Great Gifts For Grads & Starting-Out Cooks

These two how-to recipe books make thoughtful gifts for grads or other young starting-out cooks.

COOK THESE BOOKS | Given the frenetic lifestyle of working parents who spend every spare moment shuttling multiple kids to extra- curricular activities and almost no time sitting down with them for dinner, it’s no wonder young adults have gotten into the habit of grabbing snacks on the fly, relying on prepared meals (even good-quality ones) and watching pros whip up real food on the cooking channel rather than attempting to do it themselves.

In an effort to reverse this state of affairs and encourage twentysomethings to discover the joy of cooking, we recommend the following cookbooks, which make perfect starting-out gifts.

Hot off the press, In the Small Kitchen is written by Cara Eisenpress and Phoebe Lapine, who call themselves “quarter-life cooks.” This twosome, who have a popular website, Big Girls, Small Kitchen, write about cooking and entertaining within the “constraints of the twenty-something life,” which is code for budget restrictions, closet-size kitchens and limited tools and equipment. The recipes are organized by “reasons to cook” that will resonate with the target audience, with chapters devoted to cooking for one, cocktail parties, creative pot-lucking and dating food.

First published in 2008 and a definite go-to for beginners, Jamie’s Food Revolution by British superstar chef Jamie Oliver is the result of demon- strations and cooking classes he organized in Rotherham, England, to encourage the citizenry to ditch convenience foods in favour of cooking simple dishes from scratch. The recipes are designed to appeal to novices, good cooks who like simplicity or “someone who needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into the kitchen,” according to Oliver. Clear instructions and step-by-step pictures make the recipes easy to digest.—Ruth Rainey

In The Small Kitchen ($18.23), published by Harper Colllins, is available in Canada online www.chapters.indigo.ca. Jamie’s Food Revolution, published by Hyperion Books, is available at Chapters Indigo stores in Vancouver ($19, down from $24.99).

SUBSCRIBE or INVITE a friend to receive Frugalbits’ FREE daily email by June 24, 2011, and be automatically entered to win a copy of either In A Small Kitchen or Jamie’s Food Revolution (take your pick), and so will your friend, if they subscribe (the more friends you invite, the more chances to win).

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE; CLICK HERE TO INVITE

Photos top to bottom: In A Small Kitchen, courtesy William Morrow; courtesy Jamie’s Oliver’s Food Revolution