It’s well known that cookbook author, Diana Henry has over 4000 cookbooks. I can’t imagine having the room for such a vast collection. Mine number just over a tenth of this and it still seems like a lot. They are supposed to be confined to two bookcases, but they are gradually spilling over to a pile in the space where a fireplace once was and a secondary pile of currently ‘active’ books gracing the coffee table in the lounge. I’m due for another cull, but that’s never really successful, the reasons for keeping a book seem to outnumber the ones for discarding it.
While I buy quite a lot of cookbooks, I’m quite selective about what I purchase. I’m not interested in cookbooks based on a particular gadget; I don’t want recipes that conform to the latest diet trend; I don’t want a book written by the latest TikTok cook-come-author who has almost zero experience, or a ghostwritten celebrity cookbook. These types of books seem to flood the market and regularly appear on bestseller lists. Unfortunately, popularity and sales numbers often don’t equate with good. There is obviously an audience for the wellness/diet fad genre or 101 Ways with air fryers and the like, but they aren’t for me and not something I would consider buying. Similarly, books that win awards aren’t always the best in their category. There is politics involved, and perhaps it reflects the success of the PR team rather than anything else.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Apples & Elderflower to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.