Cookbooks, from patisserie to food porn

If the world is a bit heavier, which it is, it is because of cookbooks. Every year hundreds, even thousands are published.

The thing about these cookbooks is that they can lasso any quite esoteric part of a life, add a jam pie, and it becomes a cookbook. The cookbook is the new novel.

Subjects can vary from patisserie to porn. People have to eat, so books arise in surprising places.

In the titles of 50 books I researched, 40 had the word health in the title. South African Melissa Delport’s book Heal is a blessing for anyone interested in nutrition.

Some are geopolitical with brilliant optics from every country of the world, some are written with personal intention to proselytise; others have blown in from an alien land, some are so seductive, particularly with illustrations, that they encourage even feeble cooks like me.

They come from everywhere and range from Frankenfood to Frankfurters. They cover the whole world, some are explosive and expansive, some celebrate the minutiae.

Many punt one vainglorious, celebratory vision of a new culinary world where everyone is a vegan or only eats foraged food.

The whole world of cookery books is slowly moving East and South like a large tidal wave.

My ma’s put-together recipe book, with friends’ recipes written with her Sheaffer fountain pen with little anecdotes like “don’t quite boil if you want froth”, only contained four major recipes and that is what we lived on, roast chicken, fish pie, curry (my father fancied himself as a bit of a curry cook) and apple crumble for pudding.

In London, asked out by a dashing young man when I was 18, the menu made me sweat. I ordered steak tartare, thinking to myself, well, they won’t be able to do much with that. It had never entered my head it could be raw.

Now recipes often call for a lot of hardware like screwdrivers and blow torches; some require the freeze of crackling ice, a plank or two of hardwood, under which a Russian Christmas cake must linger for a few pre-Christmas months, preferably in a hole in the snow.

In some countries, a ruler’s hand has intervened to discourage certain foods. In Australia the Border Force trashed a banana. It breaks my heart to see the wonderful, exotic, semi-secret culinary delights that end up in the airport bin: tiny snails from Asia, sweet as corn, rainbow coloured fish in dark cream sauces, ribs of goat meat, silky with fat and nourishment, even a few snakes that cook up well if you know what you are doing, lots of beetles and even a honey nest of stinging bees.

“This could bring Australia to its knees,” twanged the Aussie border guard, swinging her blond pony-tail and popping an insect into a medical vial.

Once you start gathering string on the subject, the absolute array of books and by application, different dishes, will either push you towards chefdom or stop you cooking altogether. There is no doubt that cooking is the new religion.

And if you are a writer, the next book you should be thinking about is one on food. Our own editor Tony Jackman has himself added to this glittering pile with foodSTUFF – Reflections & Recipes From A Celebrated Foodie. Jackman’s foodSTUFF was nominated for the Gourmand awards and short listed in 2018 and he was even invited to visit China. Sadly he turned down the invitation, such a pity because we could well use a few innovative suggestions beyond chop suey.

The shift is slow but the wave is from west to east and every year Africa features more prominently. This year Zambia’s Cook and Conserve got a hefty first with its unique vegetables, like the leaves of a sweet potato and South Africa is at last celebrating its multiculturalism with foods from all over the continent.

The Olympics of cookbook recognition is the Gourmand Awards held in countries all over Europe and Asia. Sixteen of South Africa’s cookbooks were nominated at the 2022 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, the cookbook Olympics.

On their website, the Founder and President of the Gourmand Awards, Edouard Cointreau, said that the selection of the Gourmand Awards give an overview of the best around the world – showing just how prestigious these awards are. “In total, we estimate there are now over 100,000 food and drink culture books and documents every year, in print or digital, free or paid, with or without ISBN…. There is approximately 1% chance to be selected [on] this Gourmand Awards list!”

There are two that interest me and that is JAN, A Breath of French Air – Jan Hendrik, the South African who got a Michelin star in his restaurant in the South of France and can make a mosbolletjie into a masterpiece.

I once ate a Slow Cooked Leg of Lamb, Basmati Rice and Radicchio Salad in his restaurant that stays in my heart.

Other books nominated include the tome on bread by Adam Robinson and Roger Jardine. I have always found dough devilish and cunning but it makes sense to bake your own bread.

And who could resist South Africa Our Italian Legacy of Love by Chiara and Ryan Viljoen?

But given one outing I would plump for lunch with Isabella Niehaus in Langebaan. The cookbook that I would love to own is Isabella’s Mussel Feast because I lived in that part of the world for a whole chunk of my life.

There are surprises, Somizi Mhlongo-Motaung hit number one on the food and drink charts in South Africa with his book Dinner at Somizi’s – I am not a chef – which knocked Jamie Oliver into second place which was a big deal in most of the English speaking countries.

This year there were 1,558 selections from 227 countries and regions, the maximum on record.

Plant based cookbooks were box office and South Africa stood out with Made with Love & Plants written by Tammy Fry who took the prestigious Best in South Africa spot in the category Corporate Tie-in at the 2022 Gourmand World Cookbook awards.

Cookbooks provide publishers with golden bounty. They are as addictive as Xanax. DM/TGIFood