through awellwrittenbookisa
way to sparkcreativitywithoutthe
distractionofflashingscreensand
attention-grabbingalerts.AsCowan
notes, booksgiveyoutimeand
space awayfromthepressureand
immediacyofcomputerscreens.THE CASEAGAINST:
The easeofdigitaldinners
Sadly, wedon’talwayshavethetime
to sit idyllicallyina windowseat
leafing throughcookbooks.Digital
recipe collectionsfilla needfor
immediacyandaccessibility.And
it’s helpfultobeabletosortout
dinner fromyourdesk,especially
when youdon’tfeellikeworking,
so you canpickuptheingredients
on the wayhomeororderonline.
Even ardentcookbooklovers,
like the foundersofEatYourBooks
website,recognisethatbeingable
to searchonlinemakesfinding
recipes somucheasier– whichis
why theycreatedanonlineindexof
cookery books,enablingmembers
to searchfortheirfavouriterecipes
quickly andfromanywhere,rather
than leafingthroughtheirbook
collectionpage-by-page.A PLATFORMFOR
NEW VOICES
The internethasalsoprovideda
platformforvoicesthatwemight
never havediscoveredotherwise,
includingsomeoftheauthorson
the bestsellerlists(seebelow),
such as JoeWicksandPinchofNom- the latter’sdebutbookclimbed→
5
JAMIE’S ITALY
by Jamie Oliver
(2005; Michael
Joseph)
6
JAMIE’S MINISTRY
OF FOOD:Anyone
Can Learn to Cook
in 24 Hours by
Jamie Oliver (2008;
Michael Joseph)7
THE HAIRY
DIETERS: How to
Love Food & Lose
Weight by Dave
Myers and Si King
(2012; Weidenfeld
& Nicolson)8
NIGELLA EXPRESS
by Nigella
Lawson (20 07;
Chatto & Windus)9
PINCH OFNOM:
100 Slimming,
Home-style
Recipes byKate
Allinsonand
Kay Featherstone
(2019;Bluebird)10
JAMIEAT
HOME:Cook
YourWaytothe
GoodLifeby
JamieOliver(20 07;
MichaelJoseph)846,617 832,043 831,140 787,331 776,165 750,657
Do people still buy
cookbooks? Everything
is online... You should
do an e-book.deliciousmagazine.co.uk 51
food for thought.