Terry Durack

The most brilliant set of cookbooks every produced, with contributions from many of the greatest names in food writing. Especially love The Cooking of Provincial France (MFK Fisher) , and The Cooking of China (Emily Hahn).

So easy to follow and so well written, and so amusing, you can hear his voice on every page. Plus, this is the only cook book in the world that doesn’t tell you to overcook lobster.

A game-changer if ever there was one. It set in motion a chain of events that led to meeting Marco many times. He is an extraordinary, complex creature and a great chef.

The Japanese cookbook translated into English by which all Japanese cookbooks translated into English should be judged.

The Middle East became just that little less mysterious for me as a young cook, with Claudia Roden by my side.

Margaret Fulton Cooking used to be Australia’s all-purpose, go-to cookbook. Now it’s Stephanie’s alphabetical, ingredient-driven reference manual, a book that should be on everybody’s shelf.

An American living in London who learned to love food in France changed the way the world cooked. Meeting him and being his friend was very important to me; a very charming and complicated and genuine man.

Kind of the White Heat of the noughties. Much of what we’re eating around the world started life here. Very conscientiously written, tested and researched.

Intelligent, informed and thoroughly useable. I loved Paul’s cooking when he was at Chez Panisse, he has been incredibly influential in the growth of natural Italian/American/wood-fired cooking.

Grace effortlessly makes you feel part of her Chinese family, without sentimentality or fluff, and her recipes are immaculate. Love the little stories behind the food as well.