7 must-have cookbooks

Sometimes cooking means more than a routine activity that will keep the family filled. It can be a joyous hobby or a conscious and meticulous activity connected to a healthy lifestyle. Whatever our motivation, cookbooks help bring fulfillment into making food and are a tool for making delicious and nutritious meals.

In this blog article, we recommend a list of cookbooks that are not to be missed if you have already exhausted all your go-to recipes. For the joy of cooking and a healthy diet!

The British chef became famous around the world not only for his TV cooking shows but also for his cookbooks, translated into several languages. His book on how to cook with superfoods is available in most European languages. “There’s no cheating: it’s possible to eat super-healthy foods and get full at the same time,” says Jamie Oliver in the introduction of his book. He promises that regardless of your chosen recipe, the result will be a satiating, tasty meal that keeps you fit. The cookbook contains 30 breakfasts, 30 lunches, and 30 dinners, the breakfasts having less than 400 calories and lunches and dinners with just around 600 calories.

The blue zones of our planet are home to people with the highest life expectancy, living in Sardinia, Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula, Greece’s Icaria Island, California’s Loma Linda, and Japan’s Okinawa Island. This book introduces you to these regions’ gastronomy with interesting yet easy-to-prepare recipes.

This New York Times bestseller introduces you to the secrets of taste. Samin Nosrat started working at one of California’s iconic restaurants, Chez Panisse, where she worked her way up the ladder and became head chef. The first part of her book consists of a professional cooking course. Preparing the second part’s recipes, we can learn on-hand how to make the perfect meal. The book inspired a Netflix series with the same title.

If you’re unfamiliar with the author, the legendary Italian chef was also Jamie Oliver’s master. If you’re a fan of Italian cuisine or want to brighten up your everyday life with easy Mediterranean dishes, Maestro Contaldo’s simple and super-endearing recipes will help you prepare authentic Italian dishes from every region of sunny Italy in just under minutes. The book contains over 80 recipes, and the master promises that each recipe takes no more than 40 minutes to prepare.

Julia Child, American celebrity master chef, author, and television personality, is best known for introducing the art of French cooking to the American public. This seminal two-volume work, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, was first published in 1961 and has since gone through numerous reprints. Although it hasn’t been translated into Romanian or Hungarian, it’s available in many international languages. Best suitable for those who want to learn about French cooking from the very best chefs and have a seminal work of international gastronomy on their bookshelves.

Pál Kövi, a restaurant owner from New York, collected traditional, old recipes from Transylvanian that were still circulating in the 70s, representative of this multicultural, ethnically, and religiously diverse region, the recipes dating back to the 19th and 20th centuries. The cookbook was first published in 1980, containing recipes from Hungarian, Szekler, Romanian, Armenian, Sächsisch, Jewish, and Szekler Sabbatarian cooking, presented with a literary twist. Transylvanian Cuisine is famous amongst Hungarians, having been reprinted many times, and considered by Hungarian chefs as a constant source of inspiration. It is also a work of reference on the international gastronomy scene, with many English editions. This is a must-have cookbook for anyone interested in the traditional cuisine of Transylvania, Romania, Hungary, and Central and Eastern Europe.

If you want to get acquainted with Romanian cuisine and its specialties, Gina Bradea’s cookbooks should be in your library. She is a gastro blogger who made Romanian cooking internationally known, offering her readers recipes from traditional cuisine, staple meals made healthy, and soul food. Gina’s cookbook is dedicated to homely flavors, containing more than 100 recipes, including classical Romanian soups (ciorbe), starters, main courses, sauces, and desserts.

Our collection of recipes includes tasty and healthy mushroom-based meals. For example, you might try this classic Italian turkey lasagne with mushrooms, this Beef Wellington with mushrooms, or this festive salmon with mushrooms and cream.

We wish you joyful cooking and lots of savory meals!