First up let me say that I am a meat eater. Second, I get exasperated by carnivores approaching vegetarian or vegan food from a seemingly astonished viewpoint of ‘It’s actually quite good, you won’t notice that there’s no meat’. So I’m going to start by saying that this, quite simply, is a book of very good food that I want to cook and eat. From the dozens of cookbooks that cross my desk, it’s unmissable that vegan cooking is riding a wave and comfort food is also capturing the zeitgeist. The Cosy Bowls section of this book has, for me, hit the sweet spot. Despite me writing this on a sweltering day, these bowls of rich, filling cheer are calling me to dig in with my spoon: a smoky sunflower-seed crunch tops spelt lolling in a creamy roasted squash, chilli and tahini sauce; savoury oat porridge is topped first by shiitake caramelised with soy, then dripped with a miso peanut butter dressing that I had to make twice because I ate the first batch straight from the mixing bowl. I’m still reeling from Julia Busuttil Nishimura’s revelation of bougatsa, a Greek custard pie eaten for breakfast (see Cuisine issue 227) so now I’m gleeful about soufra – a riot of swirled filo and orange-yoghurt custard. I keep looking at the recipe for kalamata cookies – yes, that’s right, big chunks of salty kalamata olives baked into sweet cookies for an ice-cream sandwich – sounds unusual but Christina hasn’t let me down so far, so let’s give it a go. TRACY WHITMEY