“The original Australian Women’s Weekly kid’s birthday cake cookbook (with the train on the front) from the 70s – I spent all year planning which cake my mum would make for my birthday (as did my brothers and sisters) and now my kids do the same! It’s amazing how it’s transcended generations.” Kerrie McCallum, editor-in-chief

It’s an unfair question – like choosing your favourite child! At the moment, it is Cook Better. It’s more about practical cooking techniques and notes, and explains recipes from the perspective of how to cook better instead of trying to memorise a recipe. I think it’s the way people should learn how to cook.” – Warren Mendes, food editor

“Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse cookbook circa 1975. This was pure childhood joy, delicious looking food and Disney characters all in the one place. Winner! I don’t think I ever cooked from it, but it was the first cookbook that I pored over for hours and didn’t get bored – it could even have started my love affair with food.” Heidi Finnane, chief subeditor and features writer

“When I cook for people, I load the table with generous share plates of slow-roasted meat, seasonal salads with crunch, roasted veg and dishes of yoghurt and harissa to dress it all. Plenty is the ultimate inspiration for main-meal salads, and Ottolenghi wins the prize for best recipe name ever for Tomato Party.” – Shannon Harley, managing editor

“I loved the Possum Magic cookbook. It wasn’t about the recipes necessarily, but it was the first cookbook to capture my attention as a child. I’d flip through, find some native critter messing about with pancake mix, and ask my parents to show me how to do the same. The recipes are mostly very Australiana, think pavlova (sorry, New Zealand), lamingtons, pumpkin scones and Anzac biscuits. It taught me nothing about nutrition but everything about stirring, braving up to get in the kitchen, setting oven temperatures and that making food from scratch was the way forward.” – Kate Gibbs, digital editor

“Fire and Spice by Christine Manfield taught me to spice up my cooking. #spicerespect.” – Samantha Coutts, food assistant

“Claudia Roden’s Book of Middle Eastern Food. My paperback copy has so many ear marked pages I can never actually find the recipe I’m looking for. Growing up a vegetarian, this book inspired me to use vegetables in so many different ways and her recipe for dolmades never fails to feature on my Christmas menu.” – Phoebe Wood, senior food editior

“Mine is Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi. The food is seriously cracking. The way it’s styled makes the book all about the food, and the travel photography is brilliantly graphic!” – Kirsten Jenkins, style editor

“My favourite cookbook (besides Larousse Gastronomique which I read all through my teens) has to be the Domestic Goddess’ How to Eat. I remember the day my mother came home with it, a friend from London had given it to her, she was relatively unknown here in Australia at the time but I don’t think the book has left my side ever since.” – John Hannan, digital producer

“Everyone has pipped me at the post with Ottolenghi and the Women’s Weekly classics, so I’m going to go with my current obsession – Simplicious by Sarah Wilson. I can’t cook to a recipe, so like books that are more of a user guide. This book is full of genius hacks for saving money, reducing waste and just being a more conscious consumer. I just have to deal with odd looks from my housemates when I stick washed zip lock bags to the window…” – Sharnee Rawson, online news editor

“I love cookbooks either with a more professional bent or ones that are in detail with practical advice and history. Recently one that I picked up which is pretty fantastic is called Chinese Gastronomy by Hsiangju Lin and Tsuifeng Lin. It was published in the late ’60s, when Chinese food in the West was honey prawns and chop suey. The copy I have has no images, and starts with a breakdown of Chinese gastronomy and its history through different regions, and approaches to flavour and texture. And like any really good cookbook, it puts dishes in context and explains why things are done the way they are, building up from the most basic approaches. It’s the only book I’ve seen that explains how to cook rice properly – which I think is actually a really overlooked skill – and it shamelessly uses MSG as a seasoning in sauces.” – David Matthews, senior subeditor