One of the best thing about summer holidays is not just the jetting off to exotic locales, but also finding the time to really get stuck into a good book; whether that is on a long-haul flight or just lying on the beach. This summer, Asia Tatler Dining gives you our top picks on our favourite books about food, ranging from bestsellers from celebrity chefs, to thought-provoking books on how to appreciate food that is sustainable and environmentally-friendly. So sit back, relax and happy reading!

In Search of Total Perfection by Heston Blumenthal

Heston Blumenthal, the man behind Fat Duck restaurant in Bray and the new Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental in London is known for many things: the man who brought bacon ice cream to the masses, the perennial runner-up to Ferran Adrià, or even the man whose restaurant poisoned over 500 people in an oyster debacle back in 2009. But it is only by reading In Search of Total Perfection does one start to appreciate just how curious this self-taught chef is. The book is separated into sixteen dishes and Blumenthal starts with the key ingredient in each dish, travelling the world to find the best produce, including to Beijing for the perfect Peking duck and Bresse for the perfect roast chicken. At the end of each chapter, Blumenthal highlights his findings and then gives his recipe for the dish. Are the recipes easy to follow? No. But is the book worth reading just to gain insight into this mad scientist chef? Absolutely.

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

Chocolate is often said to be an aphrodisiac and nowhere is this more apparent than in Mexican novelist Laura Esquivel's first novel, Like Water for Chocolate, which was then made into a film in 1992. Set during the Mexican Revolution, the novel tells the story of the star-crossed lovers Pedro and Tita. When Pedro is forced to marry Tita's older sister, our heroine throws herself into her second love: that of cooking, the reason why each of the book's chapter starts with a Mexican recipe. Using magical realism, Esquivel conjures a world where everything is done with heart, from loving to cooking, making Like Water for Chocolate our pick for a classic escapist romp this summer.

A Day at El Bulli: An Insight into the Ideas, Methods and Creativty of Ferran Adrià by Ferran Adrià, Juli Soler and Albert Adrià

When El Bulli restaurant shut its doors for the last time last week, one of the greatest and most famous restaurants in the world will be gone forever. Although it will reopen as a creativity centre in 2014, there will never be another place or experience quite like El Bulli again. So for those who never made it there, this coffee table tome is the next best thing.

Over 600 pages long, it is an encyclopedia of everything El Bulli, including full menus, floor plans and diagrams of how dishes are plated. Everything from when the restaurant opens at 6.15am to when it closes at 2am is documented meticulously. Those with the ambition – and kitchen equipment – can even attempt to follow the recipes of some of El Bulli's signature dishes such as the steamed brioche with rose-scented mozzarella. The rest of us can just sit back and admire the frenetic activities of one of the greatest modern chefs.

Read about Adrià's visit to Hong Kong here.

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

Jonathan Safran Foer is one of the the New York literary scene's young turks, known for his wonderful debut novel Everything is Illuminated and Eating Animals is his first work of non-fiction. A on and off vegetarian since the age of 10, when his first child was born, the novelist has long had an ambivalent attitude towards eating but the arrival of his first child forced him to pin down his convictions in order make a decision on the child's behalf. The book is a result of his soul searching and addresses issues such as factory farming, commercial fishing and the difference between animal rights and animal welfare, interweaving the more factual information with personal stories of his grandmother foraging for food during the Holocaust and the philosophical theories of other influential thinkers such as Jacques Derrida.

Insatiable: Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess by Gael Greene

Long before everyone became a food critic by taking pictures with their iPhone and posting their reviews on blogs, even before there was such a profession as food critic, there was Gael Greene. She became New York Magazine’s food critic in 1968 and served as the magazine’s “Insatiable Critic” for forty years. This memoir documents not only the formation of the New York food scene, but also personal tidbits and anecdotes about her love affairs, including an encounter with Elvis Presley himself. Never taking herself too seriously yet obviously passionate about her food and career, this is a memoir that is not to be missed by anyone who has ever thought about food writing as a career.