The Best Books of 2020: Cookbooks

We’re rounding up The Best Books of 2020! Lifestyle Books Category Manager Shanulisa Prasad is on the blog today to share her favourite cookbooks of the year.

With more of us cooking than ever before (whether by choice or circumstance), the publication of so many incredible cookbooks this year is nothing short of serendipitous. This list showcases the best of Australian cookbook publishing (with one cheeky import thrown in – you can’t have a ‘Best Of’ without including the new Ottolenghi book!).

These are the books that you will want in your arsenal, ready for an easy weeknight meal or a restaurant-worthy dish.

Ottolenghi FLAVOUR

by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage

Listen to our podcast with Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage here and try three different recipes from FLAVOUR!

In this stunning new cookbook Yotam and co-writer Ixta Belfrage break down the three factors that create flavour and offer innovative vegetable dishes that deliver brand-new ingredient combinations to excite and inspire.

Buy it here

Beatrix Bakes

by Natalie Paull

Try a recipe for chocolate caramel bars from Beatrix Bakes!

Nat Paull’s recipes are inspired by classics the world over, but they are irreverent too, and in this book she delights in showing readers that once they get the foundations right the truest magic will come from a willingness to play (with the insurance of her many clever ideas and back-up plans in their apron pocket).

Buy it here

In Praise of Veg

by Alice Zaslavsky

Try a recipe for blender beetroot brownies from In Praise of Veg!

For the vegetarian or just veg-forward, In Praise of Veg is the most ambitious and comprehensive reference on the topic, as well as the delicious answer to the age-old question: what are we eating?

Buy it here

Ikaria

by Meni Valle

Born to Greek parents, Meni Valle has always been fascinated by her family’s traditions of cooking and eating. In Ikaria, Meni collects traditional recipes from across the island that encapsulate the best of Mediterranean food: vegetables, beans, whole grains, small amounts of meat and fish, a couple of glasses of wine, and plenty of olive oil.

Buy it here

A Year of Simple Family Food

by Julia Busuttil Nishimura

Try a recipe for lamb and green bean stew from A Year of Simple Family Food!

Eating simply and seasonally is at the core of Julia Busuttil Nishimura’s recipes. Whether it’s a cooling coffee granita to start a summer’s day or the comfort of a hearty baked maccheroni in darkest winter, this is the kind of food you will want to share with your loved ones throughout the year.

Buy it here

The Ethical Omnivore

by Laura Dalrymple and Grant Hilliard

We live in an affluent era marked by an increasingly fraught relationship to food, and meat is arguably the most controversial ingredient. There is a communal ache for authenticity, for a way forward with good conscience. The Ethical Omnivore explores the solution: living with a conscience; asking the right questions of whomever sells you meat or of the labels you read; and learning how to respect the animal so much that you’re willing to cook something other than chicken breast.

Buy it here

Africola

by Duncan Welgemoed

Try a recipe for peri peri chicken and Eton mess from Africola!

Duncan Welgemoed’s approach to food is fearless, take-no-prisoners, bold and exciting. These recipes include an amazing array of meats, as well as seafood and a slew of intensely flavourful, veg-forward dishes. There is also a culinary encyclopaedia of ferments, condiments and pickles – adding richness and complexity to any dish – along with a solid pastry section and a bunch of ridiculous cocktails.

Buy it here

Parwana

by Durkhanai Ayubi, Farida Ayubi and Fatema Ayubi

Try a recipe for chicken kebabs and ginger and walnut ice-cream from Parwana!

Interwoven with traditional Afghan recipes is one family’s story of a region long afflicted by war, but with much more at its heart. These fragrant and flavourful recipes have been in the family for generations and include rice dishes, dumplings, curries, meats, Afghan pastas, chutneys and pickles, soups and breads, drinks and desserts. Some are everyday meals, some are celebratory special dishes. Each has a story to tell.

Buy it here

Always Add Lemon

by Danielle Alvarez

Try a recipe for greens and onion galette with crème fraîche and Comté from Always Add Lemon!

Always Add Lemon is the highly anticipated first book from one of the most exciting young chefs cooking in Australia today, Danielle Alvarez. Taking the lessons, skills and tastes acquired working alongside some of the best chefs in the world, Danielle translates formidable kitchen smarts into an inspiring collection of recipes and projects for nourishing, vegetable-forward, seasonal food.

Buy it here

To Asia, With Love

by Hetty McKinnon

Try a recipe for celery, mushroom and leek ‘dan dan’ noodles from To Asia, With Love!

Whether it’s a banh mi turned into a salad, a soy-sauce-powered chocolate brownie or a rainbow guide to eating dumplings by the season, this is Asian home cooking unlike anything you’ve experienced before. Recipes range from the traditional – salt and pepper eggplant, red curry laksa, congee, a perfectly simple egg, pea and ginger fried rice – to Hetty’s uniquely modern interpretations.

Buy it here

Explore more of The Best Books of 2020!

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About the Contributor

Shanulisa Prasad