There is a nice interview with Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid about their most recent book, Beyond The Great Wall: Recipes and Travels in the Other China which combines the best elements of life cooking and traveling though China.
Popularity: 21% [?]
I have spent the past week or so reading Heat by Bill Buford - a former editor from The New Yorker who worked in the kitchen of a major New York restaurant for the hell of it. It’s a good book. Just like Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, it reveals the high pressure environment of a professional kitchen. Buford becomes obssessive about the origins of Italian food but the best sections of the book are when he’s analyzing the characters he meets in the kitchen and later in an Italian butcher’s shop. His own struggles to master the various roles within the kitchen becomes secondary to the mini-dramas going on around him. I’ve been meaning to read this book for two and a half years, and I glad I did. The passages about Marco Pierre White are priceless.
Popularity: 26% [?]
The New York Times reports that on Monday a large number of 18th and 19th century cookbooks will be heading to auction.
Personally I see cookbooks as a functional tome and less as a collectable item, but that’s just my personal taste (no pun intended). About a year ago AbeBooks looked at its most expensive cookbook sales, so it will be interesting to see what kind of prices these books fetch on Monday.
Popularity: 25% [?]
In the old days, there were just cookbooks. Now there are more books about food and eating than you can shake a truffle at. So says a lady in the Eugene Register-Guard in Oregon. She’s quite right - last night I started reading just such a book…. Heat by Bill Buford. I love these kind of books but overload isn’t far away.
Popularity: 35% [?]
How’s this for an idea, a cookbook based entirely on foods mentioned in the bible . It’s called The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Good Food from the Good Book.
Perhaps cooking this cookbook will have some positive repercussions in the way people look at you because The Daily Mail reports that Gordon Ramsay fans are show offs
Popularity: 20% [?]
Discover our expanded browse pages with author interviews, recommendations and bestselling lists. We have new browse content on Children’s Fiction, History Books and Cook Books, with more coming soon. Visit our browse often for new updates.
Popularity: 25% [?]
Yesterday, I was the supermarket across the road from the office when I saw man buying Spam, but it wasn’t just any tin of Spam - it was a 70th anniversary tin. The customer and the checkout assistant began discussing the cultural impact of Spam on the world and I felt like I had stepped into an alternative universe.
Of course, there are books about Spam….
It appears the actual anniversary was last year so how long had those tins been there?
Popularity: 21% [?]
Innovative cookbook ideas are hard to come by, most of it has been done before. This music journalist got tired of asking bands about what their lyrics mean and started asking what they liked to eat. You can now see the fruits of her labor in I like food, food tastes good. It includes recipes from Death Cab for Cutie, The Violent Femms, NOFX and more.
Now that I’ve gone and said it was innovative I just know someone is going to post a book where this has been done already. Either way it sounds like a fun read with some good grub.
Popularity: 14% [?]
The New York Times takes a look at notable cookbooks from the last year - and thankfully nary a celebrity chef to be seen - how refreshing. The author views these books as
an argument against the frequently heard claim that cookbooks are being dumbed down.
I’ve heard this too in various interviews with publishers and editors, so we can be thankful when books of value do come along to help keep the standard.
Popularity: 16% [?]
A blogger at The Guardian has six football books for us (that’s David Beckham football rather than Peyton Manning football).
The Baltimore Sun recommends new cookbooks.
The NY Times recommends art and architecture books.
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While we are on the subject, here is today’s recommendation for Christmas…..A Year of Eating Dangerously: A Global Search For Culinary Extremes by Tom Parker-Bowles. This book is a year old but still worth considering even though the author has two last names and is the son of Camilla.
Parker-Bowles is a food journalist in the UK. He travels the world and eats weird stuff - you know the formula. Actually, you’d probably also want to consider anything written by Anthony Bourdain, who is a seriously good writer. Here’s our interview with him from last year.
And if you want something really weird about food - here’s our list of the world’s weirdest cookbooks. How can anyone ignore Cooking On Your Car Engine?
Popularity: 19% [?]
The New York Times reports the death of Peg Bracken - she is hardly a household name today but 47 years ago she made waves by publishing The I Hate to Cook Book.
Ms. Bracken’s cookbook, with illustrations by Hilary Knight, quickly became a staple of suburban homes. Published in various editions over the years, it sold more than three million copies. Every baby boomer’s mother, or so it seemed, had one on the kitchen shelf, its pages stained with the makings of Stayabed Stew, Sole Survivor and Spinach Surprise
Popularity: 18% [?]
The holiday season is upon us weather you are ready or not and I don’t just mean the “C” word, there’s Halloween and Thanksgiving for our American readers. To help you get ready for all of the parties and hordes of guests we’ve put together a special section of craft and cooking books to help inspire you.
And in the spirit of holiday giving we have a contest to win four fabulous crafting books. Remember it’s free to enter =).
Popularity: 30% [?]
Fall is in the air. It’s getting colder, leaves are turning, this weekend is Thanksgiving for us Canucks (Nov.22 for our southern neighbors), and Halloween is just around the corner.
What’s all this mean? PUMPKINS!
Other then the obvious jack-o-lanterns and pie, there is a lot you can do with a pumpkin. We’ve selected the ten best pumpkin cookbooks for your gastronomical enjoyment.
Popularity: 20% [?]
The other day I stopped by a local store before heading home. Lo and behold what caught my eye? A copy of Are You Hungry Tonight? Elvis’ Favourite Recipes! My Hound Dog senses must have sniffed it out. At $2.50, and being an Elvis fan, I just had to buy it. (Now Don’t Be Cruel - Let me clarify, I’m NOT the velvet-print Elvis variety of fan and I do believe he died 30 years ago.And even if I did think he were still alive, I believe he’d be smart enough to have ditched the jewelled jumpsuits long ago!) The book is the perfect kitschy sort of thing you pick up “just because”. Besides, it gives directions on how to make those infamous fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches.Â
And surprise, surprise. Upon further investigation, Are You Hungry Tonight? isn’t the only Elvis themed cookbook. Check out these rockin’ recipe repositories:
The Presley Family and Friends Cookbook
The Presley Family Cookbook (by Vester Presley)
All Cooked Up (by Donna Presley Early)
For me, I think the one cookbook is enough. However, I said that about having one cat and I now have two, and  if I do see one of the others at a good price, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t Help Falling in Love and would make my way to the checkout, book in hand.
Popularity: 19% [?]