Gift Guide for Foodies

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This Christmas, our Booksellers have been busy curating gifting guides to suit all. Whether you're buying for that cousin who lives to travel, a Cricket obsessed uncle; looking for the perfect gift for little ones, big ones or difficult ones, we've got you covered.

Presenting our Gift Guide for Foodies:

Padella

Tim Siadatan

Padella is one of London’s most iconic fresh pasta restaurants. When they first opened in Borough Market in 2016, they put sensational pasta outside of Italy on the map thanks to iconic dishes like Beef Shin Ragu and Pici Cacio e Pepe. These delicious recipes, paired with their buzzy ambience and stylish aesthetic, saw queues around the block. This book brings the magic of Padella into home cooking. It includes all their best loved recipes such as Tagliarini with Crab, Chilli, Lemon & Parsley, and Fettuccine with Nduja, Lemon & Mascarpone along with many off-menu favourites shared in this book for the first time. Most importantly it teaches home cooks the simple steps to take their home cooked pasta to the next level.

Blood, Sweat and Asparagus Spears

Andrew Turvil

From White Heat to Wagamama, this is the inside story of the explosive decade that changed eating out in Britain forever: Blood, Sweat and Asparagus Spears is your seat at the best table for the story of the 1990s Restaurant Revolution. Fast paced, funny and meticulously researched, this is a love letter to restaurants—and the people who bled to make them great. If you’ve ever yelled “Yes, chef!” at a TV, queued for ramen, or Instagrammed a marrow bone, this is the ultimate feast of 90s nostalgia.

Boustany

Sami Tamimi

A homage to Palestinian food and culture, Boustany, is the first solo cookbook from Sami Tamimi, Ottolenghi co-founder and champion of Palestinian food and culture. With over 100 recipes, Sami offers recipes for breakfast, sharing plates, big celebrations, simple breads, moreish sweet treats, easy dinners and more. It’s an approach that’s strongly present in Palestinian cuisine, from building your mooneh, or pantry, by preserving seasonal vegetables and herbs to lining the dinner table with a variety of salads and condiments reflective of a love for fresh and vibrant food.

The Cocktail Diaries

Sam Heughan

Sam Heughan’s acting career has led him on a unique journey around the world and his love of craft spirits, history and travel is distilled into this personal collection of cocktails. Sam’s expertise and enthusiasm shine through, as he regales tales of tasting cocktails – from the historic Boulevardier in Paris and a Frisco on the Las Vegas Strip to a Papaya Margarita in the back of a van in the Oaxaca mountains – and delights in sharing his favourite adventures (and drinks!) with the reader.

Good Things

Samin Nosrat

How can a recipe express the joy of sharing a meal in person? This is the feeling that Samin Nosrat sets out to capture in Good Things, offering more than 125 recipes for the things she most loves to cook. You’ll find go-to recipes for ricotta custard pancakes, chicken braised with apricots and harissa, a crunchy Calabrian chili crisp, super-chewy sky-high focaccia and a decades-in-the-making, childhood-evoking yellow cake. Samin also shares tips and techniques, from how to buy olive oil (check the harvest date) to when to splurge on the best ingredients (salad dressing) to the one acceptable substitute for Parmigiano Reggiano (Grana Padano, if you must). Good Things captures, with Samin’s trademark blend of warmth and precision, the essence of what makes cooking such an important source of comfort and delight, and invites you to join her at the table.

Tart

Slutty Cheff

Slutty Cheff is an anonymous London chef who knows what it’s really like to work in the capital's hectic restaurant scene. From working sixty-hour weeks in windowless kitchens and being the only woman in the changing room to the pure thrill of a busy service, falling in love with other chefs and cycling home through a city bubbling over with potential, Slutty Cheff’s misadventures in food and sex are about experiencing and embracing life to the fullest. The pleasure and the chaos included. . . An exquisite broth of raw Anthony Bourdain-style honesty with a pinch of the sharp wit of Lena Dunham’s Girls, Tart is THE book for those who like to eat and f**k.

Green Mountains

Caroline Eden

Beginning in Armenia, moving northwards through Georgia and ending at the Black Sea, Green Mountains weaves together the enchanting geography and the cult of the kitchen that prevails within these two countries. Tales of testing hikes and unpredictable terrain are punctuated by the foods Eden eats for respite – citrus, herbs, flatbreads, nuts, apricots, mountain greens and magical cheeses – the recipes she shares and the stories she uncovers. Sharing both the deep comfort and satisfaction of a meal served after a long walk, and the unique relationships she forms with her hosts, Eden offers readers rare insights into the culture and food of these two countries. With meticulously researched histories, a catalogue of more than 30 recipes from her travels, and rich, compelling stories, this is a travel book like no other.

FUSÃO

Ixta Belfrage

Brighten up your meal times with the flavours of Brazil. Bestselling author, Ixta Belfrage has made a name for herself as one of the most exciting young talents in the food industry and in FUSÃO (translating to fusion in Portuguese), she brings all her signature creativity and flair to the food of her mother’s homeland. With recipes such as Moqueca fish burgers, Duck in golden tomato broth and Papaya & chocolate cake with citrus honey glaze, Ixta’s recipes offer up fresh takes on Brazilian dishes and ingredients, along with explanations and substitutions for any hard-to-find ingredients. With stunning photography from Brazil and personal stories intertwined with vibrant recipes, this is food to share, excite and inspire.

An A-Z of Chinese Food

Jenny Lau

Jenny Lau always found herself sitting between cultures, connected to both east and west. Hungry to understand herself, she threw herself into researching the Chinese food of her heritage. The result is An A-Z of Chinese Food - a surprising, unputdownable and deliciously enriching anthology that uses food to explore who we are and how we relate to the world. From A is for Authentic, breaking down our assumptions of who 'owns' what cuisine, to R is for Rice Cooker, a humorous entry from the point of view a hard-working kitchen appliance that has seen a family through its ups and downs, An A-Z of Chinese Food will change the way you think about, see, and eat, food.

Italopunk

Vanja van der Leeden

Italopunk is not just a cookbook but a culinary manifesto that challenges the conventional boundaries of Italian cuisine through 145 recipes from Italy’s Neo-Trattorias. From Sicily to Milan, a new generation of chefs from Italy's Neo-Trattorias is disrupting Italian cuisine with bold and modern twists. Italopunk celebrates these unexpected flavours and irreverent takes on beloved classics—Panzanella brightened with mango, tiramisu with a hint of sesame, cacio e pepe sprinkled with mint... Through recipes, interviews, and restaurant recs, this lively romp through Italy is sure to inspire and revolutionize the way you experience Italian food.