The Farmette Cookbook: Recipes and Adventures from My Life on an Irish Farm, expected in April, is the cookbook I'm most looking forward to leafing through this year, being a long-time fan of author Imen McDonnell's blog (farmette.ie).
Other anticipated Irish cookbooks this year come from model-turned-blogger Roz Purcell, who will launch her first cookbook, Natural Born Feeder, in February, while The Ketogenic Kitchen by Irish Times writer Domini Kemp and Patricia Ryan is expected in March. But what are the international culinary tomes that we have to look forward to in the first half of 2016?
The Bare Bones Broth cookbook couldn’t have come along at a better time. This month sees the publication of Katherine and Ryan Harvey’s first book, which promises more than 100 “gut-friendly recipes to heal, strengthen and nourish the body”. I’m sure I’m not alone in needing an influx of nourishing broths after an indulgent Christmas.
The couple is two-thirds of the Bare Bone Broth company (barebonesbroth.com), an Oregon-based business that ships high-quality bone broths (essentially, very good quality stocks) around the US.
Korean food ticks so many boxes for me – spicy, fermented deliciousness – but apart from my bulgogi-style beef taco recipe, I have cooked very little Korean-inspired food at home. Instead, I eat out at Kimchi at The Hop House on Dublin’s Parnell St, one of my favourite restaurants in Ireland.
Perhaps Koreatown: A Cookbook, due for release in February, might give me an extra push to start trying out Korean dishes at home. The book is written by chef Keuki Hon and food writer Matt Rodbard, who travelled around the various Koreantowns of the United States to capture the Korean food movement around the country. Find out more at koreatowncookbook.com.
On the healthy-eating front, a series of cookbooks are set to appear before Easter. Eating in the Middle: A Mostly Wholesome Cookbook is the first cookbook by US writer Andie Mitchell (andiemitchell.com), whose memoir on emotional eating, It Was Me All Along, was a New York Times Bestseller last year. Brooklyn-based vegetarian food writer Lukas Volger (lukasvolger.com) will release his third cookbook, which focuses on phos, soups and broths, and it's fittingly called Bowl. Chef Cara Mangini of Ohio's vegetable restaurant Little Eater (littleeater.com) is introducing her first cookbook, The Vegetable Butcher, in March.
The Wurst of Lucky Peach by Chris Ying, editor-in-chief of food magazine Lucky Peach, promises to celebrate the best in wurst (ie sausages) from around the world. It's due for release in April (pre-order it on luckypeach.com/books). Also out in April is Something To Food About: Creativity with Innovative Chefs, a study of creativity in cooking by Questlove, the enigmatic drummer of The Roots and proprietor of the food truck Quest Loves Food. See questlovesfood.tumblr.com.
Closer to home, Derry-born Cornwall-based actress, blogger and vegan Aine Carlin released A New Vegan on New Year's Eve 2015, promising an accessible approach to veganism. Check out her blog peasoupeats.com for a taster. The River Cottage (rivercottage.net) do gluten-free in their upcoming cookbook, out this month, while sisters Hemsley and Hemsley (hemsleyandhemsley.com) release their second healthy-eating cookbook Good + Simple next month.
Further afield is a book that will no doubt please aesthetically as well as challenge perceptions of taste. Octaphilosophy: The Eight Elements of Restaurant André by André Chiang. I heard Chiang speak at Food on the Edge in Galway in 2015, where Taiwanese super-chef described how he incorporates his philosophy of the eight elements of culinary exploration into Restaurant André, his two Michelin starred restaurant in Singapore.
The book, which is out in April on Phaidon, promises to be a beautiful addition to the food enthusiast’s coffee table.
