Dear Readers,
Approximately one year ago, co-editor Mark and I launched The Gastronomer’s Bookshelf to help foodloving bookloving gastronomes navigate the sea of food-related books out there. Neither of us remembers exactly when we pressed the decloaking button, so what better than a combined one-year anniversary announcement and Christmas/end-of-year greeting for 2009?
Reviewing is difficult and takes time, thought and practice. We all know that a cookbook by a popular author will be lapped up by most fans, but The Gastronomer’s Bookshelf seeks to cut through the fan enthusiasm and the I-got-a-freebie glowing reviews, and look more clearly at what value any book can contribute to your own collection. Some people will disagree with a review — that’s the nature of reviews and audiences — but we’re proud to be contributing to a discussion about books in a market flooded with new titles every year.
We’re grateful for the feedback from site visitors and for the great work of our reviewers, some of whom had never even contemplated writing a review before seeing our site. The Gastronomer’s Bookshelf is entirely volunteer run and funded. The small commission we get from purchases made via links to Amazon, Book Depository and Fishpond helps us offset the server and domain costs for the site, and to support the programmers of the free software that makes a complex website possible.
We are also immensely grateful for the support of many publishers — something we hadn’t expected when we started. The Gastronomer’s Bookshelf is unique in trying to be as international as we can, featuring books from many places. In fact, our Year-end Countdown features have even highlighted some interesting non-English-language books, and we hope to expand the breadth of the site as time passes.
During our first year we’ve started writing special features, and we’ve published 67 reviews (ranging from one one-star review to 23 five-stars) and over 100 book announcements to help readers discover new and interesting books.
If you like The Gastronomer’s Bookshelf and think your friends might too, why not tell them about us or, if you have a website, put a little badge in your sidebar? (It’s the graphic shown at the top of this article.) The code for the badge is just:
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Thanks to everyone who has in some way helped The Gastronomer’s Bookshelf grow so much in 2009! To those who celebrate it, Merry Christmas, and Mark and I wish everyone a great 2010.
Below are some of my personal suggestions for the year (reflecting my bias towards food-writing), plus some notes from a few of our reviewers.
Best wishes
Duncan Markham
Editor’s picks
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And more…
Co-editor Mark Manguerra nominates two books for his favourites, and feels obliged to mention his biggest disappointment:
Ad Hoc at Home has graced many a best-of list this year, and with good reason: comfort food regained popularity again this year, and Ad Hoc at Home not only delivers on familiar, approachable food fit for family feasts, but maintains the elegance, quality, and expert techniques of Thomas Keller. Ad Hoc at Home is Keller’s most fun book yet, and there’s plenty of those educational “Aha!” moments throughout.
Buy this book: (opens in new window)
Release dates/editions can vary between countries.Warm Bread and Honey Cake wasn’t as prominent on those lists but it has quickly become one of my favorite baking books. Too often it seems like dessert cookbooks only take me to America, Britain, and France (lather, rinse, repeat) but Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra breaks those boundaries and includes home-style baking recipes from the Middle East, Asia, Europe, Australia, South America and Africa. The traditional recipes and gorgeous pictures are sure to capture the imagination of many dessert lovers.
Buy this book: (opens in new window)
Release dates/editions can vary between countries.Not good: America’s Best BBQ by Paul Kirk is a cacophonous collection of 100 places across America that the authors consider to be the best “swine dining.” It was promising until you are assaulted by the garish and depressing photographs, sometimes in clumsily assembled collages, intertwined with silly facts and a few bits of barbecue know-how that have been covered in hundreds of barbecue books before. The worst feature, though, are the recipes, with only a handful of sauces and rubs, the rest being sides, desserts, and various meats cooked with the featured restaurants’ secret proprietary sauces. Take only the useful information — the names of the restaurants — and you have enough material for a newspaper article.
Reviewer Lucy has some picks, some Christmas wishes, and a few detestables:
Kitchen Essays by Agnes Jekyll: Wonderful between-the-wars period piece; a book of highly entertaining short essays on housekeeping. Recipes like Camenbert in Aspic may not be likely to appear on 21st century tables soon, but make for fascinating reading nonetheless. [Duncan says: YES! wonderful book from a wonderful publisher (Persephone)]
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Release dates/editions can vary between countries.The Clatter of Forks and Spoons by Richard Corrigan: Corrigan’s book is absorbing, with a distinctly Irish way of storytelling woven through his outstanding recipes. Literature and food are at one in this huge, beautiful book, but it’s Kristin Perers’ stunning, minimal photography that, for me, makes it stand out. Best cookbook investment, this year. [And reviewed by Daniel Chan here earlier this year.]
Buy this book: (opens in new window)
Release dates/editions can vary between countries.Two books I wish for this Christmas:
Venus in the Kitchen by Norman Douglas (Douglas was friend and confidante to Elizabeth David. An eccentric book of aphrodisiacs, full of witty text and esoteric historic recipes from Roman times and beyond. An original 1950’s edition would make me very happy.)
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Release dates/editions can vary between countries.The Songs of Sapa by Luke Nguyen (A holiday to Vietnam this year made me fall in love – all over again – with the complex flavours of Viet food. I’m loving the sights and sounds from the television series and the book looks just as good.)
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Release dates/editions can vary between countries.And a few that Lucy really disliked: The Vegetarian Option by Simon Hopkinson, Wild Food by Juleigh Robins, Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes by Jeanne Kelley.
Reviewer Daniel Chan also loved The Clatter of Forks and Spoons by Richard Corrigan (above)…
and Black Pudding and Foie Gras by Andrew Pern (This is a self-published effort, and it is a beautiful production without being glitzy. In a similar way to Corrigan, Pern pays homage to his specialist suppliers. His recipes are more sophisticated than from initial impressions, and amongst the foie gras and truffles, you’ll find ingredients like York ham and Lancashire cheese. It’s also very hard to dislike a book where recipe titles include descriptions like “with boozy prune ice cream” and “posh cheese on toast!!”.)
Buy this book: (opens in new window)
Release dates/editions can vary between countries.Daniel also liked Ad Hoc at Home (see Mark’s favourites above) and MoVida Rustica by Frank Camorra and Richard Cornish (the second book from Melbourne’s most famous tapas restaurant).
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Release dates/editions can vary between countries.Unfortunately, Daniel’s Christmas wishes are for books that don’t exist: “I’d love to see [outstanding Australian chef] Andrew McConnell reveal how he weaves his magic in the kitchen. And to show that I’m not strictly a savoury person, I also want to see a desserts cookbook with all of [Australian pastry wiz] Philippa Sibley’s secrets in it.”
That’s all folks!
More reviews and announcements that might be interesting:
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2 Comments
Has the website only been around for a year? I feel like it’s been longer. For an avid cookbook collector and reader like myself, I for one, can’t make do without it.
Its been a pleasure reading and writing for this site. Even this little post has prompted me to buy Black Pudding and Foie Gras. Cheers to a great 2010!