Have you ordered your copy of the latest five-ingredient-paleo-Nordic-kale smoothie cookbook yet? Me either.
Nobody outside the hipster man bun-loving tattoo community in Shoreditch actually eats that way. Just don’t tell the publishing industry, which constantly seems to trip over itself by printing whatever outrageous culinary fad that pops up on the editors’ Twitter feeds. Surely there’s a better way…
So let’s separate the real foodies from the bearded, tattooed, kale smoothie drinking, Shoreditch fad-lovers.
In reverse order, here is our top 10 foodie reads of all time – so far…
10. Kew on a Plate by Sheila Keating and Raymond Blanc – £12
In at number 10 is this stunning part gardening manual, part cookbook. The gardening advice is detailed and practical – and Raymond Blanc’s veg-centric seasonal recipes will blow you away. Even if you don’t fancy recreating the recipes it’s a fab read for when you’ve got some down-time.
9. In Defence of Food by Michael Pollan – £9.98
Books like this make me afraid to eat. Then they make me mad at the way I’ve been eating. Finally, they make me a better eater. At the start, the idea seems simple: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” When I read that I thought, okay I can stop reading. I know that already.
Pollan’s manifesto shows us how we can start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives, enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy, and bring pleasure back to eating. It’s an easy read and will really get you thinking.
8. The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan – £10.37
Michael Pollan is a journalist, and an omnivore, curious about where the food he puts in his mouth comes from. In the book he follows four meals from the very beginning of the food chain to his plate.
What he finds is that the food we put in our mouths turns out to be a big decision- a moral, political, and environmental one. Pollan follows how various foodstuffs have come to dominate what we eat. Anything by him is worth reading.
7. Mamushka: Recipes from Ukraine & Beyond by Olia Hercules – £12
This book is a personal collection of family recipes from The Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia and beyond. It’s beautifully written and will open your mind to a world of new flavours.
Olia Hercules takes us to her home country of Ukraine which, she points out, is not “grey and bleak”, as westerners imagine, but a sunny place an hour’s flight from Turkey.
6. Spuntino: Comfort Food (New York Style) by Russell Norman – £17
Despite being thoroughly British, restaurateur Norman Russell can be largely credited with introducing Londoners to Italian-American cuisine, through his restaurant Spuntino (Italian for ‘snack’).
This book traces the restaurant’s roots back to New York City. Recipes for classic Spuntino dishes such as truffled egg toast and mac & cheese make this book a must-have.
5. The Big Fat Duck Cookbook by Heston Blumenthal – £97.50
No one but the most bonkers will attempt these recipes, but as a once-and-for-all history of one of the most extraordinary restaurants ever, this is worth every penny and a fantastic read!
Jay Rayner felt similarly: “It’s gargantuan, unwieldy and the recipes are all but uncookable. None of that is important. It stands as a wonderful document of the work of a chef who is about as important as anybody in his profession can ever be.”
4. My Dining Hell: Twenty Ways To Have a Lousy Night Out by Jay Rayner – £4
“I have been a restaurant critic for over a decade, written reviews of well over 700 establishments, and if there is one thing I have learnt it is that people like reviews of bad restaurants. No, scratch that. They adore them, feast upon them like starving vultures who have spotted fly-blown carrion out in the bush.”
A hysterical read. Anyone who has tried to eat well in London and occasionally encountered snooty, over-priced, terrible food will recognize these stories.
3. The NOPI Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully – £13
Here are a collection of recipes from the noted London restaurant NOPI, and they are challenging – but SO worth every bit of effort. This may not be Ottolenghi’s easiest book, but it is by far the most elegant. Seven years after his first cookbook, his recipes remain the most exciting around.
2. The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit – £12.91
Here is what I can only refer to as marvelous idea for a book: a “thesaurus” of different flavour combinations – orgasmic for the aspiring chef or food lover.
Former marketing executive Niki Segnit has taken 99 flavours and grouped them into hundreds of pairings, each accompanied by an elegant, and often highly witty, mini-essay. She fleshes out our understanding of classic pairings, informing us, for instance, that “the most English combination” of beef and horseradish actually originated in Germany!
1. Where Chefs Eat: A Guide to Chefs’ Favorite Restaurants by Joe Warwick – £14.91
This is by far the ultimate restaurant guide written. It has been critically examined by the experts – more than 600 of the world’s best chefs, including Jason Atherton, Massimo Bottura and Yotam Ottolenghi.
The book features more than 3,000 restaurants in more than 70 countries, including detailed city maps, reviews, reservation policies, key information and honest comments from the chefs themselves. What more could you want, it will be the best bedtime read and your ultimate guide… If only it was pocket sized.
Have you read a good book recently, one that you couldn’t put it down? If you want recommend a book, let us know on Twitter or Facebook or fill out our ‘contact us’ form.
The Restaurant Insider 