Guild of Food Writers announces 2020 winners

Last month we reported on the finalists for the 2020 UK Guild of Food Writers Awards. Today the Guild has announced the winners in the various categories. Highlighted winners are listed below, and you can visit our 2020 Guild of Food Writers awards page to see the complete list. The big winner for 2020 is The Vinegar Cupboard by Angela Clutton,… read more

The stories behind the scribbles

When I spy a used cookbook I am interested in buying, the first thing I do is skim the pages to see if anyone has written any notes inside. Early in my cookbook collecting, if I saw writing in the margins I would put book back on the shelf. I was only interested in pristine volumes, as years of working… read more

2020 James Beard Cookbook Award Nominees announced

Originally slated to be announced in March, the nominees for the 2020 James Beard Awards for cookbooks were revealed today via Twitter. This comes on what would have been the 30th Anniversary James Beard Awards in Chicago. The JBF chose to put the nomination announcement on hold and focus on supporting relief efforts for the restaurant industry. To date, the… read more

Food writers and chefs on their favorite cookbooks

It's always fun to learn which cookbooks famous food writers and top chefs find useful or inspirational. Today our insight into this arena comes via Eater London, where they have polled several food writers and chefs (in addition to Eater staff members) on which cookbooks are their favorites. EYB Member favorites Ruby Tandoh, Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi, and Nigella Lawson… read more

We will always need cookbooks

More now than ever, the cooking community is coming out in full force. Everyone is live-streaming a dish, recipe and offering their advice on all things cooking. For those of us who know how to make a sourdough starter or transform a can of beans into a feast, it is our time to shine. Over the years, people have asked… read more

Jenny’s Best Cookbooks of Spring 2020

We are all looking for some semblance of normalcy during this difficult time. I will continue to write and share about cookbook news in the hope that it brings our members some distraction. We are all in this together. I suffer from an affliction which many of you can relate to - I obsessed about cookbooks. I am continually updating… read more

‘Classic Indian Cooking’ turns 40

We live in what has been described as a golden age for cookbooks. There are thousands of cookbooks published each year, and of those thousands, hundreds are noteworthy. But will they still be discussed after forty years has passed? Only the best and brightest books can claim to be relevant and inspiring decades after their release. Julie Sahni's Classic Indian… read more

Were you a pie baker, when pie baking wasn’t cool?

Remember when Bundt cakes were only for funeral eats and definitely not considered to be one of the cool kids of baking. The same can be said about pies. Pies were made by grandmothers who whipped them out for holidays, but the pie times they are a-changing - pie baking isn't just for grandmas anymore. Thanks to the power of… read more

IACP Cuisinart Awards – 2020 Nominees

Congratulations to the 2020 class of nominees for the International Association of Culinary Professionals Cuisinart Awards. The winners will be announced at the IACP Annual Conference on March 28, 2020 in Pittsburgh. Once again the IACP has made changes to the categories of books being judged. For 2020 two categories got the axe: there will be no Compilations or Reference/Technical books… read more

A tale of two covers

Have you ever noticed that the covers of the same cookbooks published in the US and the UK are frequently different? There are several reasons for this phenomenon, explains Charlotte Druckman in a recent Epicurious article for why this occurs so often. One of the examples discussed is Diana Henry's 2016 release Simple.  Says Henry, “The cover is the thing… read more

More cookbooks, but less cooking

It is always fun to stumble upon a good interview about cookbooks, and today I hit the jackpot. It's a conversation between food historian Kyle Cherek and radio host Bonnie North, and it covers everything from the first cookbook published in the U.S. to the latest trends of celebrity chef books. Cookbooks serve as cultural markers of the times, says… read more

The best selling cookbooks of 2019

Last month our friends at cookbook stores around the world gave us their picks for their favorite books of 2019 which we then included in our Best of the Best of 2019. Now we asked them for their top sellers. In past years we have compared the lists from specialist stores in the USA to that for all US sales… read more

Cookbook authors on the books they keep returning to

What is better than finding out which cookbook an author thinks is indispensible? Learning the same from a half-dozen authors. Over at The New York Times, they've assembled a sort of cookbook author relay race, in which one recently published author recommends his or her favorite title from the past year or so, then passes on the honor to that… read more

Looking forward to 2020 cookbooks

While the last twelve months have provided a great deal of enjoyment for cookbook lovers, 2020 is looming bright and not too far off on the horizon. The last year sped by and while I would like time to slow down a bit I always find joy in the excitement of what is to come. This outline will provide a… read more

Joy of Cooking’s enduring appeal

Ask almost anyone in the U.S. to name their favorite cookbooks and you will probably hear 'Joy of Cooking' somewhere in the list. The book, which first debuted in the 1930s, has taught several generations not only how to cook, but also how to preserve food and much more. Abagail Weir explains why Joy has had such longlasting appeal. Weir… read more

Worldwide Best Cookbooks July – December 2019

On June 23th, I shared my Worldwide Best Cookbooks for the first half of 2019. Today's list contains my choices for best cookbooks for books released in July - December 2019. As in past years, there were so many fantastic books to cull through including the re-release of The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern that it made it… read more

Gift Guide for the Baker & Giveaway!

Today, I have compiled a list of gift ideas all geared toward the baker. My gift guide for cookbook lovers was posted earlier this week. The tag #giftguide will bring up all past compilations which include classic cookbook suggestions and past years' recommendations. For the purposes of this guide, I’ll be including titles from 2019. Prior gift guides as linked… read more

Changes coming to Chicago’s Read It & Eat

We were delighted to profile Chicago cookbook store Read It & Eat when it opened its doors for business in 2015. Owner Esther Dairiam discussed the many events held at the store, located at 2142 N. Halsted in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Today we learned about new developments at Read It & Eat. In a news release, Dairiam announced that the… read more

Gift Guide for the Cookbook Lover and Serious Cook

The madness that is the holiday season is upon us. I will be doing at least two gift guides this year. This guide will include cookbook ideas for a wide variety of subjects. There will be a baker's gift guide with cookbooks and baking gift ideas along with a giveaway hopefully by this weekend! The tag #giftguide will bring up… read more

Diana Henry’s favorite new fall cookbooks

When Diana Henry makes a list of her favorite new cookbooks, it's time to drop everything and make certain that you have all of them on your bookshelf and if not, to get them on the way as soon as possible. The bestselling author knows her way around both storytelling and recipe writing. She spent weeks going through the best… read more

Best cookbooks of the 21st century (so far)

It is difficult - nearly impossible, for me - to consider that we are 20 percent of the way through the 21st century. Nevertheless, it is true. That means we have 20 years of cookbooks to think about when discussing the best books of the century. Helen Rosner at The New Yorker breaks down which books she believes are standouts. … read more

The best French cookbooks, according to French chefs

It's always enlightening to learn which cookbooks chefs find useful and inspirational. When it comes to French cookbooks, who better than Jacques Pépin, Daniel Boulud, and Dominique Ansel to weigh in on which of these cookbooks they recommend. That's what Lauren Masur of The Kitchn thinks, too. She interviewed these esteemed chefs and compiled a list of the best French… read more

Hosting a cookbook swap party

Have some cookbooks that just don't thrill you anymore? Want to have new cookbooks without spending any money? If your answer to either of those questions is yes, you might want to host a cookbook swap. Not sure how to go about it? Meghan Walbert Lifehacker offers some tips on how to host a successful swap.  There is no set… read more

Samin Nosrat’s favorite books

It is always interesting to learn about the books that have inspired our favorite authors. Samin Nosrat, quickly became an EYB Member favorite with the publication of her award-winning tome Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. Nosrat, who is currently working on a new cookbook, sat down with Vulture and and gave them the rundown on her top ten favorite books.  As you might… read more

The cookbooks that authors actually use

We all know (and appreciate) that food writers create amazing cookbooks, but they also use them for inspiration much as we cookbook aficionados do. Which volumes will you find on their bookshelves? Matt and Ted Lee, authors of several books including The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook, have an answer. They interviewed several authors and developed a list of 18 cookbooks that… read more
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