Married with cookbooks

A couple of years ago, a book called Just Married and Cooking was published. The couple was cute and camera-ready, though I thought the recipes were nothing special and I didn’t keep the book.  But it seemed like a milestone in the blog phenomenon – husbands and wives blogging and publishing together.

Since then that trend has only accelerated.  Perhaps the most well-known example is that of Shauna James Ahern (aka “Gluten-Free Girl”) and her husband chef Daniel Ahern, whose Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef achieved such popularity last year. In this year’s follow-up, Gluten-Free Girl Every Day, the chef is demoted to a “with” credit, but  the book remains very much about their partnership and mutual inspiration.

The Aherns, to all appearances, have already “made it” with their publications.  But for many of today’s blogging pairs, a book is just a starting point – a venture which, with luck and some excellent publicity, may in time lead to a self-sustaining business.  In the meantime, at least one spouse keeps up their day job.  The Sprouted Kitchen‘s Hugh Forte is a photographer (his terrific pictures are definitely responsible half the appeal of the book), while Sara Forte helms the stove.  Lindsay Landis and Taylor Hackbarth of Breakfast for Dinner specialize in crafts and web design. 

And the latest title to cross my doorstep comes from husband-and-wife bakers Allison and Matt Robicelli of Brooklyn’s Robicelli’s Bakery.  (There are so many boutique bakeries in Brooklyn I’m beginning to think they deserve their own story.)  They bake together, raise their kids together, swear (lots) together, and now they’ve got this book.  It’s not out till October, but I’m already looking forward to its foul-mouthed launch.

Does the couple that blogs and cooks together, stay together?  Hard to say – all of these books were published in the last two years, so it’s early days.  But you can be sure they’ll have a tasty time trying, and a 1.5-pound,100-recipe souvenir at the end.