Reading Copy

While getting my news this morning I saw an article about a Kiwi singer/songwriter, Flip Grater, who has decided to publish a cookbook featuring recipes that she collected while touring New Zealand for a recent album. She isn’t the first person to try and draw a connection to music and food though…

I Like Food, Food Tastes Good: In the Kitchen with Your Favourite Bands - Contributions from more than 100 artists, including indie icons like the Violent Femmes, Belle & Sebastian, and They Might Be Giants and Franz Ferdinand.

Rock n Roll Cuisine - Recipes of many music stars of the 1980s, mostly in their own handwriting, with photos and signatures. George Michael, Bangles, Phil Collins, Talking Heads, Mick Jagger, Heart, Sting, many more

Road Stories and Recipes - Don Nix’s story of his musical roots in 50s Memphis to near stardom in the rockin’ 60s and near mayhem in the 70s. Includes a section of favorite recipes from rockers old and new that Nix befriended on the way.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Your wildest fantasies come to life in the pages of… your favourite cookbook?

Popularity: 11% [?]

Librarything just announced the winners of their cookbook pile contest. The object of the game was to take the most interesting photo of your pile of cookbooks for fabulous cash and prizes.

You can take a look at the winners and runners up here

Popularity: 22% [?]

The idea of “eating healthy” is misunderstood I think. People seem to believe that it is overly difficult or bland and tasteless. I have never followed that conventional wisdom, and much to our benefit neither has Heidi Swanson. I had the good fortune recently to chat with her about her new book Super Natural Cooking.

For those unfamiliar with Heidi, she is the force behind the popular and successful food blog 101 Cookbooks, as well as the Mighty Foods blog. A couple of years ago I stumbled across 101 Cookbooks, and was struck by the the food and food writing on the site, but also the design and photography (Heidi is also a designer and photographer) - as a food loving designer I was totally hooked.

Super Natural Cooking (the second book from Heidi), takes a close look at whole foods and so called “super foods”. The book approaches food from a more holistic way than other books I have - even the the “healthy” ones - with sections on different kinds of natural sweeteners, and the ins and outs of various kinds of cooking oils. The book is a huge proponent of natural, unprocessed foods, and in doing so encourages it’s readers to try familar dishes with a slight variation.

After a couple weeks with the book and trying out a few recipes (I’m eating the chocolate chip cookies as I type this) … I have to say the book is becoming a favourite. The collection of recipes is varied enough to keep an interest, simple enough to be useful for weekday cooking and provides great jumping off spots for more experimentation. One thing to note is that some of the ingredients you aren’t going to find at your corner grocery store, you may need to go to a natural foods store for a few of the sweeteners, flours or oils - but this is a good thing, and there is an index of some online sources for some items if your local town can’t provide what you are looking for. All in all this is wonderful book, it’s a nice addition for those looking to round out a collection, and an excellent resource for those who are investigating healthier diet and are scared of “healthy and bland”.

Read the interview with Heidi.

Popularity: 7% [?]

I just returned from New Orleans. It was a bit of whirlwind, and didn’t get a lot of time to do anything outside of the hotel conference rooms. However, during one stroll through the French Quarter I spotted a bag with the name Kitchen Witch on it. The name stuck with me, and when I arrived home I looked it up - and lo and behold Kitchen Witch is an AbeBooks bookseller.

Wish I had know before heading down since it seems like my kind of place - a cookbook shop - and owned by some interesting people by the sounds of it.

At least now I have a reason to go back.

Popularity: 7% [?]

The New York Times’ food and dining section reports on an usual food book - the Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine. Mmmm ….. sparrow, squirrel and rat.

Anyone who likes unusual cookbooks should vote in our poll to discover the world’s weirdest cookbook.

Popularity: 6% [?]

To go along with our recently launched Books for Cooks, the 2007 James Beard awards for Cookbooks nominees were announced a little while ago. There lots of fantastic books in the list -

• Category: Asian Cooking
  • Cradle of Flavor - James Oseland
  • Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors - Andrea Nguyen
  • The Sushi Experience - Hiroko Shimbo
• Category: Baking and Dessert
  • Baking: From My Home to Yours - Dorie Greenspan
  • Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters - Marilynn Brass and Sheila Brass
  • King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking - The Bakers at King Arthur Flour
• Category: Cooking from a Professional Point of View
  • Alain Ducasse’s Desserts and Pastries - Frederic Robert
  • Happy in the Kitchen - Michel Richard with Susie Heller and
    Peter Kaminsky
  • The Professional Chef, 8th Edition - The Culinary Institute of America



• Category: Entertaining
  • The Big Book of Appetizers - Meredith Deeds and Carla Snyder
  • The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking and Entertaining - Cheryl Alters Jamison
  • Opera Lover’s Cookbook - Francine Segan
• Category: Food of the Americas
  • Dishes from the Wild Horse Desert: Norteño Cooking of South Texas - Melissa Guerra
  • Kathy Casey’s Northwest Table - Kathy Casey
  • The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook - Matt Lee and Ted Lee
• Category: General
  • The Family Kitchen - Debra Ponzek
  • The Improvisational Cook - Sally Schneider
  • Tasty: Get Great Food on the Table Everyday - Roy Finamore



• Category: Healthy Focus
  • The Diabetes Menu Cookbook: Delicious Special-Occasion Recipes for Family and Friends - Barbara Scott-Goodman and Kalia Doner
  • Eating Well Serves Two - Jim Romanoff
  • Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way - Lorna Sass

The winners will be announced May 7th. Which is your pick?

Popularity: 7% [?]

Today, we’ve launched another new section on AbeBooks.com - welcome to Books for Cooks. Of course, cookbooks have always been popular on AbeBooks, but Books for Cooks goes a little further so you’ll also find wine and food in general covered within this expansive section.

You’ll find an interview with vegan cooking expert Sarah Kramer, the 10 most expensive cookbooks we’ve ever sold, and we’re conducting a poll to find the world’s weirdest cookbook. Plus Anthony Bourdain, ask the expert, pairing wine with books, food and wine events, and much more. Please take a look.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Let’s stay with cookbooks as there seems to be a dearth of interesting news from the bookworld today. I found this article about the joy of reading The Oldways Table: Essays & Recipes From the Culinary Think Tank on a Sunday morning.

The book describes its agenda as….

“To uncover what elements of the old ways of food and drink are of value and healthy in our contemporary society, and to enable individuals and families to incorporate them conveniently into life in the 21st century.”

By the way, look out for some news about cookbooks from AbeBooks.com in the next week or so.

Popularity: 4% [?]

The Guardian has a great feature on the thousands of antiquarian cookbooks belonging to chef Anton Mosimann.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Although not a vegan, this little (in size only) book, is a useful addition to my ever-growing roster of cookbooks.

The Candle Cafe is a well known cafe in New York, and this book is a collection of recipes from its menu. Like most restaurant inspired cookbooks, some of the recipes can be involved and presumes a certain level of competence in the kitchen. That being said, nothing in the book approaches anything that would be considered haute cuisine — it’s delicious comfort food style cooking. It runs the range of pastas, noodle dishes, soups, rice dishes, breakfasts, desserts - a bit of everything. The favourite recipe in it has to be the savory pot pie — sublime.

And while I am not a vegan (I am vegetarian), the recipes in it are balanced for flavour and work to the strengths of the ingredients, so it’s easy to forgot the lack of animal products. Worth checking out if you are thinking of going vegan (or vegetarian), or if you want something a little different in your repertoire.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Bookslut points out an interesting article about a book called The Gospel of Food by Barry Glassner - a sociologist at the University of Southern California. The book examines the average American’s fears about food.

Popularity: 10% [?]

If you think your cookbook collection is impressive — think again. Fritz Blank’s library of 10,000 cookbooks and other related materials has moved to the University of Pennsylvania.

It’s an amazing collection of items ranging from old handwritten receipes to signed menus.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Looking over a number of the posts that I’ve made, you could easily draw the conclusion that I enjoy food. A lot. It’s true, and I am an unabashed foodie in training, and consequently my cookbook shelf gets heavier and heavier.

One of the more recent purchases was Pie Pie Pie by John Carroll. It’s a great little book that focuses narrowly in on the wonders of pie. I love pie*. In all forms and varieties. You can’t go wrong with a tender flakey pastry crust and luscious fruit filling, and Carroll surveys a great selection of these, both classic and newer twists on the pie. My only quibbles would be it would have been nice to see some savory pies, and more photos of the less familar pies. Other than that … if you love pie, or just getting into pie, it is worth having a look at Pie Pie Pie.

* I was listening to the Good Food podcast which had an interview with Al Elia, who celebrates Piemas, which is a meal of only pies (and pie-related foods). How did I not invent this? Sheer genius.

Popularity: 8% [?]

As I have posted numerous times about food and drink, it may come as no surprise that I enjoy that part of life. And being a designer here at AbeBooks, I also appreciate the visual. So when the two collide it’s a marvelous thing…

There is a wonderful Flickr pool of vintage cookbooks. It really is a treat to see all the designs and recipes of days gone by. The style both in terms of the food, the preparation, the ingredients, and the designs all evoke that retro feel.

Now will future chefs and collectors look upon our contemporary glossy, food-porn styled books and molecular gastronomy with that same amusement? Very likely.

Popularity: 14% [?]