Delicious UK - (04)April 2020

KARENBARNES,EDITOR

TheCakeBiblebyRoseLevy

Beranbaum(WilliamMorrow)

AnAmericanclassic.Everycake

youcanimagineis included,but

whatI admireaboutthistome

• andit is a tome– is thescience
  underlyingeverypage,aswell
  asthescholarly,thorough
  approachtotesting,howtosize
  upcakesandmore.Youlearn
  somethingoneverypage.When
  MsBeranbaumdidtheBritish
  edition,I believeshecameto
  liveinLondonfora whilesoshe
  couldtesteveryrecipeagain
  with British ingredients.

SUSANLOW,DEPUTYEDITOR

Moro:TheCookbook

bySamandSamClark

(EburyPress£20)

I couldn’tstopcookingfromthis

bookwhenit wasfirstpublished

backin2001,andI stillturnto

it regularlytoday.Theauthors,

a husband-and-wifeteam

(confusinglybothchefscalled

Sam),writesobeautifully

aboutthefoodtheydiscovered

ontheirtravelsthrough

southernSpainandtheMuslim

Mediterraneanandthatthey

cook at their influential London

thechartstonumberonein2019,

becomingthefastest-selling

non-fictiontitlesincerecords

began.CaroleTonkinson,the

founderofBluebird,which

publishedthebookPinchofNom,

believesitssuccesscomesdown

toauthorsKateAllinsonandKay

Featherstonelisteningcarefully

totheircommunity when creating

theirrecipes.

Theseauthorshaddedicated

audiencesonline– thePinchofNom

websitehada million-plus– before

theywentontocreatephysical

books.Andthemovemakessense:

muchlikefindinga foodcritic

whosetastealignswithyours,once

readershavefoundanauthorwho

speakstothem,thereisa desire

tobringthemintotheir home and

‘cook’withthem.

I RESTMY(BOOK)CASE

WhenI gotosomeone’shome,

I lovebrowsingthroughtheirbook

collection,runningmyfingersalong

thespines and taking in the titles, to

seewhichauthorsthey’vebrought

intotheirhome.VickyBennison,

creatorofPastaGrannies(a

YouTubesuccessstorywhichin

turnlauncheda cookbook),echoes

a similarsentiment.“Thelineof

booksonyourkitchenbookshelf

sayssomethingabouthowyou

liveyourlife,yourinterests and

aspirations,”shesays.

Cookbooksarea waytocatalogue

andpreservethepast,whetherit’s

therecipesofItaliangrannies,

handwrittennotesandmemories

fromourownlivesorthoseofour

grandmothersbeforeus.A good

cookbookbringstolifethestories

behindthedishyou’remaking,the

peoplewhocreatedit andthehands

ofthosewhohavemadeit before

you.If everyrecipetellsa story,

thena goodcookbookspeaksto

you,inyourownlanguage.Howwas

thatforananswer,dearseatmate?

YasminFahr’scookbook,Keeping

It Simple:EasyOne-potWeeknight

Recipes(HardieGrant £16.99) is

available now.

WHERENEXTFORCOOKBOOKS?

Luckilyforbookloversandmyowncareer,it doesn’tlookasif

cookerybooksaregoingoutoffashionanytimesoon.Despitethe

relevanceandbenefitsofdigitalmedia,spendingonfoodanddrink

booksincreasedby 23 percentintheUKbetween 2015 and 2019

• from£79to£97million.Booksinthehealth,dietingand
  wholefoodsectorwentfroma categoryshareof4 percentofall
  foodanddrinkbooksalesin 2009 toa quarterin2019,accordingto
  NielsenBookUKdata,withthe‘vegetariancookery’sectorgoing
  from 4 per cent to almost 19 per cent between 2015 and 2019.

THE LONG VIEW: HOW SOME OF OUR OLD FAVES STACK UP...

Manyofthebest-known

andbest-lovedcookbooks

ofpreviousdecadeswere

publishedbeforebook

datawaswidelyavailable,

buthere’sa snapshothow

thesalesofsomeofthe

classics compare:

OURCHOICE

Thecookbooks

thedelicious.

teamcouldn’t

do without...

PLENTYBY

YOTAMOTTOLENGHI

(2010)

Mastering

theArtof

French

Cookingby

JuliaChild

(1961)*

TheEssentials

ofClassic

Ita lia n

Cookingby

Marcella

Hazan (1992)

31,000

HOWTOCOOK:

BOOKONEBY

DELIASMITH(1998)

1 million 275,000

78,000

*ACROSS

ALL

EDITIONS,

VOLUMES

AND

BOX

SETS.OVER A MILLION COPIES SOLD IN US

52 deliciousmagazine.co.uk