Geraldine Johns asks six of our top chefs what their favourite cookbooks are — the ones that really inspire them — and why.
Simon Wright, executive chef and co-owner of The French Cafe. Photo / Richard RobinsonSimon Wright, executive chef and co-owner of The French Cafe. Photo / Richard Robinson

Any frequent visitor to restaurants or cafes can attest that the talent of a chef does not lie in their ability to spell. Or punctuate. Menu-writing sins are themselves worthy of a book.
It doesn't really make a lot of sense when you consider that chefs - good ones at least - love nothing more than devouring a good cookbook. Their collections don't just provide information and inspiration; they catalogue their life's journey.
SIMON WRIGHT
Executive chef and co-owner of The French Cafe
One of the city's finest dining establishments, The French Cafe restaurant regularly takes home the big gongs when the major culinary prizes are dished out. A few years ago, Wright - who was born and raised in England - penned his own coffee table cookbook. He gave it the same title as his restaurant, which he co-owns with his wife, Creghan Molloy Wright.
"I collect cookbooks - I've probably got a couple of thousand - so it's hard to choose just three. I treasure them all. Every time I read one, I always find something I missed. I never really copy anything out, I think to myself 'oh, that looks good' and I might then go off on a tangent and do my own recipe".

CELIA HARVEY
Food writer, and chef at Greys Avenue Deli
When Celia Harvey lived and worked in London, she spent four years at, among other places, The River Cafe. There she earned tremendous (and deserved) high praise. We are lucky to have reclaimed her as one of ours, she has a gift for making all her food work beautifully with seemingly little effort. Harvey is the chef at Greys Avenue, recognised as the first Kosher deli in New Zealand.
"As a child - I would have been 9 or 10 - I remember reading Mum's cookbooks, especially one by [food writer and Britain's first television chef] Marguerite Patten, which I looked at a lot. Mum and Dad were going through a time of being vegetarians and I wanted to cook meat - a crown rib roast with little paper chef's hats.
"Then I got into cooking at intermediate school. I'd make bread for our sandwiches and chocolate cake for our lunch boxes. Mum bought me the Junior Cookbook series by Mary Pat Fergus. I still remember some of the recipes: lemon delicious pudding, chocolate self-saucing pudding.
"The books were spiral-bound, with step-by-step illustrations and kept in the bottom of the kitchen drawer, where Mum still keeps her cookbooks today.

SIMON GAULT
Executive chef and part owner of the Nourish Group
Everyone knows who Simon Gault is by now. Three seasons as a judge on MasterChef does that to you. But Gault had a culinary life long before the telly came calling. Long, long ago he had his own restaurant in his own name. Then came Euro. Gault is now executive chef and part-owner of the Nourish Group - a restaurant empire (including Euro) spanning the North Island. But Gault's stellar culinary career has not been entirely land-based. He's also enjoyed a few high seas adventures, as chef on a super-yacht to an ocean-going multimillionaire. And he likes to take to the skies too, he's a glider pilot instructor and pilot of vintage military aircraft.
"The Edmonds Cookery Book would definitely be my first pick. When I went to work on a super-yacht, I couldn't carry a lot of books. But that one is a good one. It has all the basics.
"The Edmonds is not a total chef's cookbook - but sometimes it's not about fancy food - it's about the simple things that you know will work, and if you want to fancy it up, you can. This is the cookbook that's my little secret weapon that I keep in the cupboard.
"I've also got a book called Food Lover's Companion [written by Sharon Tyler Herbst and Ron Herbst]. It offers comprehensive definitions of nearly 6000 food, drink and culinary terms. That sounds highly boring - but it is a fantastic tool. I can flick to any page in that book and it will tell you everything you need to know about anything you want; every trick there is.
"I know it sounds crazy, but it's a well-thumbed book - especially when I'm writing recipes.
Read their full comments plus those of three other top chefs at the NZH online.