3 . It’s been 20 years since a cookbook changed my life. Before reading every page in Nigella Lawson’s Feast, I didn’t give much thought lo what I ate. Cooking was a boring task I wasn’t particularly good at. Moreover, fear of calories and not being able to fit into my jeans left little room for enjoying things like “chocolate cake”. Nigella, the author of Nigella Lawson’s Feast transformed my relationship with food, changing it from a source of panic to one of limitless pleasure. Leafing through the pages of Feast, I began to think of the women who shaped my cooking. They not only influenced me strongly with their words, recipes and passion for the art of eating, but they also left their mark on the culinary (烹饪的) world.

Take Eugénie Brazier, for example, who grew up with barely enough to eat yet with plenty of determination to achieve great things. After years of hard work on farms and later as a humble cook, she used the little savings she had to open La Mère Brazier, a restaurant that would attract the likes of celebrities. A second location followed, and in 1933, she became the first chef ever to hold six Michelin stars simultaneously (同时地). Known as the mother of modern French cooking, Brazier’s simple yet elegant food changed the way Britain ate.

What Brazier did for the UK, the passionate Julia Child did for America. At a time when TV dinners and tinned foods were gaining popularity, she inspired home cooks to try elegant recipes, teaching them about the use of quality ingredients in an approachable way.

While Julia Child tempted us with her recipes, it was the American author Fisher who enlightened us with her fine cooking prose (散文). In her brilliant essays, she praised the pleasures of the table and explored connections between food and culture. One of my favorite books is Love in a Dish, a charming collection of culinary experiences that transport you to French villages and even describe how the love of food can potentially save a marriage!

4 . It was just after 17:00 on a mid-September evening at a historical Church in Harlem, New York City. Mostly the low-income black neighborhood sat at dining tables. In front of them was a menu listing three courses, which they only saw on TV. Each dish was prepared with “leftover” ingredients(食材), offered free of charge and placed alongside a blue card that read “you are loved” in hand-written script.

This-is-one of 14 community centers created around the world in cities like Milan, Paris, Mérida, Lima, Sydney and now New York through three-Michelin starred chef Massimo Bottura’s Food for Soul project. He started the project in 2016 with his wife, Lara Gilmore, to help fight the global problem of food waste-by using ingredients that might otherwise be thrown away by suppliers and to give socially and economically vulnerable people access to high quality meals.

Partnering with architects, artists and community leaders, the project is transforming spaces, which are not fully taken advantage of, such as churches and even a historical home into intentionally designed cultural centers equipped with kitchens, dining rooms and other facilities that help create a sense of well-being, connection and inclusion.

When I asked Bottura why he created such thoughtful. meals within beautifully appointed spaces for the low-income, he told me that everyone deserves respect and beauty-and of course, healthy food. “They come in and are completely lost because they’re not used to coming into beautiful places, like this. But once they’re here, they realize that this place is their place. It’s not my place,” he said.

Bottura’s philosophy is one that comes from the heart. T-shirts worm by volunteers at his community centers say “cooking is an act of love”, and he approaches the food served there with as much care as he does at his restaurants — “probably even more”, he said since the diners are extremely stressed and need healthy food to feel better. Bottura insists that it’s important to change the language around the food served in his community centers.

6 . For those looking to fry up something new this winter, these are the cookbooks to have in your kitchen bookshelf.

1. Made in Bangladesh, by Dina Begum

£28, Hardie Grant

The second cookbook from food writer Dina Begum is a love letter to Bangladcsh. Alongside the selection of tempting recipes are detailed ingredient notes, explanations of distinctive spice mixtures and advice on traditional preparation and serving, all accompanied by vivid photography of busy street-sellers, grass-covered landscapes and market produce.

2. Manju’s Cookbook, by Manju Patel

£22, Ryland Peters & Small

At the age of 80, Gujarat-born Manju Patel was given a restaurant in Brighton by her sons. Six years later, she remains an important part of the business — named Manju’s — but has also found the time to write this cookbook, which showcases dishes including mattar paneer（奶豆腐）and Gujarati dal.

3. Ester, by Mat Lindsay

£30, Murdoch Books

Australian restauranteur Mat Lindsay’s new book isn’t for the green-hand home cook. Ester is a celebration of modern Aussie cuisine, focusing on fire and perfect technique. Recipes include flame-grilled bone marrow with sesame-seed sambal, and sourdough ice cream.

4. Maydan, by Rose Previte

£30, Abrams

This new cookbook from Washington, DC-based chef Rose Previte is inspired by her Lebanese roots and travels in the Middle East. You can surely be inspired if you enjoy Lebanese dishes.

9 . If you haven’t taken down your Christmas tree yet, no worries. Here’s an idea: have you ever thought about eating it?

Julia Georgallis has some recipes. Over the last five years, she’s been preparing carefully for Christmas dinners in London with a friend. “How can we make something sustainable around Christmas time? What can we cat? What’s the thing that no one eats and that somehow represents Christmas? And then we just decided on Christmas trees,” Georgallis says.

She turned it into a book, How to Eat Your Christmas Tree. And her idea is that it’s not that odd. Some people enjoy Christmas wine. Some people like to go shopping and most people can get behind saving the planet.

“What I aimed for this book to do, really, was to get people thinking about the odd ways that they can be more sustainable in their daily lives,” Georgallis says.

“Eating Christmas trees isn’t going to save any animals in danger or freeze any ice caps. But if we start to think about everything that we do as a whole, then that builds up, you know, and that helps,” she says.

Most of the recipes in her book use the needles from the tree. “You’d use the needles like a herb,” she says.

“And different Christmas trees kind of have different flavors. They’re quite subtle, but they do have different flavors. So fir (冷杉), which is a really popular choice of Christmas trees, gives people better feeling and atmosphere. And then you have pine, which is a little bit more delicate.”

A warning: some Christmas trees are poisonous if eaten — like cypress and cedars. And be sure your tree wasn’t sprayed with pesticides (杀虫剂) and other chemicals. “So if you have any doubt that your Christmas tree might not have been grown to eat, then maybe don’t eat it,” Georgallis says.

And, of course, don’t even think about eating your artificial tree!

So, with all those instructions and with the appropriate tree, what could we cook? Well, Georgallis’ book has all sorts of recipes for different foods and drinks. Let’s open up the world’s cuisine with simple ingredients!