Regular readers will understand that although one of the bestselling cookbooks over the festive season was all about air frying, this is not something that I’m automatically drawn to. I favour cookbooks that have a certain largesse about their content, a style that inspires, delights even, every sense within your being, and one that you know you will savour for years to come. I often think of cookbooks as having an anthropological element; this is what we are eating now and this is why. For example, baking books in 2020 were huge because we had the time and we truly needed comfort food.

This year I predict we will want to trim up a tad, tighten our belts, so to speak, and therefore air frying makes sense, but so does a lean towards a vegan diet, or a weekend spin through Europe from the comfort of home. To that end let me tell you about the books that I am looking forward to hitting our bookshelves in the first half of the year.

How Wild Things Are by Analiese Gregory

If the title of How Wild Things Are conjures up images of dancing to the beat of your own drum, then this cookbook is for you. Analiese Gregory is a trailblazing young chef with a string of enviable kitchen credits to her name, including Sydney restaurant Quay. About four years ago she moved to Hobart where she headed up the acclaimed restaurant Franklin. Her first cookbook celebrates nature and the slow-food life on the rugged and sometimes wild island of Tasmania. Included in this beautiful book are recipes, stories and stunning photography. This cookbook is a manual of sorts on how to live freely, kindly and with courage.

28 Days Vegan by Lisa Butterworth & Amelia Wasiliev

28 Days Vegan is a starter’s guide to making sustainable changes that keep the dinner table delicious. With shopping lists for every week, breakdowns of vegan staples and 28 full days of meals (including snack-time cravings), this book has everything you need to start a plant-based diet with ease.

In Good Company by Sophie Hansen

I loved Sophie Hansen’s A Basket by the Door, and her new sweet-as-apple-pie collection of recipes will give you the confidence to share meals again. It’s all about gatherings, generous recipes and ideas for get-togethers, with the aim of taking the angst out of cooking for friends. This book will be perfect for those who want a little inspiration as we start inviting people back to our homes.

Cheese, Wine and Bread: Discovering the Magic of Fermentation in England, Italy and France by Katie Quinn

Is there literally nothing better to feast on than cheese, wine and bread? I cannot wait to get my hands on this beautiful book that celebrates how each of these European staples are made, from harvest to fermentation. This book is truly the best means of armchair travel and I just know it will be filled with accessible ideas, beautiful images and mouthwatering recipes.

And in other completely excellent news, two of my food heroes are releasing books later this year. Karen Martini’s next book, Cook, has been three years in the making and is 900 pages long! She says she is not trying to create an encyclopedia like Stephanie Alexander’s The Cook’s Companion, but she is offering advice. Talking of Ms Alexander, I am delighted to let you know that she is also releasing a book this year.

Foodwise, we are all in for a treat!