnik, $60)
A smart food editor I know attempted to eat a raw food diet, but quickly found faffing with dehydrators, spiralisers and blenders took longer and was harder than, you know, cooking stuff. Olivia Scott has stuck with the benefits of plant-based food that is not heated above 48c, launched a successful web-based bakery and now the popular cafe on Ponsonby Rd, City Works Depot and Newmarket. There is plenty of background information on ingredients and tools and Scott's range of breakfast bowls, raw salads, cakes and treats do take a lot more preparation to pack in the flavours (the "lasagna", "pizza" or "burgers" for example) but once mastered, recipes for raw basics like "mince", cheese, bread or crackers will ring the changes and satisfy the palate. Best of all, the baking is not hair shirt: raw versions of slices, ice cream and tarts should entice anyone. Perfect for: the young food experimenter who needs guidance (and inspiration for the people who feed him/her)
ELBOWS OFF THE TABLE PLEASE
by Jo Seagar
(Penguin Random House, $50)
Dear Jo Seagar; still cooking in her pearls, still charming on etiquette and good manners. But the lady knows how to cook. I'm still using recipes of hers from 25 years ago - and suspect I spotted one or two reprised here - but her recipes have minimum fuss and no food snobbery (yes, cans appear, as do packets of this and that). The notes are helpful, the photographs old-timey pretty; the manners tips are kind and, still, relevant. Perfect for: the new entertainer who doesn't want to fret - and keeps her pearls on.
RIVER COTTAGE A TO Z
by Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall
(Bloomsbury, $92)
I wish I could say I'd read every one of the 300-some entries by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his expert fishers and foragers, bakers, preservers, cheese-makers et al who coached young Hugh in his 20 years of River Cottaging (and 28 books). Although this gang naturally lie at the produce-it-yourself, not the buy-at-supermarket end of what HFW calls the "food acquisition continuum", our man is kind enough to insist that despite the politics, food shouldn't be fraught with anxiety. From alexanders (no, I didn't recognise it either - a roadside foraged stem, apparently) to zander (a cod-like fish) each ingredient gets a thorough introduction, usage ideas and a smart, doable recipe or two. Weighing in at 708 pages, this is The Luminaries of cookbooks, the foodie equivalent of London's famed guide. But, like both, once you start thumbing through you'll be absorbed in a world you won't want to leave.
JAMIE OLIVER'S CHRISTMAS COOKBOOK
(Penguin Random House $65)
"Young" Jamie has been around only a year or two less than Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall, and produced a mere 18 volumes to HFW's 28, but somehow it feels like he's on repeat. However, he knows his audience. He knows when to work an angle ("this epic book is the culmination of 17 years' work fine-tuning the ultimate amazing recipes", he says) and this is bound to go down a treat with the fans. Naturally, the recipes and ingredients tend to winter, the chapter headings are pure Jamie "super-fantastic" this and "scrumptious" that, but there are great starters, terrific baking for gifts or entertaining, and a chapter on vegan feast food that will save your bacon, so to speak. Gorgeous photos (those children! those sweaters!) and party organising tips, this will go the distance. Perfect for: the newbie to hosting the family Xmas shindig; the legions of Jamie fans.
