Cookbooks: The gifts with taste that will keep on giving

In many ways, it’s the perfect Christmas gift, says Roz Crowley. Buy someone a cookbook

Giving a cookbook can reap exciting and satisfying rewards. If friends or family appreciate the gift, they will cook a recipe from it for you. This year chefs are trending towards easy, light and healthy, with many of them using combinations of nuts and seeds, fresh vegetables and some fashionable spicing with za’atar and cinnamon.

Dishes won’t take all day to prepare, and there is plenty of advice to use the best possible local ingredients. None of the books here will break the bank when cooking the recipes. There is less lobster, more lentils, less red wine, more drizzles of apple syrup.