Gifts for the kitchen can easily cross the line, going from a thoughtful gesture to an inappropriate hint. For the holidays, beautiful cookbooks filled with inspiration should be your theme, leaving the overly practical cookbooks for the domestic chef to acquire on his or her own. Yet, when purchasing online, or fighting the holiday season rush, perusing the contents of cookbooks may not fit into your schedule.
Doing the work for you, we sifted through dozens of the year's newest and hottest cookbooks to select a few that easily reach gift-worthy status for friends, family, or that gracious hostess:
My Sweet Vegan - Gifts are intended to indulge the senses, and nothing could possibly indulge us more than a gorgeous cookbook filled with only desserts and sweets. Whether your recipient is a prolific baker or an amateur cook with a voracious sweet tooth, the new young author, Hannah Kaminsky, has several recipes to delight them. Full color throughout, an enticing photo taken by the author herself accompanies every single recipe, almost unprecedented in these days of mass production.
Lidia's Italy - When we think of comfort food, entertaining, and flavor, Italian food is one of the first thing to come to mind. Thus it is no surprise that this holiday season is filled with several beautiful Italian cookbooks. Yet, of those we viewed, the ultimate appeal was in this hefty title. As the subtitle "140 Simple and Delicious Recipes from the Ten Places in Italy Lidia Loves Most" implies, this substantial cookbook is filled with superb photography of not only the dishes she creates, but also the Italian countryside.
Nigella Express - As one of the newest cookbooks from the food network team, there is still a good chance that the receiver won't yet have it in his or her collection. Any hostess will appreciate this package of quick, easy, and impressive dishes to add to her pool of go-to recipes. Plus, Nigella delivers her "fast" food with dozens of pleasing food photos for a quick "how it should look" shot.
The above cookbooks can be found, or ordered, from most major booksellers, or you can easily find them online from http://www.amazon.com or http://www.bn.com.
Additional Tips to Selecting Cookbook Gifts:
Unless the recipient has specifically requested it, avoid anything with the words "diet" or "nutrition" in the title.
Take a quick flip through the book to ensure it has good eye appeal. Food photos and a well-designed layout will invite the home chef into the kitchen, and are a must for gift giving. But be warned, a cookbook that is overly stuffed with cameo shots of the author rather than pictures of the actual food, may be more fluff than substance.
Check both the title and subtitle when thinking of your recipient. While we love Jamie Oliver and his gorgeous cookbook series, his latest creation subtitled, "My Guide to Making you a Better Cook," may send the wrong message.
Last but not least, does the food look appealing to you? A cardinal rule of gift giving is to always give presents that you would enjoy receiving yourself.
Alisa Fleming is the Editor of Go Dairy Free and writes for many other predominant health publications as a freelance writer
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