Book ideas for Christmas 2021

A round-up of 2021's best cookbooks

Hi there

This cookbook roundup has been lifted from the archive of rocketandsquash.com — a year old, but in my opinion the shop and PR shelf-lives of cookbooks is far too short; the best of them are timeless. You can read the 2024 round up for free. But access to the Archive (both write-ups and recipes from my old website; and newer Substack posts) is for paid subscribers. Join us?!

As ever, plenty of great cookbooks this year. My favourite is Rachel Roddy's A-Z of Pasta. But there may be something else that suits you better. Read on....

Welcome to my annual roundup of cookbooks published during the past year. 

As ever, it’s a lengthy curated catalogue of good books aligned to the kind of person who might like them.

It’s not an objective ‘the best’. Not even a subjective ‘my favourites’. Lists with those words in their title tend to be deeply flawed and are a bit reductive, really. Apparently there’ve been 800 food and drink books published this year. 40-50 or so of those will be good –  the result of hard work, skill, experience and enviable creativity. Another 40-50 might well be enjoyed and used – probably a set of branded recipes or rehash of something that’s gone before, but decent, useful and desirable to some. I’m not sure what the other 700 are about or why they exist, but still: 100 legit books. All due a doff of the cap.

So sorry if your book or your favourite is not mentioned below. Please feel free to add it in the comments. Perhaps, in the spirit of this list, suggesting the type of reader or cook for whom it’d make a neat gift.