Food You Want to Eat

by Thomas Straker

Chef Thomas Straker shares the Food You Want to Eat in over 100 classic recipes for cooking at home. Uncomplicated, seasonal and delicious, each recipe has the perfect balance of flavours.

With cook-on-repeat recipes
- 'Nduja and mozzarella flatbread
- Burnt chilli butter
- Sweetcorn, tuna and fennel salad
- Spiced tomato tagliolini
- Roast chicken and butter beans
- Sea bass with lentils and salsa verde
- Classic tarte tatin
- Chocolate mousse

Thomas cooks with the same stylish simplicity whether at home, online or in the kitchen of his acclaimed London restaurant, STRAKER'S. By breaking down the barriers between chef and home-cook, he shows how quality ingredients and simple techniques lead to amazing results in any kitchen.

'I want to eat everything in this book' – Angela Hartnett

'An absolute natural with a pitch perfect palate. He has the gift of intuitively and effortlessly knowing how to throw ingredients together and make magic on a plate' – Phil Howard

'He knows his way around the kitchen like no one else – every page is a knockout. His recipes are the real deal' – Laurent Dagenais

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food

288 pages, Hardcover

Published August 12, 2025

Reviews

[emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

'People say we don’t have time to spend on cooking involved recipes, because we live in such a fast-paced consumerist world, but I’m unconvinced by that argument; we seem to be able to make time for all kinds of other stuff, after all. Making dinner used to be one of the main things that happened in a culture.'

Surprisingly wonderful - comfort food, etc.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautifully photographed cookbook with many classic recipes and also unusual recipes. The author, who is a famous chef, describes quite well how to make each recipe, which is a bonus. I have bookmarked several recipes that I plan to make in the near future. Many of these recipes require a bit of time to prepare, so it is not really an everyday cookbook, but one that you would use on weekends or special occasions. I also noticed that the author really loves his olive oil and uses large amounts in many of his recipes. While I would only use 2 tablespoons of olive oil in his recipe, he uses 7. So, if you are watching your fat intake or cholesterol levels, be aware of this. Also, good quality olive oil is very, very expensive as well.

Thank you to Goodreads for choosing my name in a recent draw. This book will remain a staple on my cookbook shelf for many years to come!

[Jordan Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of his content online and had made recipes from his videos. I've made several recipes from the book now as well, they have all been delicious. His motto is to take your time with cooking, use quality, in season, local ingredients. I love that and love the recipes provided in this book. Try it out! I saw in another review mentioning that Thomas loves his olive oil, couldn't be more true so use to your own liking when cooking.

[Jelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not necessarily innovative, but simply delicious food. The title says it all.