The 12 books of Christmas

Settle down with travel tomes and gourmet journeys to inspire wanderlust

A stack (pile) of travel and gourmet books suitable for Christmas presents, photographed in News Ltd studio in Sydney. Picture: Adam Knott

Settle down with travel tomes and gourmet journeys to inspire wanderlust

France: A Sense of Place by Francois d'Humieres, photography by Christian Sarramon and Isabelle Rozenbaum (Thames & Hudson, $59.95): The splendid A Sense of Place picture-book series -- India, Morocco and Vietnam are among the destinations covered -- consists of album-style assemblies of photography, design snippets, quotes (in this case from Ernest Hemingway and Francois Rabelais, among others) and time-honoured recipes.

Consider an almond tartlet recipe from Edmond Rostand's 19th-century play Cyrano de Bergerac, complete with "slim-waisted" tartlet moulds, or simply conjure the perfect French dressing by memorising this marvellous formula from poet and playwright Francois Coppee: "Four men are needed to make a salad: a spendthrift for the oil, a miser for the vinegar, a sage for the salt and a madman for the pepper."

Vanishing Ireland: Further Chronicles of a Disappearing World by James Fennell and Turtle Bunbury (Hachette, $75): This follow-up to Vanishing Ireland chronicles the lives of 41 Irish residents across the country, from Stradbally to Ballymote. Mostly these are rural folk who have lived through hard times. Many left school when they were barely in their teens to help out at home; in the early 20th century it was nothing for a woman to bear 12 children, one a year until she all but dropped.

As such stories fade from the Irish consciousness, a book such as this is all the more valuable. James Fennell's photography is ravishing and the faces so familiarly Irish, such as that of Paddy Heneghan, born in 1922 in Delphi, County Mayo, and a ghillie all his adult life. Still a bachelor ("he has loved a few women but never enough to change their name", writes Turtle Bunbury), he has enjoyed better success with salmon. Heneghan admits to being a fish whisperer. "He learned the hard way, earning the wrath of his grandfather when, aged seven, he cast his line and caught a pony by the ear."

It's a nostalgic journey, full of stories small and tall, told with great humour.

What a lovely gift for those with Irish roots.

Earthbound: A Rough Guide to the World in Pictures (Rough Guides, $59.95): Divided into sections such as activities, transport, keepsakes, nature and tradition, this superior collection of snapshots from myriad photographers takes the reader roaming across the globe. Perhaps the most unexpected gallery comes under the heading of "time wasting". Here we have the world at rest: lounging in deckchairs on the sands of Bournemouth in Britain, playing with balloons at sunset on Mumbai's Chowpatty Beach, dipping into the mineral-rich waters of a spa resort in Romania or playing dominos at Soufriere in the Caribbean.

In Jerez, Spain, three chaps sit on a bench, as the male residents of this sherry-producing Andalucian town seem wont to do. "They gather for idle chat in palm-laced plazas . . . they watch the shadows lengthen . . . they wait for the sherry to age in oak barrels." Not a bad life.

Secrets of the South Coast by Tommy Salmon (Jules Laverne, $125): With two cover colour options (black or white), fabulously thick and glossy paper stock and the dimensions of a foot-stool, this ode to the NSW south coast is not so much a promotional tool as a whole toolbox. There are some strange design quirks, such as occasional reverse type and near-blank pages, but the achievement is substantial.

Tommy Salmon is a photographer and passionate surfer and with writer Shaun Whale has contrived an unusual approach to the contents. The exact locations of the shots are not indicated but there are clues aplenty (of the gist of "well worth the effort of climbing deep down into the gorge"); but south coast residents and holidaymakers who love the region will no doubt recognise many of the featured landscapes and will be impressed by the book's wow-factor scale and scope.

Atlas Monographs by Max Pam (T & G Publishing, $120): Here's a book so substantial and gorgeous it deserves to be as treasured as much as a piece of furniture or fine objet d'art. The album is a testament to the brilliant career of Max Pam, a Melbourne-born photographer who has devoted three decades to capturing portraits of people and places.

Described as a "compression of nine travel journals", the book covers his pictures and writings of the 1970s, then ranges widely through Asia, Madagascar, Zanzibar and the Yemen to Karakoram in 2006.

"Much of my photographic production over the past 30 years has been made purely to memorialise the spirit of travel . . . The photos I make are almost always acts of collaboration . . . a confluence of events . . . I take my photo, it all happens as a silent agreement  . . . a little one-act play of street theatre." Accordingly, many of his photos, even those that are obviously staged, embody the sense of a fleeting moment, whether the subject is a street hawker in India, a defiant prostitute in Madagascar or a gun-toting policeman in The Philippines.

There is one jarring note, sadly, and that's the lack of page numbers, an artistic flourish that renders the index at the rear, with its picture pointers, something of an irritating jigsaw.

Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour of Europe (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, $65): Host of infotainment television series Grand Designs and Grand Designs Abroad, the debonair Kevin McCloud is the thinking woman's bit of construction crumpet. In this beautifully presented volume, he leaves behind the repurposed windmills and assorted follies of the English shires in favour of the great buildings of France, Germany, Italy, Turkey and Greece.

He insists this is "not a comprehensive history of architecture" and makes little apology for what he has left out ("the Totteridge curly-wurly lamppost movement") or what contemporary wonders he has chosen to include (such as the New Acropolis Museum in Athens).

Susan Kurosawa

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Thai Street Food by David Thompson, photography by Earl Carter (Lantern, $99.95): David Thompson's preceding book, the exquisite pink silk-covered Thai Food, was always going to be a hard act to follow. But his new coffee-table volume, focusing on the food-obsessed nation's lifeblood -- its street snacks -- is an excellent second outing.

Containing a selection of Thompson's favourite street stall and market tastes, the book has a brighter and breezier style than its older sibling and couldn't look more different if it tried.

Its huge format and page after page of colourful shots of Thai neighbourhood scenes interspersed with recipes certainly set it apart.

Thompson's encyclopaedic knowledge of all things Thai is still much in evidence, but here it seems the expat Aussie has taken on the famous mai pen rai attitude of his adopted homeland. This beautiful book will transport you to the heart of the kingdom.

Shannon Bennett's Paris (Miegunyah Press, $45): Melbourne chef and restaurateur Shannon Bennett ate at his first Michelin-starred Paris restaurant at the age of 20. It was a life-changing experience if this delightful little hardback is anything to go by. In his "personal guide to the city's best", Bennett has created a must-have travel companion listing everything from his most exciting Paris restaurants, food shops and hotels (interspersed with musings on the city) to his favourite recipes.

Particularly interesting are notes dotted throughout from Bennett's friends -- including Stephanie Alexander, Matt Moran and Bennett's actress wife Madeleine West -- detailing their experiences at places mentioned in the book. West's no-holds-barred description of a stay at the five-star Murano Urban Resort, for example, is illuminating.

Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey, (Random House Australia, $69.95): The globetrotting British chef is making it his life's work to experience firsthand every one of the world's cuisines. In his latest book he takes readers on a journey through Cambodia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and more, recounting his experiences alongside a compilation of 150 recipes he has collected on the way.

We're keen to try the fried fish in ginger sauce, prepared for Stein by his guide Sophal's aunt in her little wooden house on stilts in a village near Siem Reap, Cambodia, and the delicious duck noodle soup the Brit discovered at Bangkok's Or Tor Kor market and loved so much that he promptly put it on the menu at his cafe in Padstow, Cornwall.

Snowflakes and Schnapps by Jane Lawson (Murdoch Books, $69.95): You've got to love a book that can make a cheese fondue look sexy. In this sleek and chic celebration of cold-climate cuisine, chef cum publisher Jane Lawson takes us on a journey through the snow-capped regions of northern, central and eastern Europe, highlighting traditional recipes and contemporary favourites, whether for everyday meals or a slap-up celebration.

Borlotti and chestnut soup with scallops and parsley oil, and warm chocolate and walnut pancake torte will have you wishing this summer palava was all over. We're certainly hoping to find this glamourpuss in our (woolly) Christmas stocking.

Saha by Greg and Lucy Malouf (Hardie Grant Books, $49.95): Melbourne chef Greg Malouf travels to the land of his ancestors to document traditional recipes and discover new culinary delights in this beautiful book, originally published in 2005 and re-released this year in a more kitchen-friendly paperback edition. Together with former wife and writing partner Lucy, and photographer Matt Harvey, Malouf has put together a comprehensive selection of recipes from Syria and Lebanon, beautifully presented in travelogue form.

The first one on our must-cook list is chiche barak -- dumplings in yoghurt soup with silverbeet -- a hearty taste of old Lebanon for the armchair traveller.

Little Vietnam by Nhut Huynh (Lantern, $49.95): When 19-year-old Vietnamese man Nhut Huynh slipped into a fishing boat with 60 others under cover of darkness 25 years ago, little did he know how completely his life would change. Following his escape from his communist-controlled homeland, Huynh made it to Australia, where he has since established a successful career as a chef, restaurateur and TV personality. Huynh now adds author to the list with this heartfelt book detailing his experiences as a Vietnamese refugee and the good fortune that followed. The uplifting read contains a collection of treasured recipes from Huynh's childhood and is dedicated to his parents, who encouraged him to follow his dream.

Michelle Rowe