Strada della Nonna or The way of the Granny. Sounds a bit like a kung fu movie when you (very roughly) translate it. Italian kung fu that is, which presumably involves loudly honking your horn at people whilst flicking an imaginary beard. This is a book about a boy growing up under the culinary influence of a granny with ‘a six foot’ pasta rolling pin who would arrive in Sheffield from Modena, driven by her husband and with a car boot full of food treasures.

Leaving aside the heretical idea that we might actually want to take longer over cooking than previously, in order to have something to do of an afternoon to prevent the slide into daytime TV and the inevitable unscrewing of the Costcutter Chardonnay at 3 p.m, is this the book we want right now?

Just take a look at the back of those packets of veg – the country of provenance is always stated and these days it seems that country is all too often one that’s very far away. Some even long-haul distance.

With her first book, Cooking Like Mummyji, Vicky Bhogal used her experience of growing up an Anglo-Asian to bring real Punjabi cooking back home. Here were authentic recipes that were, to non Asians, a bit of an eye-opener. Then came a Year of Cooking like Mummyji which went further by cooking with the seasons in a variety of Asian styles. Now with this book, Vicky has embraced pretty much the whole world as the title suggests.

You certainly can’t complain you don’t know what you’re getting when you buy this book – it does exactly what it says on the cover. The pleasures of choosing, growing and cooking the little red devils is what this book is all about.

Some people are calling him the vegetarian Jamie Oliver which is a bit of an insult in my eyes – Simon is far better than that. The comparison comes from Simon’s fondness for big flavours on a plate, no mincing about and a bit of chucking it in. His restaurant Greens is an award winning place and looking at and tasting these recipes you can see why.

Not everyone over here knows of Bill Granger, in his native Australia however he is as big as Jamie but a lot more likeable. He abandoned art school at 22, opened a restaurant in Sydney and became famous when his scrambled eggs so impressed a New York journalist that within a short time he was writing books and appearing on TV.

Every great General has his staff officers and Ramsay has his Sergeant. Together they set up the Gordon Ramsay pubs in London to produce simple and delicious British classics that meet a particular demand for the sort of food that comforts and satisfies in equal measure.

The lives of some of our better known chefs have become stultifyingly familiar. If I have to read one more time about Gordon Ramsay’s journey from failed footballer to global megastar or Marco Pierre White handing back his Michelin stars I’ll scream. Which makes this new memoir with recipes from Le Gavroche head chef Michel Roux Jr all the more welcome

These are all racion recipes, which is to say larger than the average tapas. Again this is to make the home cook’s life easier. It is just too much to ask a home kitchen to turn out ten or fifteen tapas for a meal, but four or five larger portions are achievable. The authors are also advocates of short cuts, such as ready-rolled pastry, as well of borrowing ingredients and styles from around the Mediterranean and not just Spain to bring extra vibrancy and colo