FOOD AS MEDICINE
SUE RADD, SKYHORSE PUBLISHING, $54.99

Sue Radd is not just a health professional and scientist, but also a food lover and cook, and she proves here that it really is possible to eat for pleasure and longevity. Her research has taken her to countries from the Mediterranean to Asia, places where traditional diets have long been associated with reduced chronic illness. For the past 10 years she has taught culinary medicine workshops as an adjunct to her clinical work in Sydney. She understands that food as medicine needs to be delicious and accessible. Her walnut and mushroom meatballs is a recipe I’ve made many times.

COOK BEAUTIFUL
ATHENA CALDERONE, ABRAMS, $65

Food tastes better when it’s beautiful and made with love and serving a considered meal nourishes more than our bodies. The author says it’s not just what is on our plate that counts, it’s how we plate it. In another writer’s hands this could be a recipe for style over substance, but it isn’t. In her pan-seared tangy brussels sprouts, the single red chilli not only provides a note of heat, but a visual pop against the seared greens. Ginger, vanilla bean and rhubarb galette celebrates the beauty of imperfection, of letting ingredients do what they are meant to do – think craggy rustic pastry softened by a pool of melting vanilla ice cream.

CANNELLE ET VANILLE
ARAN GOYOAGA, SASQUATCH BOOKS, $69.99

Aran’s cooking philosophy is one of balance: to eat whole foods, a variety of vegetables and fruits, and a mix of proteins, and to allow space for indulgence. A pastry chef by profession, Aran was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease and gluten intolerance, which led her to create Cannelle et Vanille, where nourishment comes not just from the food, but also the mindfulness of the preparation. Arranged as a-day-in-food with accompanying pantry staples, it encourages us to take comfort from our meals, whether that be braised chicken with apples and cider or a bowl of squash and leek soup with a dippy cheese toast.

WHOLE FOOD COOKING EVERY DAY
AMY CHAPLIN, ARTISAN, $99.99

To cook without grains and refined sugars can be complicated, and to do so on a plant-based diet is even more challenging. But, as the author says, “cooking with whole foods simply means to select ingredients that are in their natural state, or as close to it as possible”. In other words, unrefined, unadulterated, seasonal eating. We eat salads year round, yet tend to cover them in oily dressings. But what if we made the creamy dressing from shucked corn and the earthy winter dressing from blitzed beetroot and cashew? A guide to cooking and eating as nature intended.