My Christmas book haul! . Starting at the bottom: The Secret Life of Chocolate. This is an astounding book. 700 pages of chocolate history, pharmacology, symbology…years of research. It includes ancient concoctions, which I hope to be able to bring to life. It is the most expensive book I’ve ever bought and I’m totally in love! Thank you @nocturnalherbalist for sharing your knowledge. . A History of English Food #clarissadicksonwright. Italy is my soul’s home, but the UK is my birth home. I want to know more about its food history. . @lambposts Steven Lamb’s River Cottage series book on Curing and Smoking. The bacon I cured a month ago used Steven’s process. I love his clarity and simplicity and wanted more. Expect creations to follow! . And a book in Italian: Il Contadino 2.0, that tells the story of Flavio, the creator of @lavalledelsasso, the local farm where we source all our meat. His journey is an inspiration and I can feel the enthusiasm in the words bouncing off the page (even with a dictionary always in tow when reading!) . Stupidly, perhaps, I am reading all four books at once! I couldn’t not. Swipe to see where I’m at with each of them.