Sometimes cookbooks get too complicated, but good food doesn't have to be relentlessly contemporary.
There's nothing particularly new about the recipes - versions of most will be found in many other cookbooks and they range from marinated black olives through Provencal soupe au pistou, chicken tagine with apricots, to pizza and semolina citrus cake.
However, if you don't have a good set of Mediterranean recipes, this modest little book with its mouthwatering illustrations and appetising recipes by several writers is a good place to start.
Jane Hingston has assembled an alphabet of Kiwi food, personalities and other things, from Alison Holst and Aunt Daisy, through Belgian biscuits, Bluff oysters, colonial goose and Sunday roasts to yoyos and zoi biscuits - no, I hadn't heard of zoi biscuits either.
They are a fairly plain biscuit with an almond on top and include golden syrup, ground rice, and ginger. A good little souvenir or wistful browse along with a few recipes.
Kiwi Toasties (Bateman, pbk, $18), a little book the size and shape of the snack it enthuses about, will inspire you to drag out the old toastie press.
Astral Sligo ranges from the regular cheese and ham, through chicken, vege and fish and chip toasties, to the dubious Jaffa and chocolate fish versions.
