About 10 years ago I had many friends & family members who married. They all had various cooking/eating styles so I opted to buy several copies of two volumes to give to all the newlyweds:
1.) Julia Child's "The Way to Cook" and
2.) Naomi Judd's "Naomi's Home Companion"
I chose this pair of books because although most of my newlywed-buds came from down-home backgrounds- so they could appreciate Naomi's counntry classics... they also were fairly adventurous cooks who I thought could really benefit from Julia's renditions of some classics- and the clear, concise, extensive education her book could provide.