When it comes to cookbooks, we were spoiled for choice in 2022 – with a whole range of colourful, mouth-watering and thought-provoking new releases coming out.
Celebrity books still reigned supreme, with Paul Hollywood, Tom Kerridge and Mary Berry all putting out new offerings to vast success, but there was also space for new voices.
Melissa Thompson’s Motherland was a particular highlight – tracing the history of Jamaican food in a delicious fashion – and special shout-out has to go to the award-winning Nistisima by Georgina Hayden, which focused on fasting food eaten by those of Orthodox faith around the Mediterranean, Middle East and in Eastern Europe.
Some more unexpected names made a splash in the food world too – with reality star Megan McKenna, actor Joe Swash and musical husband-and-wife team Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Richard Jones giving us a peek inside their kitchens.
With the cost-of-living crisis biting, there’s no doubt we’ll see more budget-friendly books as we move into 2023 – like Phil Vickery’s The Canny Cook, which centred on tasty meals you can whip up from tins.
With so many books up for grabs, it’s easy for some gems to get lost in the noise. These are three phenomenal cookbooks from 2022 you should definitely have on your radar…
1. Big Has HOME: Recipes From North London To North Cyprus by Hasan Semay
There was always going to be a lot of anticipation around North London-based chef Hasan Semay’s debut cookbook. Known as Big Has, he’s one of Jamie Oliver protégées, who trained in the Fifteen programme. It was there Has – who had previously bounced around odd jobs – settled on a career as a chef.
Like his mentor, Has is all about bringing delicious food to the masses. His Turkish Cypriot heritage is strongly felt in dishes like grilled octopus and lamb and potato kofte, and he also draws upon Mediterranean influences in crowd-pleasing recipes like cacio e pepe and fried courgette flowers. The dishes aren’t tricky but they’re full of life and soul – and with so many recipes calling for a BBQ, there are plenty to bookmark for next summer.
There’s something very relatable and authentic about Has’ debut – the pages are peppered with swearing, and you feel like he’s telling stories straight from his kitchen. And there’s a lot of range within the book, with his stories covering everything from driving to the fishmongers in Enfield, to how he learned how to light a BBQ, or how his father was drafted into the Cypriot civil war at 17.
2. Africana: Treasured Recipes And Stories From Across The Continent by Lerato Umah-Shaylor
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Cookery writer and presenter Lerato Umah-Shaylor might have graduated with a degree in economics from university, but it wasn’t long before she dove headfirst into the world of food. Africana is her debut cookbook, and it’s a colourful culinary adventure across the continent of Africa.
Heralding from Nigeria, Umah-Shaylor’s family recipes run throughout the book – from a snack inspired by her aunt Justine’s twice-fried yam chips to melon seed soup from her mother. Plus, there are dishes from other nations – including Moroccan smoky aubergines and Ugandan Rolex (a delightfully spiced omelette rolled up in chapati).
While she does introduce a few African staple ingredients that are unlikely to be found in many British cupboards (such as baobab), themes of sustainability and seasonality run throughout the book. Plus, if you do find yourself buying a new ingredient, you’ll likely be using it in Umah-Shaylor’s recipes time and time again.
3. The Pasta Queen: A Just Gorgeous Authentic Italian Cookbook by Nadia Caterina Munno, with Katie Parla
With 2.6 million followers on TikTok and 1.8 million on Instagram, it was only a matter of time before social media sensation Nadia Caterina Munno – AKA The Pasta Queen – released her own cookbook.
Born in Rome, Munno is all about the traditional way of pasta-making, passed down to her from generations – in fact, her great-great-grandparents started a pasta factory in the 1800s in southern Italy. The book covers everything from how to make and roll out the perfect dough, which pasta shapes to use, and the best sauces to go with it.
The recipes are all about simple but bold flavours – and you might recognise a few that have gone viral on social media, including the spaghetti al limone, the classic carbonara or the assassin’s spaghetti (a spicy dish that has a colourful tale to go with it).
Munno’s charisma and dramatic storytelling helped her become a huge hit on social media, and her personality oozes from every page (you’ll even learn her ladle is called ‘Bruno’ and her large serving fork ‘Antonietta’, because why on earth not?).
