Phaidon turns 101

I’m not sure how I missed this news from last year, but worldwide cookbook publishing house Phaidon celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2023. Last November, Publishers Weekly posted about how Phaidon, which didn’t embrace cookbook publishing until 2005 with the release of The Silver Spoon, has since turned into a culinary publishing powerhouse. The article includes a Q&A with the head of Phaidon’s North American cookbook program since 2014, Emily Takoudes.

According to Phaidon, the idea behind the updated edition of The Silver Spoon was to apply “the elevated design and production previously reserved for art titles” to a rather modest cookbook. That idea was an instant success, and led the company to publish many more gorgeous and influential cookbooks. Initially, Phaidon mainly focused on books by celebrity chefs from around the world, stars like Ferran Adrià, Massimo Bottura, Enrique Olvera, René Redzepi, and Ana Roš. More recently, the publishing house has also produced deep dives into the cuisine of a particular culture, region, or culinary topic. This includes books like Japan: The Cookbook by Nancy Singleton Hachisu and Breakfast: The Cookbook by Emily Elyse Miller.

Takoudes told PW that most of Phaidon’s cookbooks are commissioned, meaning Phaidon approaches the chef or author with the idea for a book and they collaborate on the project. She says the editorial process for cookbooks differs from other art books “because of the technicality of the recipes and layers of specialists, including copy editors and photographers shooting new images of the finished dishes.” Takoudes also shared a sentiment that might resonate with our Members, noting that “through the intersection of art and culinary, Phaidon creates a unique physical object—that people want to hold, own, read, use, gift. These books are both current and timeless all at once.”

I have many Phaidon tomes on my bookshelves, and they truly are arthouse volumes. Most of them are aspirational and not workhouse books that I turn to every day, but they are wonderful nonetheless. While the price of a Phaidon cookbook skews to the high side, they offer unique insight and exposure to cuisines and chefs I would not otherwise know about. One of my favorites is Vegetables from an Italian Garden: Season-by-Season Recipes by Charles Nardozzi. I love that the book is organized by season, and I dig the way the sections where the vegetables are explained are ever-so-slightly smaller, clearly defining each section. Another nice touch is that there are four different colored ribbon bookmarks, one for each season. It’s such a lovely book to page through. What is your favorite Phaidon book?