The best selling books of 2020

Last month our friends at cookbook stores around the world gave us their picks for their favorite books of 2020 which we then included in our Best of the Best of 2020. Now we asked them for their top sellers of 2020. In past years we have compared the lists from specialist stores in the USA to that for all US sales from the publishing industry data company, Nielsen.  Unfortunately Publishers Weekly has not published the list again this year so we cannot do the comparison. We do know that of the 20 top-selling books of all types last year, only one was a cookbook – Magnolia Table Volume 2 by Joanna Gaines. NPD reports that cookbook sales in the US grew 15% in Jan to Sept last year with bread cookbooks up 145%.

However I did manage to get a list of the top UK sellers which was provided by The Bookseller to the BBC Radio 4 The Food Programme (report starts at 16:40 in podcast). One good piece of news they also provided was that cookbook sales in the UK were up 27% over 2019.

Please do remember when buying cookbooks to support your local cookbook store, if you are lucky enough to have one. Most of the stores listed below are also doing mail order so you can order from them even if you are not local (click the store name to get the contact info).

USA

Omnivore Books (San Francisco)

1. Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz
2. Ottolenghi Flavor by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage & Tara Wigley
3. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
4. Baking at the 20th Century Cafe by Michelle Polzine
5. Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman
6. Eat A Peach by David Chang
7. Drinking French by David Lebovitz
8. The Rancho Gordo Heirloom Bean Guide by Steve Sando & Julia Newberry
9. The Flavor Equation by Nik Sharma
10. Eat Something by Evan Bloom and Rachel Levin 

Now Serving (Los Angeles)

1. Home Style Cookery by Matty Matheson
2. The Honeysuckle Cookbook by Dzung Lewis
3. Eat A Peach by David Chang
4. Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz
5. Amboy by Alvin Cailan
6. Jubilee by Toni Tipton Martin
7. Ottolenghi Flavor by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage & Tara Wigley
8. The Sqirl Jam Book by Jessica Koslow
9. The Flavor Equation by Nik Sharma
10. Chi Spacca by Nancy Silverton

Kitchen Arts & Letters (New York)

1. The French Laundry, Per Se by Thomas Keller
2. The Flavor Equation by Nik Sharma
3. What is Cooking? by Ferran Adrià
4. The Neapolitan Pizza: A Scientific Guide by Paolo Masi, Annalisa Romano, and Enzo Coccia
5. Falastin by Sami Tamimi & Tara Wigley
6. Ottolenghi Flavor by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage & Tara Wigley
7. Modern Comfort Food by Ina Garten
8. The Way of Kueh by Christopher Tan 
9. Always Home by Fanny Singer
10. In Bibi’s Kitchen by Hawa Hassan and Julia Turshen

Book Larder (Seattle)

1. Pieometry by Lauren Ko
2. Drinking French by David Lebovitz
3. Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi
4. Vegetable Kingdom by Bryant Terry
5. Falastin by Sami Tamimi & Tara Wigley
6. New World Sourdough by Bryan Ford
7. Hot Cheese by Polina Chesnakova
8. Tie Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz
9. Tie Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman
10. 100 Cookies by Sarah Kieffer

Powell’s City of Books (Portland, OR)

1. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
2. Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz
3. Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden
4. Flour Water Salt Yeast by Ken Forkish
5. The Food Lab by J. Kenji López-Alt
6. Ottolenghi Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi
7. Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman
8. Joy of Cooking 2019 by Irma Rombauer
9. Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi
10. Half Baked Harvest Super Simple by Tieghan Gerard

Bold Fork Books (Washington D.C.)

1. In Bibi’s Kitchen by Hawa Hassan and Julia Turshen
2. Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz
3. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
4. Ottolenghi Flavor by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage & Tara Wigley
5. East by Meera Sodha
6. Eating Out Loud by Eden Grinshpan
7. Greenfeast: Autumn/Winter by Nigel Slater
8. Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi
9. Vegetable Kingdom by Bryant Terry
10. The Best American Food Writing 2020 edited by Kenji López-Alt

CANADA 

Appetite for Books (Montreal)

1. Ottolenghi Flavor by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage & Tara Wigley
2. Mandy’s Gourmet Salads by Mandy & Rebecca Wolfe with Meredith Erickson
3. Chez Lesley by Lesley Chesterman
4. Falastin by Sami Tamimi & Tara Wigley
5. Olive + Gourmando: The Cookbook by Dyan Solomon
6. Modern Comfort Food by Ina Garten
7. Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman
8. Fool Magazine: The Japanese Issue
9. Ottolenghi Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi
10. Eating Out Loud by Eden Grinshpan

The Cookbook Co. Cooks (Alberta)

1. Calgary Eats by Gail Norton and Karen Ralph
2. Dirty Food by Julie Van Rosendaal
3. Falastin by Sami Tamimi & Tara Wigley
4. Ottolenghi Flavor by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage & Tara Wigley
5. Flour Water Salt Yeast by Ken Forkish
6. Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman
7. Modern Comfort Food by Ina Garten
8. Rocky Mountain Cooking by Katie Mitzel
9. Drinking French by David Lebovitz
10. Dinner Uncomplicated by Claire Tansey

NEW ZEALAND

Cook the Books (Auckland)

1. Ottolenghi Flavour by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage & Tara Wigley
2. Ottolenghi Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi
3. Angelo’s Wild Kitchen by Angelo Georgalli
4. Hiakai by Monique Fiso
5. Falastin by Sami Tamimi & Tara Wigley
6. Community (Revised) by Hetty McKinnon (new edition)
7. East by Meera Sodha
8. Vegful by Nadia Lim
9. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
   9=. Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz

EUROPE

The Bookseller report for entire UK

1. Pinch of Nom Everyday Light by Kate Allinson & Kay Featherstone
2. Pinch of Nom by Kate Allinson & Kay Featherstone
3. 7 Ways by Jamie Oliver
4. Simple Comforts by Mary Berry
5. The Fast 800 Recipe Book by Dr. Claire Bailey & Justine Pattison
6. Nadiya Bakes by Nadiya Hussain
7. What Mummy Makes by Rebecca Wilson
8. Twochubbycubs by James & Paul Anderson
9. Ottolenghi Flavour by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage & Tara Wigley
10. Veg by Jamie Oliver

De Kookboekhandel (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

1. De Banketbakker by Cees Holtkamp & Jonah Freud
2. Ottolenghi Flavour by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage & Tara Wigley
3. Inmaken: Groente, Fruit, Diversen by Jonah Freud
4. Comfort Food: Met Groente by Welmoed Bezoen
5. Azië (East) by Meera Sodha
6. De groene bakplaat (The Green Roasting Tin) by Rukmini Iyer
7. Dutch Pastry by Jonah Freud
8. De Bijbel van de Nederlandse Keuken by Janneke Vreugdenhil
9. De Snelle Bakplaat (The Quick Roasting Tin) by Rukmini Iyer
10. The Rijksmuseum Cookbook by Jonah Freud

Goldhahn und Sampson (Berlin, Germany)

1. Ottolenghi Flavour by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage & Tara Wigley
2. Ottolenghi Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi
3. Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi
4. Vegetarische Köstlichkeiten (Plenty More) by Yotam Ottolenghi
5. Veggies (Veg) by Jamie Oliver
6. Mein allererstes Buch vom Essen (My Very First Book Of Food) by Eric Carle
7. Palästina (Falastin) by Sami Tamimi & Tara Wigley
8. Asien vegetarisch (East) by Meera Sodha
9. Genussvoll Vegetarisch (Plenty) by Yotam Ottolenghi
10. Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi & Helen Goh