102 Time November 4, 2019
those different places for publishers and for poten-
tial cookbook readers to discover new talent,” says
Doris Cooper, editor in chief and SVP at Clarkson
Potter, the Penguin Random House imprint publish-
ing Mansfield’s book. For foodfluencers, writing a
cookbook, like plugging a grocery chain, is one more
way to monetize audiences. YouTube’s beauty gurus
are creating makeup lines, fashion bloggers are sell-
ing clothing, and fitness celebs are offering exercise
plans and health supplements.
While some may scoff at the idea of buying a
cookbook from a self-taught home cook, Mansfield
says her casual approach has only strengthened her
brand. “I think that that’s what has really attracted
people to my blog and Instagram because they
know it’s not these heavily curated, crazy recipes,”
she says. That sentiment echoes other successful
food celebrities, like Ina Garten, who also says she
doesn’t consider herself a professional chef despite
a Food Network show and nearly a dozen cook-
books. Henry Notaker, a literary historian and au-
thor of A History of Cookbooks: From Kitchen to Page
Over Seven Centuries, says people like Mansfield sit
at the intersection of celebrity, trust and familiarity
where cookbook success long has resided.
The same technology that has turned people
like Mansfield into minor celebrities able to land
book deals also makes it possible for anyone to
access almost any recipe for free, whenever and
wherever they are. Why, then, are people paying $25
or more for cookbooks from their favorite online
personalities? For Mansfield, the question is yet
another opportunity. “I think it is a lot about people
just wanting to support the brand that they have
watched grow.” □Rachel mansfield is geTTing Ready
to make mouthwatering mac and cheese.
She’s known for the paleo, vegan and
gluten- free recipes she shares on Ins-
tagram and on her blog, but this time
she’s preparing a traditional version of
the hearty classic. During our phone
call, she’s picking up cheddar cheese at
Whole Foods, which pays her to pro-
mote the grocery chain, and she pauses
every few minutes to exuberantly say
hello to fellow shoppers.
Mansfield, 29, has no for-
mal culinary training. But to the
325,000 Instagram users following her at
@rachlmansfield, she’s both a celebrity chef and a
trusted online friend. She built a following by cook-
ing up healthy, simple versions of baked goods, like
chocolate- chip funfetti cookies (made with oat and
almond flour, as well as maple syrup for sweetness),
paleo beef tacos (using a grain-free shell) and crispy
cauliflower bites (baked and served with dairy-free
ranch). To connect with fans, she shares “authentic”
moments, like the challenges she faced while nurs-
ing her son Ezra, who was born in January after a
struggle with fertility. For her next dish, Mansfield
will join the growing number of “food fluencers”
who are taking their brands from the digital world
into print, with a cookbook, Just the Good Stuff, out
in February.
“I felt like I worked so hard to grow my own
brand in a digital space, and that really carried over,”
says Mansfield. Her book will sit beside releases
from other food fluencers, like Danielle Walker’s
Against All Grain, Gaby Dalkin’s What’s Gaby Cook-
ing and Chungah Rhee’s Damn Delicious. Along
with books from stalwarts like Martha Stewart and
Bobby Flay, the Instagram crowd seems to be having
an impact: cookbook sales were up 21% from 2017
to 2018, according to NPD Group, a research firm.
Overall book sales rose only around 2% in the same
period. “With more people cooking meals at home,
there is renewed interest in cookbooks of all kinds,
especially those that help cooks save time and eat
well,” NPD said in a 2018 report.
The blog-To-cookbook phenomenon kicked
off with Ree Drummond’s Pioneer Woman blog,
leading to a book and a Food Network series. Insta-
gram has since led to a proliferation of food celebri-
ties, whose huge prebuilt audiences are attractive to
publishers. “That is a dramatic shift, to have all of
Instagram cooks
hit the books
By Rachel E. Greenspan
TimeOff Food
DAMN DELICIOUS
Chungah Rhee keeps
things quick for home
cooks with little timeWHAT’S GABY
COOKING
Gaby Dalkin puts
the focus on fresh
ingredientsAGAINST ALL GRAIN
Danielle Walker
offers gluten-free and
grain-free recipes