Food, Health & Garden
Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal ($30, PB)
We are living through a crisis of distraction. Plans get sidetracked, friends are ignored, work never seems to get done. Why does it feel like we’re distracting our lives away? Behavioural designer Nir Eyal shows what life could look like if you followed through on your intentions. Instead of suggesting a digital detox, Eyal reveals the hidden psychology driving you to distraction, and teaches you how to make pacts with yourself to keep your brain on track. Indistractable is a guide to making decisions and seeing them through.
Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again by Eric Topol
The doctor-patient relationship—the heart of medicine—is broken: doctors are too distracted & overwhelmed to truly connect with their patients, and medical errors & misdiagnoses abound. Physician Eric Topol reveals how AI has the potential to transform everything doctors do, from notetaking & medical scans to diagnosis & treatment, greatly cutting down the cost of medicine & reducing human mortality. By freeing physicians from the tasks that interfere with human connection, AI will create space for the real healing that takes place between a doctor who can listen & a patient who needs to be heard. Innovative, provocative, and hopeful, Topol shows how AI can make medicine better, for all the humans involved. ($45, HB)
How to Raise a Reader by Pamela Paul & Maria Russo ($30, HB)
The authors of the viral NYT Books feature, show you how to instil the joy & time-stopping pleasure of reading. Divided into four sections, from baby through teen, each illustrated by a different artist, this book offers something useful on every page, whether it’s how to develop rituals around reading or build a family library, or ways to engage a reluctant reader. A 5th section, More Books to Love: By Theme and Reading Level, is chockful of expert recommendations. Throughout, the authors debunk common myths, assuage parental fear & deliver invaluable lessons in a positive & easy-to-act-on way.
How to be Sober & Keep Your Friends: Tips, Hacks & Drinks by Flic Everett ($25, HB)
Turning down a drink isn’t easy. Not only do you have to deal with your own desire for that chilled & glistening glass of white, you also have to tackle the: ‘Why aren’t you drinking?’ ‘Are you pregnant?’ ‘Go on… just one!’ And the worst one of all: ‘You’re no fun without a drink!’This book shows you how & why you can still be the life & soul of the party, keep your friends, and be sober. Learn more about why you’re giving up/cutting back, how to keep your relationships tight with your partner, colleagues & friends, and ways to enjoy your new found sobriety, from understanding the benefit to your health to appreciating the improvement in your bank balance.
New this month Up the Duff 2020 by Kaz Cooke, $45 Fire Cider! by Rosemary Gladstar ($25, PB)
Herbalist Rosemary Gladstar has been touting the health benefits of fire cider—a spicy blend of apple cider vinegar, onion, ginger, horseradish, garlic & other immune-boosting herbs for more than 30 years. Her original recipe, inspired by traditional cider vinegar remedies, has given rise to dozens of fire cider formulations created by fans of the tonic who use it to address everyday ills, from colds & flu to leg cramps & hangovers. Fire Cider! is a lively collection of 101 recipes contributed by more than 70 herbal enthusiasts, with versions ranging from Black Currant Fire Cider to Triple Goddess Vinegar, Fire Cider Dark Moonshine & Bloody Mary Fire Cider.
Menus that Made History by Alex Johnson & Vincent Franklin ($30, HB)
Each of this miscellany of menus provides an insight into its particular historical moment—from the typical food on offer in a 19th century workhouse to the opulence of George IV’s gargantuan coronation dinner. Some menus are linked with an event such as The Hindenburg’s last flight menu or the variety of meals on offer for First, Second and Third Class passengers on board RMS Titanic, while others give an insight into sport, such as the 1963 FA Cup Final Dinner or transport & travel with the luxury lunch on board the Orient Express. Also included are literary occasions like Charles’ Dickens 1868 dinner at Delmonicos in New York as well as the purely fictional & fantastical fare of Ratty’s picnic in The Wind in the Willows.
South by Sean Brock ($85, HB)
Sean Brock shares his recipes for key components of Southern cuisine, from grits & fried chicken to collard greens & corn bread. Recipes can be mixed & matched to make a meal or eaten on their own. Taken together, they make up the essential elements of Southern cuisine, from fried green tomatoes to smoked baby back ribs & from tomato okra stew to biscuits. Regional differences are highlighted in recipes for shrimp & grits, corn bread, fried chicken & more. Includes key Southern knowledge—how to fry, how to care for cast iron, how to cook over a hearth, and more.
The Edible Garden Cookbook & Growing Guide by Paul West ($40, PB)
Paul West shares practical gardening advice, with guides on building a no-dig garden, composting & keeping chooks, and an A-Z guide of the veggies that are easiest to grow. There are also more than 50 of his favourite family recipes, plus ideas for fun food activities to do with your community, whether it’s hosting a pickle party or passata day, brewing beer with some mates or whipping up a batch of homemade sausages.
Venetian Republic: Recipes from the Veneto, Adriatic Croatia and the Greek Islands by Nino Zoccali ($50, PB)
Prosecco and snapper risotto, Croatian roast lamb shoulder with olive oil potatoes, the sweet and sour red mullet of Crete, zabaglione from Corfu, or Dubrovnik’s ricotta and rose liqueur crepes. These are recipes steeped in history; dishes from the days when Venice was a world power. To tell this history, respected writer, chef and restaurateur Nino Zoccali focuses on the four key regions of the Republic: Venice & the lagoon islands; the surrounding Veneto; the Croatian coast; and the Greek Islands.
AWW Flexible Plant-Based ($40, HB)
A plant-based diet provides a number of health benefits, one of many reasons why it is being embraced more than ever in some form. Today’s plant-based eating allows people to tailor their diet to their own ideology, whim & likes. This flexitarian approach ranges from the strict vegan to ‘almost’ vegetarians, who add more plant foods to their diet & some white meat or seafood. No matter where you fall on the spectrum these recipes can be enjoyed by everyone.
Baltic: New & Old Recipes—Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania by Simon Bajada ($50, HB)
Baltic cuisine is a mixture of Russian & German culinary influences with spices thrown in such as cardamom & cinnamon because the region is a historic trading point with Byzantium. Simon Bajada has selected those Baltic recipes most suited to international palates, curating a mix that is a combination of traditional & contemporary Baltic cuisine. Start your day with Curd pancakes with sour cream & blackberry jam, and learn how to make Black bread & Latvian hemp butter, or try some Summer’s milk soup. Baltic is your starting point for experimenting with the flavours of this resurgent cuisine.
Lavash by Kate Leahy & Ara Zada ($40, HB)
Armenian food offers a new take on healthful deliciousness. It combines the best flavours and techniques of Mediterranean and central European cuisines into fresh and satisfying dishes, served with plenty of pickles, sides, and the soft, ubiquitous bread known as lavash. More than 60 recipes—arranged by course—cover authentic breads & everything you eat with them, from soups & salads to mains & sweets.
Week Light: Super-Fast Meals to Make You Feel Good by Donna Hay ($39.95, PB)
Who knew broccoli (in my mind the superfood of all vegetables) could make such a delicious pizza base, flat-bread or tart shell? Often for lunch, or even a snack, I’ll bake my super-green falafels in the oven & my studio team love them. As for my boys? Their current weeknight request is my crunchy raw pad thai—so yum. Inside Week Light, you’ll find all these ideas & so much more. It’s essentially my week in food, in a book—superquick, family-friendly, fuss-free meals with vegetables are at the forefront of nearly every recipe.
From the Oven to the Table: Simple dishes that look after themselves by Diana Henry ($40, HB) Diana Henry’s favourite way to cook is to throw ingredients into a dish or roasting tin, slide them in the oven & let the heat behind that closed door transform them. Most of the recipes in this varied collection are cooked in one dish; with some ideas for simple accompaniments that can be cooked on another shelf at the same time. Recipes include Chicken Thighs with Miso, Sweet Potatoes & Spring Onions, Roast Indian-spiced Vegetables with Lime-Coriander Butte & Roast Stone Fruit with Almond & Orange Flower Crumbs.
Posh Tarts by Phillippa Spence ($30, HB)
Phillippa Spence offers 70 amazing recipes covering breakfast tarts (pasteis de nata, English breakfast), meat tarts (Spanish omelette quiche, Shredded smokey chicken & sweet corn, Bacon, leek & cheese), fish tarts (Pissaladière, Tuna tonnata, Smoked salmon & watercress), vegetable tarts (Baked camembert in filo with cranberry, Roasted ratatouille, Butternut squash tarte Tatin with chestnut & sage), and sweet tarts (Jam tarts, Tarte au citron, Dutch apple tart & Linzertorte).
Out this month Good Food Guide 2020 by Myffy Rigby ($30, PB)
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