At a Book Expo where convention-goers walked past piles of printed galleys on their way to conferences about e-books, e-readers, and e-everything, it was fitting that the panel "The Future of Food Writing and Cookbook Publishing" on May 26 featured a mix of old- and new-school opinions. Editors, publicists, salespeople, agents, and writers involved in cookbooks crowded into a too-small meeting room at the Javits Center to hear Fine Cooking editor Laurie Buckle wrangle Norton editor Maria Guarnaschelli, New York Times columnist and In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite author Melissa Clark, Apartment Therapy: The Kitchn founding editor Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan, and Tasting Table editor Nick Fauchald, as they considered the state of the business.
Within minutes of asking the panel what they thought about crowd-sourced recipe site Food 52's recent "online food fight" with Cook's Illustrated, it was clear there were some diverse opinions at the table. Clark, Gillingham-Ryan, and Fauchald were able to draw on their deep experience with online food writing, offering unique perspectives on how people learn to cook today, and what role food bloggers play (Clark compared them to magazine editors, or "curators"). Although the results of the Food52/Cook's Illustrated showdown weren't revealed until after the panel (Cook's Illustrated won), Food52 got some love from Clark, who noted, "Cook's Illustrated recipes work, but half the time they don't taste that good." Is it even possible to say which medium--print or online--has better, more reliable recipes? As Gillingham-Ryan put it, "Sure, there's a lot of crap on the internet. But there's a lot of bad cookbooks."
And then there was Guarnaschelli, the esteemed editor of stalwart classics ranging from The Cake Bible to The Joy of Cooking. She said she hadn't seen Food52. Regardless: "I don't think you can compete" with Cook's Illustrated--or cookbooks, for that matter, Guarnaschelli said. Throughout the hour-long discussion, Guarnaschelli made it clear that she may not spend a lot of time reading food blogs, although she mentioned that she'd recently signed up a book by Goodeater blogger (and Cook's Illustrated writer) Kenji Alt. And she may not be a big fan of Twitter ("All these people commenting--who cares what they have to say? What do they know?") but she knows that some cookbook authors--she mentioned Norton's Rick Bayless--have huge followings. (Clark said Twitter is a great research tool: "it's our way to reach out and get immediate responses").
By the end of the discussion, Guarnaschelli had taken over, asking the other panelists, "How does a cookbook author start a blog?", getting an answer, and remarking, "Boy, did I learn something!" The panel may not have determined the future of food writing or cookbook publishing, but it certainly proved that food writing and cookbooks are a genre in flux.
This story originally appeared in Cooking the Books, PW's e-newsletter for cookbooks.
