Cookbooks have become a beloved and popular gift choice during the holiday season, especially at Christmas. Why do we cherish them so much at this festive time?

The holiday season is often associated with special meals and festive gatherings. Cookbooks provide an abundance of culinary inspiration, offering new recipes and creative ideas for holiday dishes, treats, and festive feasts. They help people plan and prepare delicious meals to share with their loved ones. 

Many families have cherished food-related traditions during the holiday season. Cookbooks can help individuals and families continue or refresh these traditions by offering recipes for classic dishes and new twists on old favourites. Some absolute beauties we'd like to highlight particularly for Christmas is Good Housekeeping's new Christmas companion. From one of the world’s most trusted brands, this is a must-have Christmas cookery book to treasure forever.

BOLD by Nisha Katona is an absolute stunner of a cookbook, inside and out; every dish is a treat with the wow factor. With the theme of ‘Fortune Favours the Bold’ Katona delivers a beautiful boundary-breaking bevy of dishes that show her bravery and eye for flavour. 

Home Made by Kate Humble is a treasure of a book: a collection of simple and sustainable recipes from farm to table. Featuring inspiring stories from 20 people, Home Made celebrates everyone who makes and grows the food we eat. With over 60 recipes from Kate Humble's kitchen table, you can enjoy simple, quick and fuss-free meals.

Revolutionise your festive family feasts with this little Christmas cracker of a book, Don't Waste Your Turkey by Emily Gussin.  There's something fresh for every family, every feel and every fraction of turkey. Don't waste your bird ever again.

Easy Vegan Christmas is a 80-recipe cookbook showcasing simple vegan recipes, for a fuss-free festive season. The magic of Christmas is in togetherness and giving, and there’s nothing that shows this more than a special, hearty meal, prepared with love.

If tradition is what you are looking for, trust Mary Berry to make home cooking stress-free, easy and delicious! In this brand-new collection of 120 recipes, Mary shares her tips and tricks from a lifetime of culinary knowledge. Divided into clear chapters, featuring one-pot recipes and 5-ingredient meals, easy bakes and desserts as well as prep-ahead and store cupboard favourites, this book contains foolproof food that the whole family will enjoy. Mary Makes It Easy brings Mary's years of experience straight into your kitchen.

Cookbooks make excellent gifts. They are thoughtful presents for both experienced home chefs and novices who want to improve their cooking skills. Gifting a cookbook can show that you've put thought into selecting a personalised and useful gift for someone.

A absolute gift of a book is The Dinner Table by Kate Young. Boasting a huge diversity of eminent writers, this entertaining, edifying anthology of first-class writing on food is as richly satisfying as an immense banquet.  Spanning centuries and subject — from butter and eggs, to whopping wedding feasts — The Dinner Table is a splendid smorgasbord of a book. As such, it’s the ideal gift for foodies, especially those who also love literature. And it's firmly on our Christmas list!

Christmas-themed or winter holiday cookbooks often feature recipes specifically designed for the season. These recipes often incorporate seasonal ingredients and flavors, such as gingerbread, cinnamon, nutmeg, and peppermint, adding a touch of holiday magic to the kitchen.

To this end, step in the beautifully presented, Eleanor Ford's The Nutmeg Trail which blends delicious recipes with fascinating spice-trading history and travel writing flair to concoct a book that’s informative, inspirational and bursting with wonderful ways to spice-up your menu.

Family and Community Bonding: Cooking and baking can be a communal activity that brings families and friends together. A cookbook can serve as a catalyst for shared cooking experiences and quality time spent in the kitchen, creating lasting memories.

Personal Growth: Many people use the holiday season as an opportunity to learn and grow in different areas of their lives, including cooking. A cookbook can provide the guidance needed to try new recipes, techniques, and cuisines, helping individuals expand their culinary skills.

The holiday season can be a stressful time for many, with preparations for gatherings and festivities. Having a cookbook filled with reliable recipes can alleviate some of that stress by providing a structured and trustworthy resource for meal planning and preparation.

Nadiya’s Simple Spices: A guide to the eight kitchen must haves recommended by the nation’s favourite cook. Cardamom, fennel, cinnamon, turmeric, cumin, chilli, bay leaves and curry powder are all you need to create any recipe in this book. We love the beauty and simplicity of this from this national treasure.

Cookbooks are often beautifully designed and visually appealing. They can make for a lovely addition to one's coffee table or bookshelf, adding a touch of warmth and cosyness to the holiday home decor.

To tick this box, we'd like to share the wonderful Bedside Companion for Food Lovers, another gem in the fabulous series by Jane McMorland Hunter. It's a deliciously delightful anthology highlighting the world of food from a variety of sources including novels, recipe books, children’s stories, and poetry.

Stuffed full to overflowing with gorgeous extracts highlighting food, this would make a truly scrumptious present. In the introduction Jane McMorland Hunter says: “I have included very few recipes… as I wanted to create a book which would appeal to the imagination as much as whetting the appetite”. She goes on to explain: “These pieces are take from a variety of sources: recipe books, novels, prose, poetry, and fondly remembered stories from my childhood”. Each month features a delicious morsel or feast, with To a Haggis by Robert Burns of course appearing in January, and rather delightfully A Little Something from Winnie-the-Pooh by A A Milne sits happily on the page next door. Not a cookbook as such, but we couldn't help but include it here. 

Another stunning book inside and out, a LoveReading Star Book is Mother Tongue by Gurdeep Loyal. It's a mouth-watering cookbook which welcomes you to journey with Gurdeep Loyal into his culinary memories and exploration of food.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Richard Jones and their five boys brought joy to millions throughout lockdown with their Kitchen Discos. Now, they've shared their favourite family recipes with a cookbook that celebrates the kitchen as the heart of the home. Dance around the kitchen with Love. Food. Family: Recipes From The Kitchen Disco.

And finally, we must mention The Little Library Parties by Kate Young. This fifty-recipe peach of a book shares how to create showstopping party food through a celebratory feast of words and pictures.

Here's to our beloved books about food this Christmas. Preparing and sharing food is a way many people express love and care for their friends and family. They make excellent gifts and provide practical guidance for creating memorable meals and sharing love through food, making them a perfect addition to the festive spirit of the season.