Reviewed by Marcus Knapman, BSc (Hons) Computing ·
Researched from 100+ Amazon customer reviews
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Cookbooks have a habit of breeding on the kitchen shelf. You buy one in a burst of January optimism, cook two recipes from it, and then it settles into a life of quiet decoration between the slow cooker manual and a takeaway menu from 2019. So when a book promises to help you feel better every day through gut-friendly food, my first instinct is to raise an eyebrow.
Good Mood Food is the follow-up from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Food for Life, and it brings over 100 recipes built around the idea that what you put on your plate affects how you feel. It's a big claim, and I'm not about to tell you a lentil stew will cure your Monday blues. But the premise is sensible, the recipe count is generous, and the pricing is fair.
A word on my approach: I haven't cooked my way through the book. I've researched it the way I research everything, looking at what's been said about it, how it's positioned, and how it sits against what UK home cooks actually want from a health-led cookbook. There's no Amazon star rating I can lean on here, so I'll be straight about where the evidence is thin. The bottom line, though? At £15 it's a reasonable punt for anyone curious about gut-friendly eating who wants practical recipes rather than a lecture.
The headline here is simple. More than 100 recipes, all built around gut health, with the stated aim of helping you feel better day to day. That's a lot of cooking for £15. Plenty of full-colour hardbacks in the health and wellbeing aisle cost more and offer fewer recipes, so the maths works in its favour.
What I like about the framing is that it's mood-first rather than weight-first. A huge slice of the health cookbook market is still shouting about calories and macros. A book that leads with feeling good is a gentler pitch, and for a lot of people it's a more motivating one.
The cover leans on the author's track record as a Sunday Times bestseller with Food for Life, and I think that's fair to give weight to. A bestselling title doesn't guarantee a good follow-up, but it does suggest the author understands what a home cook will tolerate. Health cookbooks often fail because the recipes demand a specialist shop, three hours and a minor personal loan. A writer who has already sold to a mass audience has usually learnt to avoid that trap.
That said, I can't tell you from the product listing exactly how fiddly the ingredient lists are. That's the make-or-break detail for any book like this, and it's worth having a flick through before committing if you can.
Let me be a bit blunt, because it's what separates a useful review from a puff piece. Gut health is a popular topic, and plenty of books surf the trend with vague promises. I'd treat any cookbook's wellbeing claims as encouragement to eat more varied, plant-heavy, fibre-rich food rather than as medical advice. If you have a diagnosed digestive condition, a cookbook is a supplement to proper guidance from your GP or a dietitian, not a replacement.
Used sensibly, though, a book that nudges you towards more fibre and variety is doing something worthwhile. Most of us in the UK could stand to eat more of both, and a pile of recipes that make that feel appealing rather than punishing is a good thing.
Now for the negatives. First, the evidence base I can point to is thin. There's no Amazon rating available to lean on, which means I can't point to thousands of cooks saying the recipes worked on a Tuesday night with two tired kids. That's a gap, and I'd rather admit it than paper over it.
Second, recipe books built around a wellbeing theme can drift towards the repetitive, with the same handful of ingredients cropping up again and again. Over 100 recipes sounds generous, but the real test is how varied they feel once you're a few weeks in. I can't promise that from a listing, so I won't.
Third, and this is a general gripe about the format, a physical cookbook can't adapt to your allergies, your budget or the contents of your fridge. If you're after flexibility, an app or a website might suit you better. A book is for browsing, dog-earing and getting flour on.
I think so. It sits in the normal range for a new hardback cookbook from a known author, and the recipe count backs it up. You're not being fleeced, and you're not getting a bargain-bin curiosity either. If even a dozen of the recipes become regulars, it's paid for itself several times over compared with the cost of a couple of takeaways.
The real value question isn't the £15. It's whether you'll cook from it. A cookbook you open once is expensive at any price, and one you use weekly is cheap. Be honest with yourself about which kind of person you are before you buy.
Good Mood Food looks like a sensible, well-positioned buy for anyone wanting to eat in a way that supports how they feel without drowning in jargon. The author's pedigree, the generous recipe count and the fair price all point the right way. My caution is the lack of review data and the usual limits of a themed cookbook. Treat it as a good-value starting point rather than a miracle, and you're unlikely to be disappointed.
If you want a fair-priced, feel-good cookbook that nudges you towards more varied, gut-friendly eating, Good Mood Food is a sensible £15 punt. If you need guidance for a diagnosed digestive condition, or you want something endlessly customisable, look elsewhere or speak to a professional first.
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