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As Christmas approaches it's the perfect excuse to round up some of the best cookbooks and most interesting foodie books we've seen throughout the year: take inspiration and decide what you're going to wrap up for that food lover in your life, or simply pick one out for yourself.
Here they are, from chef cookbooks to chanelling your inner artists:
Cooking Books for Christmas 2016
For the Inner Creative:
If being a good cook is all about creativity, and here are two books that will confirm your beliefs.
Creative Chef by Jasper Udink Ten Cate will help you to forget the confines of traditional recipes and take a step back from traditional methods while Questlove's Somethingtofoodabout will inspire you to pushing culinary boundaries.
For Food and Art Lovers:
A spectacular choice for the avant garde foodie is this snapshot of artist Dali's fantastical world of food in the 136 elaborate recipes contained in the beautifully composed "Les Diners de Gala."
Find out more about your favourite artist's connection with food in: The Artists and Writers Cookbook from Natalie Eve Garrett, where 76 artists and writers give unique insight into the food that moves and inspires them.
Meanwhile photographer Martin Parr keeps it real and lurid in Real Food, featuring fascinating photos of real food without the soft lens work. For a fascinating snapshot of contemporary food in this neat halfsize hard back book.
For Chocoholics:
Chocoholics will relish these two smart new books which will make a fitting addition to any serious chocolate lovers library with Pierre Hermé: Chocolate and The Ultimate Fine Chocolates by Jean-Pierre Wybauw the complete guide to the world of chocolate.
For Food Nerds:
Geek out on over 40 types of knife in this surprisingly entertaining and absorbing guide on the most important domestic kitchen tool around the world in Knife by Tim Hayward.
For the Food Scientist:
Modernist Cuisines's Ultimate bread guide will be a must have for all budding bakers. The meticulously researched book at 2,600 pages is yet another jewel in the culinary crown of this ground breaking team.
Meanwhile for a lighter look at science and food there's the ever popular TV celebrity and food scientist Alton Brown, Everyday Kitchen.
For Vegetarians:
Vegetarians were spoilt for choice this year. Here's our pick of three Vegetarian cookbooks from 2016 from Middle Eastern influenced cooking to Icelandic influenced modern Nordic cuisine.
From the Professionals:
Virgilio Martinez takes us to different altitudes in his restaurant Central Cookbook which we can only conclude will take your cooking to new heights.
Chef artist André Chiang has written his first restaurant cookbook letting fans into his creative mastermind and his eight elements of gastronomy: salt, texture, memory, pure, terroir, souty, artisan and unique.
A Taste of China
Authentic Chinese recipes are hard to come by, which is why we were so pleased to stumble across China The Cookbook by Kei Lum Chan and Diora Fong Chan, an authoritative new cookbook with all the makings of a must have cookery bible on Chinese food for home cooks.
A Taste of Italy
Get a taste of Italy in thse three Italian cookbooks to take you from Florence to Rome through the eyes of Italophiles. A perfect trio for anyone that has fallen in love with Italy on a summer holiday.
Inside a chef's mind:
Chefs including Heston Blumenthal (The Fat Duck), Massimo Bottura (Osteria Francescana), René Redzepi (Noma) and Daniel Boulud (Bar Boulud), plus many more reveal how they decide what food to serve and what inspires them to write their menus in this unusually useful book from Nicholas Lander, a restaurant critic.
The Chef's Libary, Jenny Linford
If all else fails, and you want to take the lead from some culinary greats, use The Chef's Libary as a starting point to find out who the culinary giants turn to for some inspiration.
10 More Awesome Gifts for Foodies
