The Settler's Cookbook, By Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Passionate, generous and articulate, Alibhai-Brown has one of the most distinctive voices in British journalism. This engaging book has these qualities in brimming quantity. Categorised as "Memoir/Food & Drink", it begins with mini-biographies of the author's cooking utensils – the colander made by Abdullah, the Indian wok made by "Mr Harry Belafonte the Third".

Alibhai-Brown intersperses the unvarnished story of her life with 100 recipes. Mombasa "which smelled of the best things in life – food, flowers and salty sensuality" is evoked by a recipe for halva. Ejection from Amin's Uganda brings back memories of "supper in paradise".