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The Best Of Food & Drink Titles For Christmas 2010

At first I thought 2010 was not going to yield much by way of food & drink books but in fact the haul this year is very impressive.

In some ways you have to hand it to Gill & Macmillan. They’ve consistently published quality cookbooks unlike many trade house in Ireland whose commitment to the space have been inconstant and lackluste. The exception has been UCC Press’ Atrium imprint which has some of the finest cookbooks published in Ireland’s recent past on their very impressive list.

This year’s offerings from G&M are Itsa Cookbook by Domini Kemp, Irish Times food writer and founder of the Itsa Bagel (where I stopped buying bagels once they stopped shipping H&H bagels in from the states! A sad change of menu). The book offers over 100 recipes of everyday (or popular) recipes.

My choice of G&M’s offering is however definitely their second book, Catherine Fulvio’s, Catherine’s Italian Kitchen. The book accompanies the RTÉ series of the same name and features many of the recipes seen there. I’ve some minor quibbles with the colour usage in the texts of recipes, but those are ones I can get over because the rest of the book is both attractively designed and filled with manageable recipes.

If I was to highlight the inevitable Christmas top seller in this category it would for certain be Rachel Allen’s latest, Entertaining At Home, published by HarperCollins and sure to score very big this christmas. In fact I’d wager her only real competition for the top spot comes from the newest Clodagh McKenna cookbook, Homemade which is published by the excellent KyleCathie (who were responsible for last year’s exceptional tome by Darina Allen, The Forgotten Skills of Cooking). McKenna has form and with the skill of KyleCathie behind her, this is sure to be a gem.

Two other books deserve a mention in this space, both because they have something different and because they are published by interesting houses. Liberties Press are bring Tom Doorley’s Eating For Ireland to bookshelves in an attractively covered and decently priced package looking at iconic Irish foods like Tayto, Red Lemonade and Fig Rolls.

Equally fascinating and in a gorgeous hardcover is An Irish Butcher Shop by Pat Whelan published by Collins Press. A meat eaters delight but also informed by sensible, sustainable and good quality farming, slaughtering and butchering, this is a book that challenges the mass produced food culture and offers something more than just recipes.

Which leaves us with what I’d call the dark horses. Judi Curtain’s Alice & Megan’s Cookbook published by O’Brien Press offers something few cookbooks do in Ireland, a brand from the book world trying to shift genres. I hope it works, it has promise and is a fun concept.

Christmas with Amanda Brunker & The Blue Haven Food Company: Recipes & Tips for the Perfect Christmas also screams celebrity, but bestselling author celebrity. If Mckenna fails to knock Allen from her bestselling throne, Brunker could sneak in there with this festive feast book.

Finally I though I’d mention here the Extra Credit Reading which technically is not a food & drink title and probably, properly belongs in the memoir biography section. I’ll have no truck with that, foodies will enjoy this more than memoir readers and historians I’d wager. It’s Conrad Gallagher’s, Back On The Menu, a tale of highs lows and cheffing published by A&A Farmer.

The Books

Itsa Cookbook Domini Kemp
PB | €19.99 | Gill & Macmillan | 978071747427
Catherine’s Italian Kitchen – Catherine Fulvio
PB | €19.99 | Gill & Macmillan | 9780717148066
Entertaining At Home | Rachel Allen
HB | €19.99 | HarperCollins | 9780007309030
Homemade | Clodagh McKenna
PB | €21.99 | KyleCathie | 9781856269582
Eating for Ireland | Tom Doorley
PB | €14.99 | Liberties Press | 9781907593055
An Irish Butcher Shop | Pat Whelan
HB | €25.00 | Collins Press | 9781848890596
Alice & Megan’s Cookbook | Judi Curtin
PB | €9.99 | O’Brien Press | 9781847172150
Christmas with Amanda Brunker | Amand Brunker & The Blue Haven Food Company
PB | €16.95 | The Blue Haven Food Company | 9780956673800
Back on the Menu | Conrad Gallagher
PB | €16.99 | A&A Farmer | 9781906353254