6 best books for lovers of food and wine
Food is one of life’s greatest pleasures, and when accompanied by a good glass of wine (or beer, or a cocktail!), we reckon it’s about as close you can get to heaven on earth.
If you love food and wine as much as we do, you’ll love these six hand-picked books.
1. Maggie’s Recipe for Life by Maggie Beer with Professor Ralph Martins
Maggie Beer and Professor Ralph Martins have teamed up to fight one of the most debilitating diseases of our later years, Alzheimer’s. Based on the latest scientific research, Maggie has created more than 200 recipes that help provide the nutrients we need for optimum brain health. More than one million Australians are affected every day by Alzheimer’s or its impact on their family but the good news is that you can eat well to age well, from this moment on.
The proceeds from Maggie’s Recipe for Life will be shared between the Maggie Beer Foundation and the Lions Alzheimer’s Research Foundation.
2. Tequila Mockingbird by Tim Federle
From barflies to book clubs, Tequila Mockingbird is the world’s bestselling cocktail book for the literary obsessed. Featuring 65 delicious drink recipes paired with wry commentary on history’s most beloved novels, Tequila Mockingbird also includes bar bites, drinking games, and whimsical illustrations throughout. Drinks include: The Pitcher of Dorian Grey Goose, The Last of the Mojitos, Love in the Time of Kahlua, Romeo and Julep, A Rum of One’s Own, Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margarita, Vermouth the Bell Tolls and more!
3. Complete Food Safari by Meave O’Meara
Take a trip around the world to cook with exotic ingredients from thirty-four different cuisines that are guaranteed to impress your friends and extend your week night dinner repertoire. From Germany to Korea, Britain to India, Lebanon to Brazil and beyond, the recipes in New Food Safari have been gathered from talented cooks and chefs who have grown up learning from their mothers and grandmothers – their kitchen wisdom brings each cuisine alive.
With mouth-watering descriptions of traditional herbs and spices, seasonal vegetables, favourite drinks and snacks as well as tips on key ingredients and cooking implements, the recipes are simple, delicious and will work every time. Lavishly designed and illustrated this New Food Safari will include over 260 recipes in 416 pages.
4. The Wine Bible by Karen MacNeil
A lively course from an expert teacher, The Wine Bible grounds the reader deeply in the fundamentals while layering on informative asides, tips, amusing anecdotes, definitions, glossaries, photos (all new for this edition), maps, labels, and recommended bottles. Karen MacNeil's information comes directly through primary research; for this second edition she has tasted more than 10,000 wines and visited dozens of wine regions around the world. New to the book are wines of China, Japan, Mexico, and Slovenia. And through it all the reader becomes ever more informed: How to taste with focus and build a wine-tasting memory. Understand the subtle interplay of variety, vineyard, and vintner. What makes a great wine great? How oak affects flavour. The reason behind Champagne's bubbles. And, because of the author's unique voice, always entertained: "In great years Petrus is ravishing, elegant, and rich-Ingrid Bergman in red satin." Or, describing a Riesling: "A laser beam. A sheet of ice. A great crackling bolt of lightning."
This is more than just a cookbook. It is an affectionate snapshot of Australia and the food we love to eat from 100 of Australia's finest cooks, chefs, bakers and local heroes. Featuring 165 recipes, from tried and true Aussie classics to contemporary cuisine that reflect Australia's ethnic diversity and fresh local produce, The Great Australian Cookbook is a celebration of local cuisine.
One hundred of Australia's finest cooks, chefs, bakers and local heroes let us into their homes and their hearts as they share their favourite recipes they make for the people they love. Each recipe is accompanied by stunning original photography shot entirely on location that captures the essence and nature of this beautiful country of ours.
6. The Great Australian Beer Guide by James Smith
Do you know your porters from your pales and your stouts from your saisons? Are you a home-brewing legend or a draught devotee? Or do you think dubbels and tripels are just spelling mistakes? Regardless of how much you know about beer or what you like to drink, this all-new 2017 edition of The Great Australian Beer Guide is sure to have something to please your palate - whether you're looking for something familiar or wanting to expand your beer horizons.
Join beer expert James Smith (of The Crafty Pint) in his never-ending quest to discover Australia's best breweries and beers, from lagers, pale ales and IPAs to Belgians, barley wines and other oddities. Complete with the fascinating history of beer in Australia, a breakdown of the brewing process, style spotlights, brewery profiles and guides on how to store, serve, enjoy and match beer, The Great Australian Beer Guide is perfect for anyone who has ever enjoyed a pint.