The Gift of Good Times

The best cookbooks for food-lovers and family this Christmas

Cookbooks make the ideal Christmas gifts for a whole host of reasons: there’s something for everyone, they’re often very beautiful and there’s more than a fair chance that you, as the gift giver, might just be invited to sample some of the recipes. How is that not a great idea? And apart from that, cookbooks inherently celebrate sharing and togetherness… which really is what this season is about, no matter which way you slice it.

Fortunately, 2024 has been a good year for recipe books, with some of the best-known and best-loved cooks in the business sharing their newest winning ideas and combinations. So, here is a small handful of the cookbooks we’re sure will go down a treat with the cuisine-curious and the kitchen-confident in your life.

Simply Jamie  By Jamie Oliver

Sometimes you just need things to be simple. Nobody has to miss out on good food just because you don’t have oodles of free time or the fanciest showroom kitchen. Wherever you’re preparing your meals, and with whatever limitations, Simply Jamie is here to help. And there’s no chef who keeps it real quite like Jamie Oliver.

The five chapters that make up Simply Jamie – Midweek Meals, Weekend Wins, Trusty Traybakes, Cupboard Love and Perfect Puds – take the stress right out of meal planning and inspire even the busiest among us to whip up something scrumptious.

It’s full of quick meals and simple dinners that you can make without having to do a massive shop first, often utilising regular ingredients and providing handy shortcuts for the budget-conscious and the short-on-time. Everything in here – from smash burgers and bolognese to cornbread and chocolate cake – is easy, affordable and, of course, utterly delicious. Simply, sensibly sensational.

Atmosfire/Atmosvuur By Jan Braai

How much do you think Jan Braai – master of the heated tongs, purveyor of perfect potjies, champion of the chargrilled chop (yes, we do have more of these) – knows about braaing? A fair bit, it’s fair to say. And wouldn’t it be great to have just about everything he has ever learned and mastered about our favourite national pastime in one book? Yes. Yes it would. Thus Atmosfire! …a collection of more than 200 brilliant braaing recipes and a compendium of skills, tips and techniques that no lover of good times fireside should be without.

And it’s not just your typical grill-fare either. Atmosfire also has sections on less conventional dishes you can prepare on your braai like pizza and pasta and even desserts.

Just when you thought you’d braaied everything there is to braai. Your friends and family will be tripping over themselves to see what you whip up at your next outdoor gathering.

Available in English and Afrikaans.

Ottolenghi Comfort By Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Go

Nothing says flavour like Ottolenghi. If you’re going to trust any chef to infuse the idea of comfort food with new levels of inspiration and flare, it should be him. And you could cook something from this book every day of the year and still be surprised and delighted by every meal.

But what is comfort and how does food fit into it, really? Ottolenghi here explores the part that food plays in home, in heritage, in travel and in memory, and illustrates how we weave recipes into the environments we create for ourselves and into the wisdom and values we pass on to each other.

Featuring more than 100 transformative recipes, Comfort takes traditional, comforting meals like a bowl of pasta, a hearty soup or a scoop of mashed potato and makes them into stunning festivals of flavour like “Caramelised onion orecchiette with hazelnuts and crispy sage, Cheesy bread soup with Savoy cabbage and cavolo nero, and Garlicky aligot potato with leeks and thyme.” Every one of them is a treat worthy of home.

Air Fryer: Herman’s Top 100 Recipes By Herman Lensing

If you haven’t yet embraced the air fryer trend… you really should! They’re brilliant. So versatile, easy to use, easy to clean – you can do just about anything in them. So many things can you do, in fact, that celebrity chef Herman Lensing has been able to compile his 100 favourite air fryer recipes.

Bakes, breakfasts, side dishes, main meals, desserts… this book includes everything your most indispensable kitchen gadget can concoct.

Whether you’re new to air frying and want to know how to get the most out of it, or you’re already a seasoned air-frying whiz just looking for some fabulous new ideas, Herman’s top picks suit whatever kind of cook you are.

Platter’s Wine Guide 2025

And lastly, Platter’s Wine Guide – because cooking the best meals is all well and good, but if you haven’t got the right wine, your occasion is missing that special something.

Since 1980, Platter’s has been the wine-lover’s must-have companion for exploring the world of South African wine. This latest edition is a real who’s who of SA’s winelands. Compiled with the involvement of a panel of well-travelled expert tasters, wine-lovers and writers, the guide uses a rating system that awards points out of 100 and provides useful information concerning travel, tradition and innovation, so that you can make the best possible choice every time.

This is the perfect gift for anyone with more than a passing interest in the art of wine.

Good Gifting and Happy Holidays!