Read-it meals

Like the dishes they usher onto our tables, a good cookbook is an experience to be savoured. Our Adelaide City Libraries team share a few of their favourites that offer a glimpse into each cook’s repertoire and intimate moments marked by meals. It’s a collection sure to satisfy every hunger.

This article was produced in collaboration with Adelaide City Libraries.
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Graphics by Jayde Vandborg.

Cook like a pro with these South Australian icons…

Adelaide Central Market: Stories, People and Recipes
by Fiona Roberts & Katie Spain

Since 1869, the Adelaide Central Market has been a treasure in the heart of Adelaide. Home to a diverse range of cuisines from across the world, alongside a wide selection of fresh produce for you to create your own culinary masterpieces, the markets have it all. Adelaide Central Market: Stories, People and Recipes captures the memories of traders of yesteryear and the familiar faces who make it such a lively place today. From archival images and documents to recipes to try out at home, immerse yourself in the delicious atmosphere.

Parwana: Recipes and Stories from an Afghan Kitchen
by Durkhanai Ayubi, recipes by Farida Ayubi

A firm favourite on the Adelaide restaurant scene, Parwana will transform your home cooking. Traditional Afghan recipes are interwoven with one family’s story of a region long afflicted by war, but with much more at its heart. These fragrant and flavourful recipes have been in the family for generations. From everyday meals to special occasion delicacies, each has a story to tell.

Africola: Slow Foods, Fast Words, Cult Chef
by Duncan Welgemoed

If you’ve been to Africola, then you know why you need to try this cookbook. Duncan Welgemoed’s approach to food is fearless, take-no-prisoners, bold and exciting. The recipes are all about using sustainably sourced, low-impact-on-the-earth ingredients to create dishes that have big, powerful flavours – and that ‘open another box in your palate and in your mind’.

What I Cook When Nobody’s Watching
by Poh Ling Yeow

Adelaide’s sweetheart and Masterchef judge, Poh Ling Yeow, believes that the simpler we eat, the happier we are. In this book Poh shares all the things she cooks when nobody’s watching and dishes up some of the wisdom she’s learned along the way. Try the Pineapple Fried Rice – quick, easy and delicious!

Meshi: A Personal History of Japanese Food
by Katherine Tamiko Arguile

Meshi – meaning rice or meal – reveals the culture and spirit of one of the world’s most beloved cuisines through Japan’s twenty-four sekki (seasons) in this memoir. Did you know that the author runs Booknook & Bean in Topham Mall? Drop in for a coffee and pick up a donated read in this cozy nook, with book sale proceeds donated to Kiva, a non-profit organisation that provides low-interest loans to disadvantaged people around the world.

Flavours of South Australia
by Jonette George

Heaps good. Whether you’re road-tripping around the state or just looking for a quick weekend escape, this food bible has got you covered. It’s packed with South Australia’s favourite spots to eat, drink and enjoy. If you have family or friends visiting from interstate or overseas you need to borrow this book for your itinerary. SA Great!

Immerse yourself in flavours from around the world…

Tenderheart: A Book About Vegetables and Unbreakable Bonds
by Hetty McKinnon

Hetty McKinnon is an Australian Chinese vegetarian/plant-based/vegan cookbook author now based in Brooklyn, New York. Tenderheart is a special cookbook that pays homage to heritage, family bonds and culture through flavourful and inspired vegetarian recipes. You may have seen Hetty’s recipes online via ABC Everyday or NYT Cooking or followed her on Instagram. Be inspired to eat more veggies.

RecipeTin Eats Dinner: 150+ Recipes From Australia’s Favourite Cook
by Nagi Maehashi

This has been a bestseller all over the world, Nagi and her dog Dozer have over 1.4 million followers on Instagram! 150 dinner recipes. Fail-proof. Delicious. Addictive. The food you want to cook, eat and share, night after night. In her first cookbook, Nagi brings us the ultimate curation of new and favourite recipes from her phenomenally popular online food site RecipeTin Eats.

Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love
by Noor Murad & Yotam Ottolenghi

What treasures are hidden in your kitchen pantry, fridge and freezer? This is Yotam Ottolenghi’s guide to everyday home cooking and innovative Middle Eastern inspired recipes. Craving a viral recipe? The confit tandoori chickpeas. Our hot fave? The curried cauliflower and cheese filo pie, aka ‘molten-hot-cheese-lava’.

Get back to nature…

First Nations Food Companion: How to Buy, Grow, Cook and Eat Indigenous Australian Ingredients
by Damien Coulthard & Rebecca Sullivan

From South Australian native food business Warndu comes this groundbreaking celebration of the most accessible and popular Australian native ingredients and their uses in the everyday home kitchen. There’s an edible pantry of unique flavours that First Nations people have been making the most of for thousands of years – and, thanks to this cookbook, you can too!

From Scratch: More Than 200 Handmade Pantry Essentials and Other Life-Affirming Kitchen Miracles
by Fiona Weir Walmsley

If you are looking for a connection with what you eat, then this book is for you. More than 200 straightforward recipes from basic pantry items and essential dairy products to decadent cakes, tasty dips, crackers, ferments and drinks. From Scratch will give you the confidence to leave industrialised packaged goods behind.

Salad Freak: Recipes to Feed a Healthy Obsession
by Jess Damuck

Check out Salad Freak by Martha Stewart’s recipe developer and food stylist Jess Damuck. With warmer weather on the way, get inspired with these salads you’ll never get bored with. Want to try Snoop Dogg’s BBQ Chicken Cobb Salad? Of course, you do! Drop it like it’s hot.

Garden Like A Nonno: The Italian Art Of Growing Your Own Food
by Jaclyn Crupi

Nonno is Italian for grandpa. Whether you have a tiny balcony or a sprawling inner-city block, everyone can benefit from gardening tips from the green thumbed, singlet wearing members of our Italian community. Get inspired to grow your own food this spring, take the quiz to assess your nonno potential, and soon you’ll be living la dolce vita.

Bake up some nostalgia with this Australian Classic…

Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book
Sophia Young, editorial & food director

Four words for you: Children’s. Birthday. Cake. Book. This cookbook is an institution. You name it, they’ve got it. The pig. The bear. The cricket pitch. The farm. The pool. The koala. The numbers. The duck. The nostalgia! We’ve all got a favourite.

You can borrow these titles and subscribe to a wide range of e-magazines for free using the Libby app and your Adelaide City Libraries card. Find inspiration and up your cooking game with magazines including Lunch Lady, Bon Appetit, Australian Healthy Food Guide and Delicious.

Drop into one of the Adelaide City Libraries:

City Library, 3rd Floor Rundle Place (enter off Francis Street)
Hutt Street Library, 235 Hutt Street
North Adelaide Library, 176 Tynte Street

Learn more at the Adelaide City Libraries website, or connect with them on Instagram.