Another Christmas - another cookery book. And why not? Can anyone one have too many cookery books? Some excellent ones have been published this year, several with the emphasis on British and regional food and many extolling the virtues of local ingredients.

No movement could do more to promote fresh local produce than the Slow Food Movement - the antithesis to fast food, upolding all that is right and good about food produced or grown in a time-honoured, unhurried fashion with care and pride. The most important ingredient to the Slow Food Movement is time. Time for the crops to grow naturally, time for the livestock to fatten and mature, and time for the cook who is encouraged to add that extra ingredient love to the cooking process.

A collection of recipe favourites with new interpretations of classic dishes come together in Valentina Harris's Slow - A fast track to relaxed eating, (Cassell Illustrated, £16.99) which celebrates the Slow Food Movement and the unashamed enjoyment of cooking with a sense of real pleasure, having good seasonal ingredients sourced locally when possible. This superb publication would suit any cook who enjoys creating food and presenting it as a gift of love.

Ideal for people with a slow cooker that allows casseroles, stews and soups time to cook gently so that the flavours can gradually develop and mature, is Slow Cooker by Sara Lewis (Hamlyn Paperback, £5.99). With more than 70 illustated recipes, including delicious vegetable ones such as gingered chickpeas, spiced red cabbage and cauliflower balti, this book really does inspire the cook to make the most of their slow cooker.

British Regional Food - In search of the best British food today by Mark Hix (Quadrille £25) celebrates all that is good. Whitstable oysters, Melton Mowbray pork pies, Stilton cheese and Jersey Royal potatoes are just some of the regional specilities that have helped keep Britain on the culinary map. Mark Hix, who is a celebrated British chef and award-winning food writer with a burning passion for all things regional, has devoted considerable time and travelled many miles to put this book together. His journey through the kitchens of the British Isles was zealously undertaken as he searched for artisan producers, traditional recipes and British food customs past and present.

There's nothing more traditional than cooking on the bone, which is why Jennifer McLagan's Cooking on the Bone (Grub Street Press, £20), is such a delightful book and a must for all those who enjoy dishes such as roasted marrow bones, rabbit casserole, grilled quail, rack of lamb, T-bone steaks, spare ribs and duck legs cooked until the flesh falls off the bone. Because supermarket packs are mainly made up of fillets and breasts, those using this book will need to find themselves a good local butcher who can provide them with the cuts to make this book work for them. Once you have found a good source, all you need do is open the book, turn your oven on and enjoy the delights of cooking traditional joints again.

Pies are a great British dish, too. Sophie Conran's Pies (Collins, £12.99) includes recipes made with puff pastry, filo pastry, shortcrust pastry and crumble topping. Her recipes include some mouth-watering combinations which are far easier to make than one would imagine. Her hope is that by celebrating the pie, she will encourage us all to begin making them again.

The antipdean food writer Annabel Langbein draws on a global palette of flavours for the dishes in her book Assemble - Sensational Food Made Simple (Grub Street Press, £16.99), but the emphasis throughout the book is ingredients. Annabel insists on using the freshest ingredients married with quality convenience foods. She aims for the meal preparation to become more a matter of assembly then lengthy preparation. She is not adverse to suggesting that we buy in a simple sponge and use it as a springboard for a double-layer cake filled with strawberries and cream, provided we have used fresh local strawberries and the finest cream. For those who love cooking curries, Dorling Kindersley has brought together nine chefs, food writers and restaurateurs in Curry (£16.99), an outstanding collection of recipes that features fragrant dishes from India, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Great location photographs and spreads of pictures showing the produce of each country help capture the essence of the regions from which the dishes are a speciality.

Healthy First Foods for Your Baby, by Caitilin Finch (Grub Street, £8.99) would make a very useful Christmas gift for the new mum. It's a fun, easy-to-follow book providing recipes which will take the reader from that all-important first taste at four to six months to lumpy foods suitable for the baby at six to 12 months, and then finger foods for when they are able to handle food themselves.

Something for the Weekend - With Eight Around the Table by Ruth Watson (Quadrille £25) is a jolly useful book, as it saves you trying to scale up recipes written for four to six people and highlights dishes that really work when you are cooking for a large group. It's an upbeat, uncomplicated collection of recipes that can be prepared in advance or cooked to a stage where they need minimum last-minute attention.

And for that all important festive party, try Party Food Made Easy by Abigale Brown, Thomas Garcia, Michele Gomes and Melissa Webb (New Holland, £14.99). This book is full of easy-to-prepare party foods.