The best new cookbooks and gastronomy books to give as gifts for Sant Jordi - Grand Goldman 2026

Tomorrow, April 23rd, the International Book Day is celebrated worldwide, an event promoted by UNESCO since 1996 to commemorate the day Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare died.

The date also coincides with Saint George's Day, a holiday in Aragon and Castile and León, and a very special day in Catalonia (even though this year it's a workday). It is in this community where, since the 1930s, it has been customary for couples to exchange books and roses: a tradition that makes this day one of the most important of the year for the cash registers of bookstores and publishers.

Although gastronomy books have a strong seasonality, and most are published during the Christmas season, so far this year a series of new releases worth highlighting have been published, making them a great gift for all food lovers.

Mother Cuisine, by Joan Roca

After publishing two relatively technical cookbooks, Joan Roca has now decided to pay homage to his mother, Montserrat Fontané, who opened a eatery located in a working-class neighborhood on the outskirts of Girona, Can Roca, the seed of what would later be considered the best restaurant in the world.

In Mother Cuisine, Roca compiles 80 recipes that represent the entire essence of

The book contains three types of recipes: the classics, those from our mothers; others as adaptations to the current style of cooking, with reduced fats, for example; and others as an evolution of traditional cuisine but updated to suit today's tastes.

It can be purchased for 21.75 euros on Amazon.

With a Couple of Eggs, by Joan Antoni Miró

Joan Antoni Miró, chef of the renowned omelet bar Les Truites in Barcelona, compiles in With a Couple of Eggs 180 recipes centered around one of the most versatile preparations in cooking: the omelet.

This recipe book brings together a large part of the recipes that, over forty years, Joan Antoni Miró has prepared daily in his omelet bar, now available to everyone.

We're talking about a very varied selection, from the most classic to the most creative: with calçots and romesco sauce, with croissant and Iberian ham, or with caviar and crab. There are also surprising sweet omelets, like cherry, chocolate with bitter orange, banana with cinnamon, or turrón.

It can be bought on Amazon for 18.95 euros.

Recipes from the Female Cooks of Asturias

This self-published book by the Club of Female Cooks of Asturias compiles the best recipes from

The image repeats itself practically all over the world; anonymous women who have spent their entire lives feeding their families or diners at eateries, cooking intuitively, almost from the soul, repeating those steps they learned almost without realizing it. But in Asturias, in 1997, a group of these women decided to vindicate their work by organizing themselves as a collective to keep the tradition of their stoves alive, and thus the Club of Female Cooks was born.

This book compiles 160 traditional preparations made by each of the 40 active female cooks. In addition to the well-known , these women want to highlight other equally typical dishes that have even held more value in Asturian homes, such as pote, tripe, squid in ink, or rice with . Recipes that manage to connect with homey nostalgia and the diner's memories, no matter which region they come from.

It can be bought on Amazon for 17.10 euros.

Mugaritz. Vanishing Points, by Andoni Luis Aduriz

From traditional cuisine, we move on to avant-garde gastronomy, led by one of our most innovative chefs: Andoni Luis Aduriz,

The Basque chef has just celebrated 20 years at the helm of Mugaritz and in this volume, he puts his story down in black and white. Although it also contains recipes, the volume is more of a declaration of intent, where Aduriz explains the reasons behind a cuisine that is as praised as it is criticized.

More than a cookbook, it is an intimate and daring account of how Mugaritz experiences gastronomy, making creativity the best ingredient to inspire, surprise, and provoke diners from around the world.

It can be bought on Amazon for 46.45 euros.

Tribute to the Marquesa de Parabere

María Mestayer de Echagüe, better known in the gastronomic world by the pseudonym she used to sign her articles, Marquesa de Parabere, was a pioneer of the restaurant industry in Spain.

Daughter of the French consul in Bilbao, she opened two of the most successful restaurants in post-war Madrid, but they could not survive such a time of hardship. However, despite the vicissitudes of the war, Mestayer compiled some of her recipes in two seminal books of Spanish gastronomy such as The Complete Kitchen and Confectionery and Pastry, which were meant to form her ambitious Culinary Encyclopedia, which unfortunately never saw the light of day as she had planned.

This volume published by Planeta Gastro compiles some of the most iconic recipes from the Marquesa de Parabere, updating her instructions for modern times, and offers versions of these prepared by some of the most prominent chefs on the current gastronomic scene, of the caliber of Joan Roca, Ángel León, Andoni Luis Aduriz, or Elena Arzak.

It can be bought on Amazon for 28.45 euros.

Eating Insects, by Isaac Petràs

Isaac Petrás, who opened in 2003, , the first insect shop in Europe, has decided to put his experience down in black and white in the book Eating Insects (Planeta Gastro) in which, besides convincing the curious about the culinary benefits of insects, he proposes a good handful of recipes in which to incorporate them.

The book proposes a good handful of recipes to integrate insects into our daily menus without too much fuss, but it also gives a good account of how Petràs traveled halfway around the world in search of the tastiest insects. After all, it's a food present in 80% of the planet, even though it still seems like the most extravagant food to us.

To produce one kilo of beef, 8 kilograms of feed and 22,000 liters of water are needed; on the contrary, to obtain one kilo of insects, only 2 kilograms of feed and less water are needed. Given these advantages, Petràs is clear that the insect market will be on the rise.

It can be bought on Amazon for 23.70 euros.