I already have too many cookbooks, so why do I feel compelled to collect more? Unfortunately I am not going to be able to resolve my dilemma in the limited space I have here but I will say that when I am looking through a new cookbook and find myself marking every second page I know that I need to find a space for it on my shelves.

Urban Cook is one such book – a stellar collection of recipes but also a treatise on cooking and eating for a sustainable future. Rather than structuring his recipes by course, Red Lantern chef Mark Jensen has chosen to divide them into simple chapters. The first chapter on vegetables contains over forty recipes with inventive combinations like carrot, orange and blackcurrant salad and sweet and sour capsicum with pineapple and basil. The variety of cultural influences reflects a truly contemporary approach to cooking.