Food and Drink

For many people Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a turkey and trimmings, pudding and brandy butter. And yet it wasn't always that way. Gone are the gluttonous banquets featuring boar's head and brawn - but how did we get to the Christmas food of today?

Historian Annie Gray digs into the evolution of our festive meal, from the birth of the twelve-day celebration under Edward I and the the restoration of holiday splendour under Victoria to the present day. Organised by festive dish and illustrated throughout, At Christmas We Feast is a delectable trip through time - stuffed full of classic recipes, doused with history and tradition, and sprinkled with the joy of the feasts of Christmas past.

We've all got a friend who claims to know where you can get the best pint of Guinness. From the pub to the pour, it's an experience. And if anyone knows this best, it's London-based Corkman Ian Ryan - founder of Sh*t London Guinness and Beautiful Pints. From the all-important different elements of a Guinness pour to what to look for (and what to run a mile from) when sourcing beautiful pints, as well as a crème de la crème list of pubs around the world to visit, Ian shares his expertise from many a pint of plain sank and enjoyed. By the end of it, you'll be able to claim that you know where to get the ultimate pint of Guinness in town. See you at the bar sometime.

Breadsong tells the story of Kitty Tait who was a chatty, bouncy and full-of-life 14 year old until she was overwhelmed by an ever-thickening cloud of depression and anxiety and she withdrew from the world. Her desperate family tried everything to help her but she slipped further away from them.

One day her dad Alex, a teacher, baked a loaf of bread with her and that small moment changed everything. One loaf quickly escalated into an obsession and Kitty started to find her way out of the terrible place she was in. Baking bread was the one thing that made any sense to her and before long she was making loaves for half her village. After a few whirlwind months, she and her dad opened the Orange Bakery, where queues now regularly snake down the street.

Breadsong is also a cookbook full of Kitty's favourite recipes.

Every family has their signature bakes. The rich fruit cake that your Nan makes at Christmas. Your Mum's decadent chocolate cake that made an appearance at every birthday party. Your own gloriously gooey chocolate brownies. But what does cake mean for different people? How have we come to have such a huge variety of cakes? What had to happen historically for them to appear? And what can they tell us about the family, and women's roles in particular? Alysa Levene takes us on a journey from King Alfred to our modern-day love of cupcakes, via Queen Victoria's patriotic sandwich, the Southern States of America, slavery and the spice trade, to the rise of the celebrity chef.

This is the story of Nigel Slater’s love for winter, the scent of fir and spruce, its folktales, myths and family feasts. With recipes, decorations, fables and quick fireside suppers, Nigel guides you through the essential preparations for Christmas and the New Year, with everything you need to enjoy the winter months.

Cook, Eat, Repeat is a delicious and delightful combination of recipes intertwined with narrative essays about food, all in Nigella's engaging and insightful prose. Whether asking 'What is a Recipe?' or declaring death to the Guilty Pleasure, Nigella's wisdom about food and life comes to the fore, with tasty new recipes that readers will want to return to again and again. 'The recipes I write come from my life, my home', says Nigella, and in this book she shares the rhythms and rituals of her kitchen through over 100 new recipes that make the most of her favourite ingredients. Dedicated chapters include 'A is for Anchovy' (a celebration of the bacon of the sea), 'Rhubarb', a loving defence of 'Brown Food', a suitably expansive chapter devoted to family dinners, plus inspiration for vegan feasts, solo suppers and new ideas for Christmas. 

Within these chapters are recipes for all seasons and tastes: Burnt Onion and Aubergine Dip; Butternut with Chilli, Ginger and Beetroot Yoghurt Sauce; Brown Butter Colcannon; Spaghetti with Chard and Anchovies; Chicken with Garlic Cream Sauce; Beef Cheeks with Port and Chestnuts; and Wide Noodles with Lamb in Aromatic Broth, to name a few. Those with a sweet tooth will delight in Rhubarb and Custard Trifle; Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake; Rice Pudding Cake; and Cherry and Almond Crumble.

Flourishing in just about every climate and culture around the world, onions have provided the essential basis not only for sautés, stews, and sauces, but for medicines, metaphors, and folklore. Now they're Kurlansky's most flavorful infatuation yet as he sets out to explore how and why the crop reigns from Italy to India and everywhere in between.

Kurlansky begins with the science and history of the only sulfuric acid-spewing plant, then digs through its twenty varieties and the cultures built around them. Entering the kitchen, Kurlansky celebrates the raw, roasted, creamed, marinated, and pickled. Includes a recipe section featuring more than one hundred dishes from around the world.

Curry is known as the food of India. In this book the author describes how the history of India is reflected in the food,how various conquerors influenced Indian cooking over the centuries, and how this cuisine was exported to the rest of the world.

John Dickie demonstrates that Italian cuisine is forged in the heart of the Italian city and in so doing takes us on a journey from medieval Milan to fascist Rome, from Renaissance Ferrara to 19th century Naples.

In Dining with the Durrells, David Shimwell has delved into the Durrell family archives to uncover Louisa Durrell's original recipes for the scones, cakes, jams, tarts, sandwiches and more that are so deliciously described by the Durrell family. From her recipe for 'Gerry's Favourite Chicken Curry' to 'Dixie-Durrell Scones with Fig and Ginger Jam', and including the family stories that accompany them, this book will transport you to long lunches enjoyed on the terrace of a strawberry-pink villa, sunshine-filled picnics among the Corfu olive groves and candlelit dinners overlooking the Ionian Sea.

An anthology of the delights and eccentricities of the British and their relationship with food, as observed by acclaimed food writer Nigel Slater.

For decades, a single free market philosophy has dominated global economics. But this is bland and unhealthy - like British food in the 1980s, when bestselling author and economist Ha-Joon Chang first arrived in the UK from South Korea. Just as eating a wide range of cuisines contributes to a more interesting and balanced diet, so too is it essential we listen to a variety of economic perspectives.

In Edible Economics, Chang makes challenging economic ideas more palatable by plating them alongside stories about food from around the world. Structuring the book as a series of menus, Chang uses histories behind familiar food items - where they come from, how they are cooked and consumed, what they mean to different cultures - to explore economic theory. For Chang, chocolate is a life-long addiction, but more exciting are the insights it offers into post-industrial knowledge economies; and while okra makes Southern gumbo heart-meltingly smooth, it also speaks of capitalism's entangled relationship with freedom and unfreedom. Explaining everything from the hidden cost of care work to the misleading language of the free market as he cooks dishes like anchovy and egg toast, Gambas al Ajillo and Korean dotori mook, Ha-Joon Chang serves up an easy-to-digest feast of bold ideas.

Myth-busting, witty and thought-provoking, Edible Economics shows that getting to grips with the economy is like learning a recipe: if we understand it, we can change it - and, with it, the world.

For the first time in audio, savour this volume bringing together the best of his three out-of-print works on the art of and, most importantly, practice of drinking.

Including Kingsley Amis in Drink, Everyday Drinking and How's Your Glass?, this collection celebrates Amis' comic prose and collected thoughts on the art of drinking, alongside well-tested recipes.

Global baking sensation The Hebridean Baker shares his fabulous recipes and fascinating stories of island life, with modern takes on classics and traditional Scottish staples giving you a true taste of Scotland's wild and windswept Outer Hebrides. From Croft Loaf to Cranachan Chocolate Bombs, Oaty Apricot Cookies to Heilan' Coo Cupcakes, and Granny Annag's Christmas Cake to Aunt Bellag's Duff, there's something here to put a smile on everyone's face. And with his faithful West Highland Terrier Seòras by his side every step of the way, the Hebridean Baker will even help you teach your dog Gaelic, while you enjoy some truly delicious Scottish bakes. Focusing on small bakes that use a simple set of ingredients, these recipes will unleash your inner Scottish baker - it's all about rustic, home baking and old family favourites because, as the Hebridean Baker says, 'Homemade is Always Best'. 

Relax and relish Nigella Lawson's delicious prose in her revelatory cookery book. It is a versatile, culinary bible, through which a generation discovered how to feel at home in the kitchen and found the confidence to experiment and adapt recipes to their own needs. You'll be ready to head into the kitchen and take on anything with Nigella's voice guiding you through.

We all expect to be able to buy an excellent cup of coffee from the many brilliant coffee shops available. But what about the coffee we make at home? Shouldn't that be just as good? Coffee guru James Hoffmann runs Square Mile Coffee, as well as creating extremely informative, and popular, kit and coffee reviews for his YouTube and Instagram channels. In his latest book he demonstrates everything you need to know to make consistently excellent coffee at home, including: what kit is worth buying, and what isn't; how to grind coffee; the basics of brewing for all major equipment (cafetiere, aeropress, stovetop etc); understanding coffee drinks, from the cortado to latte; and the perfect espresso.

Hardeep Singh Kohli loves many things in life - but none more than food. So when he decided to travel round India, searching for his roots, what seemed the obvious thing to take with him? Not a travel guide. Not a BBC cameraman… Shepherd's pie and Yorkshire pudding!

This audiobook is a celebration of snacks in all their glorious forms, guaranteed to fill your day with snacking joy.

It will take you from your morning coffee (cinnamon crumble cakes and cherry-marzipan hand pies) to your evening wine (oeufs durs mayonnaise and mushroom pate) via salsas, hot dips, crispy bits, crab nachos and frozen piña coladas in the sun. The Joy of Snacks will lift your spirits while satisfying your deepest snacking desires, helping you squeeze the joy out of life's big and small moments, whether it's party time or Monday morning.

You're about to die. What would your final meal be? This question has long troubled restaurant critic Jay Rayner. He decides to embark on a journey through his life in food in pursuit of the meal to end all meals. This is an entertaining account of a life built around mealtimes and a fascinating global exploration of our relationship with what we eat.

Cookery journalist Felicity Cloake embarks on the trip of a lifetime, cycling 3,500km across France in search of the definitive versions of classic French dishes. This lively account of her search for the ultimate Quiche Lorraine, la meilleure Tarte Tatin and a Cassoulet par excellence culminates in a triumphant two-wheeled tour of Paris’ boulangeries in pursuit of France’s finest croissant. Each chapter concludes with a new ‘perfect’ recipe for each dish.

The Pedant's ambition is simple. He wants to cook tasty, nutritious food; he wants not to poison his friends; and he wants to expand, slowly and with pleasure, his culinary repertoire. A stern critic of himself and others, he knows he is never going to invent his own recipes (although he might, in a burst of enthusiasm, increase the quantity of a favourite ingredient). Rather, he is a recipe-bound follower of the instructions of others.

It is in his interrogations of these recipes, and of those who create them, that the Pedant's true pedantry emerges. How big, exactly, is a 'lump'? Is a 'slug' larger than a 'gout'? When does a 'drizzle' become a downpour? And what is the difference between slicing and chopping?This book is a witty and practical account of Julian Barnes' search for gastronomic precision. It is a quest that leaves him seduced by Jane Grigson, infuriated by Nigel Slater, and reassured by Mrs Beeton's Victorian virtues. The Pedant in the Kitchen is perfect comfort for anyone who has ever been defeated by a cookbook and is something that none of Julian Barnes' legion of admirers will want to miss.

Prue came to London in the early 1960s and, not long afterwards, opened Leith's Restaurant. By the mid-seventies she was a food columnist on the Daily Mail, had published several cookbooks and opened Leith's School of Food and Wine. This book reflects one lucky woman's incredible appetite for life.

Anna Del Conte brought Italian cooking to Britain at a time when the nearest most of us came to pasta was tinned spaghetti hoops. Full of tastes and talk of food, hers is a delicious, poignant memoir of an unusual life.

In this fascinating social history of food in Britain, Pen Vogler examines the origins of our eating habits and reveals how they are loaded with centuries of class prejudice. Covering such topics as fish and chips, roast beef, avocados, tripe, fish knives and the surprising origins of breakfast, Scoff reveals how in Britain we have become experts at using eating habits to make judgements about social background.Bringing together evidence from cookbooks, literature, artworks and social records from 1066 to the present, Vogler traces the changing fortunes of the food we encounter today, and unpicks the aspirations and prejudices of the people who have shaped our cuisine for better or worse.

A mouth-watering smorgasbord of stories with food in the starring role, by a rich variety of authors from Dickens, Chekhov and Saki to Isak Dinesen. The menu includes choice titbits from many famous novels such as Virginia Woolf's 'To the Lighthouse' (9496), and Proust's rhapsodic memories of watching the family cook prepare asparagus in 'Remembrance of Things Past' (2942).

In times of plenty, we stuff ourselves. When the food runs out, we're stuffed too. How have people in the British Isles shared the riches from our fields, dairies, kitchens and seas, as well as those from around the world? And when the cupboard is bare, who steps up to the plate to feed the nation's hungry children, soldiers at war or families in crisis?

Stuffed tells the stories of the food and drink at the centre of social upheavals from prehistory to the present: the medieval inns boosted by the plague; the Enclosures that finished off the celebratory roast goose; the Victorian chemist searching for unadulterated mustard; the post-war supermarkets luring customers with strawberries.

Drawing on cookbooks, literature and social records, Pen Vogler reveals how these turning points have led to today's extremes of plenty and want.

For fans of the Table Manners podcast, Jessie and Lennie's cookbook is brought to life in this unique audiobook. This audiobook features 7 recipes from the book, cooked live in Lennie's kitchen, as well as an exclusive Q&A with Jessie and Lennie taking you behind the scenes of Table Manners and family stories and anecdotes taking you through their favourite easy, complex, summer, Christmas and Jewish-ish recipes.

An idiosyncratic selection of A A Gill's writing about food, taken from his Sunday Times and Tatler columns. Sometimes inspired by the traditions of a whole country, sometimes by a single ingredient, it is a celebration of what great eating can be.

Taco is a deep dive into the most iconic Mexican food from the perspective of a Mexico City native. In a narrative that moves from Mexico to the United States and back, Sánchez Prado discusses the definition of the taco, the question of the tortilla and the taco shell, and the existence of the taco as a modern social touchstone that has been shaped by history and geography.

Challenging the idea of centrality and authenticity, Sánchez Prado shows instead that the taco is a contemporary, transcultural food that has always been subject to transformation.

Before Stanley Tucci became a household name with The Devil Wears Prada, The Hunger Games, and the perfect Negroni, he grew up in an Italian American family that spent every night around the table. He shared the magic of those meals with us in The Tucci Cookbook and The Tucci Table, and now he takes us beyond the recipes and into the stories behind them. Taste is a reflection on the intersection of food and life, filled with anecdotes about growing up in Westchester, New York, preparing for and filming the foodie films Big Night and Julie & Julia, falling in love over dinner, and teaming up with his wife to create conversation-starting meals for their children. 

Raised in Canada to Hungarian-Croatian parents, Jennifer Klinec has travelled to many countries in search of ancient recipes. Her quest leads her to Iran where she is introduced to a local woman and her son, Vahid, who will teach her the secrets of the Persian kitchen.

This recipe book aims to support healthy eating, featuring cookery tips and seasonal recipes that can be made with limited equipment and funds.

From dealing with his father's suicide by heading for the outback, catching a freighter from New Zealand to New York, to running a nightclub: Stein has plenty to talk about before he gets to fish restaurants in Padstow and becoming a fixture of food TV. Richard & Judy Bookclub