‘In the beginning was the Word. It was only when human beings appeared that the Word became food on a table. We know that language allows us to understand each other and to express what we think and feel. We humans, however, are more than language. We humans are cookingage, i.e., that which allows us to prepare the food with which we can nourish not only our body, but also our spirit. It was when we started to cook our first meals and when we started to conjugate the incarnate Word that we noticed that we were human. Both table and Word humanize us. No wonder it is essential that the table on which our meals are served be conjoined with good conversation: at the table, the word is essential’. (p. vi)

So writes Joaquín Racionero Page in his ‘Foreword’ to Angel F. Mendez Montoya’s delightful book The Theology of Food: Eating and the Eucharist, a book which recalls something that Lévi-Strauss once argued; namely, that in order to properly learn who we are, we need to look at the food and cooking patterns we enjoy for these reveal to us, like language itself, something of the basic structure of our systems of signification.

Such revelation, discovery, participation, is of the bene esse of life. And Voltaire was right, ‘Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity’. Indeed, and I would say the same about cooking. One of my greatest – and increasing so – life-giving joys in recent years has been cooking, and all things related – like opening up the door of the glass house and having one’s nasal passages and entire head literally attacked by the aroma of basil and tomatoes! Along the way, I’ve started to build up the beginnings of a decent library of books on food. Here’s some of my favourites:

• Made in Italy: Food and Stories by Giorgio Locatelli
• A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes by David Tanis
• The Silver Spoon
• Bread Baking: An Artisan’s Perspective by Daniel T. DiMuzio
• Jamie’s Italy by Jamie Oliver
• Street Food by Tom Kime
• Fleurs Place by Paul Sorrell, Fleur Sullivan & Graham Warman

And here’s a few more that I’m chasing (and which are on my Wishlist, if anyone’s feeling particularly generous)

• With Bold Knife and Fork by M.F.K. Fisher (John Updike called Fisher a ‘poet of the appetites’)
• Mediterranean Seafood: A Comprehensive Guide with Recipes by Alan Davidson
• French Provincial Cooking by Elizabeth David
• The River Cottage Meat Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
• Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing by Michael Ruhlman
• Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way by Francis Mallmann
• Coast to Coast by Rick Stein
• Sichuan Cookery by Fuchsia Dunlop
• Maggie’s Harvest and Cooking with Verjuice by Maggie Beer
• The Cook’s Companion: The Complete Book of Ingredients and Recipes for the Australian Kitchen by Stephanie Alexander
• Tuscan Cookbook by Maggie Beer & Stephanie Alexander
• The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York by Claudia Roden
• Alvaro’s Mamma Toscana: The Authentic Tuscan Cookbook by Alvaro Maccioni
• Cafe Firenze Cookbook: Food and Drink Recipes from the Tuscan Sons by Fabio Viviani
• The French Menu Cookbook by Richard Olney
• The Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen with Nigel Slater by Nigel Slater
• Thai Food by David Thompson

What’s your ‘must have’ cookbook/book on food?

BTW: there’s no such thing as ‘just a little’ garlic, nor a ‘dash’ of wine.