Nigella Lawson is often seen as a purveyor of food porn, a view that I suspect she quite likes and plays up to, no other author can describe eating a pork chop and make it sound XXX rated.
Allegra would seems to be a whole other kettle of fish - but under closer examination, they have very similar kettles and identical fish... Albeit in a more 1950's style "Health & Efficiency", than 90's Hustler.
Leon: Ingredients & Recipes, is what I call a bed book (something to thumb through on a lazy Sunday mornings alongside the newspapers), split into two sections, as the subtitle indicates, Ingredients and Recipes. At first glance of the cover you could be excused to think that this is a vintage title under re-print, then the style inside carries this forward a little but with a truly "noughties" typographical twist. It's a little like a scrap book: complete with stickers and pull out sheets - albeit it a very stylish one. This book is modern and retro at the same time, but a kind of retro that mixes multiple decades - it should be an appalling mish-mash, but it isn't. IT IS FAB!
Content wise there are no big surprises, the descriptions of ingedients are well thought out and presented in a nice, informal way, with hints on what to look for when buying and how they are best suited and matched. The recipes, in the same style, have a handwritten, family cookbook overtone.
It isn't so much that Leon makes you hungry as you read, as it makes you appreciate what can be done with food in fresh, simple ways - I found it to be more of an inspiration in the sense of "mmmm... Black Eyed Beans, I wonder if...?" than the type of book that you sit on your kitchen island whilst following a recipe (for that type of book, Delia is the Queen, hands down, no contest).
So... if you want a great foodie read, look no further, go and buy Leon: food porn with little cut out stars stuck over the more explicit bits.
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