Rise of the cookbook

Cookbooks now make up half of all non-fiction bestsellers’ lists. Ahead of TasteFest Cork, local foodie Joe McNamee says his favourite Father’s Day gift is a good food tome packed with mouth-watering pictures and delicious treats.

ONCE upon a time, it was pretty straightforward. Wildly unimaginative, but straightforward. Old Spice, socks, golf tees, that sort of thing. But did you ever think the day would come when a cookbook would be right up there as one of the more popular choices for Father’s Day presents? Furthermore, unlike the pong or the cheap plastic, Dads are genuinely delighted to receive these cookbooks. And one man did more than most to instigate that change.

It’s roughly 25 years since Marco Pierre White burst out of the kitchen. The personification of his own coinage — ‘cooking is the new rock’n’roll’ — he single-handedly launched the age of the celebrity chef. Ever since, they have been multiplying like minks and while few have anything approaching MPW’s talent, it has not stopped them guzzling greedily on the oxygen of publicity and rewards infinitely more enticing than those available to mere stove jockeys.