The Sportsman at Home
Stephen Harris (Quadrille, £30)
Despite the name, Harris’s second book draws on a lifetime in the kitchen, not only his quarter century at his landmark Seasalter pub, but few cookbooks speak so keenly to the relationship between person and place. Whether it’s a five-ingredient cream of tomato soup or a classic cottage pie (“one of the most important recipes for a young British chef to learn”), these are the dishes Harris cooks for himself and the people he loves. There’s also the occasional dish others cook for him, such as his wife’s chocolate pudding. All are the best versions of themselves, done in Harris’s simple but exacting way. Kate Guest
Buy it for: home cooks with notions – much like Harris once was
Order a copy at observershop.co.uk for £27. Delivery charges may apply
Caribe
Keshia Sakarah (Hardie Grant, £30)
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This Caribbean cookbook is also part memoir, part exploration of the region’s history. Beginning with a journey from Monserrat to Leicester, Sakarah guides readers through 23 Caribbean nations, revealing the complexity of a cuisine that is often reduced to “Jamaican food”. Dishes such as Trinidadian curry duck, Bahamian stuffed crab shells, and mamba (Haitian peanut butter with scotch bonnet) make the mouth water. The book is a visual feast, too, packed with temptations. Helen Graves
Buy it for: an education in Caribbean cookery and its people
Order a copy at observershop.co.uk for £27. Delivery charges may apply
All Consuming
Ruby Tandoh (Profile, £18.99)
It’s tempting to believe that the internet somehow degraded our food culture, to lament the decline of cookbooks and the rise of Instagram recipes. But All Consuming does everything it can to resist nostalgia. Ruby Tandoh (a writer and recipe developer, though food philosopher might be a more appropriate title) charts how our appetites shifted as recipes migrated online. Her essay collection moves between TV chefs and TikTok trends, cookbooks and consumerism, with equal curiosity (and a healthy pinch of snark). Our appetites, she argues, don’t belong to us: they’re shaped by systems – corporations, advertising, migration. A sprawling, illuminating read. Patricia Clarke
Buy it for: anyone who likes their food writing with bite
Order a copy at observershop.co.uk for £17.09. Delivery charges may apply
Moveable Feasts
Chris Newens (Profile, £18.99)
After a decade in Paris, British writer Chris Newens set out to identify what makes the city’s food culture so exciting by visiting all 20 of its arrondissements, one by one, and singling out a representative dish from each. His choices veer from the classic – cheesy, garlicky aligot at a bistro in the 20th – to the eccentric: a sliced meats buffet at a sex club in the 9th. Digging down the core of Paris’s culinary greatness proves a quixotic task, but Newens, a fine and perceptive writer, unearths a trove of good stories along the way. Killian Fox
Buy it for: the Francophile in your life
Order a copy at observershop.co.uk for £17.09. Delivery charges may apply
Boustany
Sami Tamimi (Ebury, £30)
This follow-up to Tamimi’s excellent Falastin was conceived during lockdown when cooking served him as a much-needed form of therapy, “a way to navigate through my thoughts and emotions”. The title refers to his grandparents’ lush, bountiful garden in the West Bank and the book, which focuses exclusively on vegetarian and vegan recipes – crushed butter beans with orange, makdous and mint; chilled tabbouleh soup; tahini rice pudding with grape compote – feels appropriately generous and nurturing. Killian Fox
Buy it for: an insight into the riches of Palestinian food culture
Order a copy at observershop.co.uk for £27. Delivery charges may apply
The Kai Cookbook
Jess Murphy (Nine Bean Rows, £30)
If I had to pick the warmest, most welcoming restaurant I’ve ever visited, it might just be Kai in Galway, run by New Zealander Jess Murphy and her Irish husband David: a homely space lit up by the passions and eccentricities of its owners. That same warmth pours out of Murphy’s first cookbook, which contains some of the restaurant’s big-hitter dishes – ox-tongue tonnato with pink onions, grilled mackerel with gooseberry chutney – and overflows with stories about the food-mad community they’ve cultivated in the west of Ireland. Killian Fox
Buy it for: yarns as excellent as the recipes
Order a copy at observershop.co.uk for £27. Delivery charges may apply
Lugma
Noor Murad (Quadrille, £28)
Bahrain is unique in its culinary influences, Murad tells us at the opening of this beautiful book. Add to that her own slightly westernised take on traditional dishes, and what emerges is a fascinating kaleidoscope of sour flavours (dried lime features heavily), liberal application of spice and chilli, and abundant use of vegetables. There is a whole chapter dedicated to rice. Stand-out dishes include a “very green lasagne” with yoghurt bechamel and fresh chilli sauce, Bahraini dal, and sea bass with sweet dates and tamarind. Helen Graves
Buy it for: an original combination of traditional and reimagined Middle Eastern cuisine
Order a copy at observershop.co.uk for £25.20. Delivery charges may apply
Home Shores
Emily Scott (Hardie Grant, £30)
Emily Scott’s third cookbook has brought sunshine and seaside to my table this year. Inspired by Scott’s life on the Cornish coast, Home Shores illustrates her belief that cooking seafood needn’t be intimidating. “Making things straightforward and uncomplicated,” she says, “is key.” Highlights include the prawn tacos – a spicy, garlicky addition to the barbecue or stove, finished with a dollop of tarragon mayo. The kids enjoyed helping with the sardine margarita: carefully remove the lids of tins of sustainable sardines in escabeche, tear and push miniature mozzarella balls between the fish, bake until caramelised and serve with buttered sourdough. Hayley Myers
Buy it for: summer dreaming
Order a copy at observershop.co.uk for £27. Delivery charges may apply
All That Crumbs Allow
Michelle Marek and Camilla Wynne (Good Egg, £15)
What began as a text conversation about the appeal old bread for chefs has turned into a quietly lovely book – no pictures, just the an exploration of the joy that comes from turned waste into wonder. Marek and Wynne offer their own ideas, from classics – treacle tart, Czech dumplings – to new inventions – caesar eggs, toast and marmalade shortbread. They also enlist the help of chef friends, including an outstanding sourdough fudge by Quince Bakery’s Anna Higham. Holly O’Neill
Buy it for: turning waste into wonder
Available from Fink’s and Quince Bakery in the UK and Good Egg in Canada
Baking & the Meaning of Life
Helen Goh (Murdoch, £26)
We bake, we feel good. Does it go deeper? In her (frankly long-overdue) first book, Goh looks at how cooking can help us live authentically. The renowned baker and psychologist starts by citing Heidegger in the introduction, and then takes readers on a purposeful journey through creativity and connection, by way of cakes, buns and Lao Gan Ma cheese biscuits. Holly O’Neill
Buy it for: existential quests, actual cakes
Order a copy at observershop.co.uk for £23.40. Delivery charges may apply