Desert Island cookbooks

[Helen]

This is a variation on the theme of 'how many cookbooks do you own?'. My mother and I each have around 40' of bookshelf space dedicated to food, and only have about 30 books in common - so between us we cover quite a spectrum. We were recently asked which 12 books we'd narrow our collections down to if we had to - she's still thinking about it, this is my list as of today (in no particular order, and it could change tomorrow):

Stephanie Alexander - The Cook's Companion

Elizabeth David - French Provincial Cooking

Nigella Lawson - How to Eat (NOT any of the tv spin-offs)

Nigel Slater - Appetite

Madhur Jaffery - Indian Cooking

Fuchsia Dunlop - Sichuan Cookery

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - the River Cottage Cookbook

Claudia Roden - Book of Jewish Food

Sam & Sam Clark - Moro (the original one)

Maggie Beer - Maggie's Harvest

Jane Grigson - English Food

MFK Fisher - The Art of eating (ok I know not strictly a cookbook)

I'd love to hear other's desert island lists?

Helen