Buried treasure: cookbooks lost at sea

January 27, 2022 by
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Things have not been easy with cookbook production since COVID hit and the hits keep coming. As I have stated many times, delays in shipping and shortages of all types have wreaked havoc with cookbook releases. Last year, a publicist told me that an entire shipment of their books had caught fire at sea and now we learn of another accident at sea.

Food and Wine reports that an entire shipment of cookbooks was lost at sea. “According to freight industry publication The Loadstar, the Madrid Bridge was south of the Azores on January 7 when a large ocean swell and 22-knot winds caused the ship to “roll significantly.” The outlet reports that 65 containers fell overboard, and an additional 89 containers were damaged.”

Some of these containers held Spring cookbook titles. I updated the 2022 preview post with new release dates for both Melissa Clark’s Dinner in One (from March to September) and Mason Hereford’s Turkey and the Wolf (from February to June) as both books are now at the bottom of the ocean. Other titles have moved but I am not sure if they were on this ill-fated freighter.

Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Cookie Bible was delayed in shipping and would not arrive in time for the 2021 holiday baking season. This gorgeous title was shelved until this autumn.

We will keep you posted on the ever changing publication schedule.

Category: Book News

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4 Comments

  • ccav  on  January 29, 2022

    It sounds so surreal, but I guess if most books are manufactured from afar it’s bound to happen.
    Sad to think of all those books on the ocean floor.

  • EskieF  on  January 30, 2022

    From the Washington Post article on this today, it appears the ship was sailing from China to the US (via Suez to the Atlantic I presume). It beggars belief that it is cheaper (?) to print American cookbooks in China and then ship them halfway – or 3/4 way) around the world, rather than print them in the US – especially as the wood for the paper has probably already been shipped from N. America to China. An investigation of the publishing/printing logistics of cookbooks would be interesting!

  • Indio32  on  January 31, 2022

    EskieF….I’m with you on this. I remember reading about books in general being printed in China and apparently it’s because its a one stop shop. Publishers printing in the US or UK would need to manage the whole process and as book printing isn’t big thing its basically a PITA. Interestingly I bought a great cookbook on Saturday (Sally Clarke’s “First put on your apron”) from Daunts books on Marylebone High Street, London. Just realised its a book from a UK chef, bought from an independent bookshop AND printed in the UK!

  • Sigmax  on  February 24, 2022

    If I am sailing at sea, especially at night, I am always fearful of hitting a submerged container.

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