Cookbook Trends 16/17
Cookbooks are subject to trends too. What defined the cookbook year 2016, and where is it heading in 2017? Cookbook watcher Fusina Verloop, initiator of the Cookbook of the Year Election, knows.
This was 2016 in cookbooks
1. Well-known Dutch people making cookbooks. From Guus Meeuwis to Dafne Schippers.
2. Diet books are out, long live body books. Such as Killerbody by Fajah Lourens, the bestseller of 2016. ‘Cookbooks that explain what food does to your body are replacing old-school books for losing weight.’
3. Food bloggers go offline
. ‘Ultimately, every food blogger wants their own printed cookbook.’
4. Special-subject cookbooks:
‘Focusing on one subject: meat, fish, vegetables, sour, fermentation, sausages, breakfast or patisserie.’
5. Self-publishing. ‘Such as Lisa goes vegan by food blogger Lisa Stel and Chef het met tomaat by Keet Smakelijk.’
In 2017, the emphasis is no longer on stories, but on recipes: easy, simple & fast.
This will be 2017 in cookbooks
1. Simplification:
‘Cookbooks are becoming simpler. Fewer drawings, photos and stories, returning to and emphasizing recipes: easy, simple and fast—driven by the wishes of a new generation of cookbook buyers.’
2. “Healthy” cookbooks without the admonishing finger: ‘Yes, you watch what you eat and you eat a balanced diet. Usually. But every now and then you also enjoy eating deliciously over-the-top indulgent food.’
3. Dessert books by leading pastry chefs and sweet baking books on the one hand, and books full of recipes using sugar substitutes on the other. ‘There is no longer just one truth.’
4. Local and seasonal cuisines are reaching the general public: ‘After chefs, sommeliers, sausage makers and BBQ boys, growers—such as Dutch garlic growers—are now becoming the new heroes. They are getting a face.’
5. A cookbook by fellow countrymen: ‘That is what I personally hope for: Dutch Cuisine in a new style for the home. So with Surinamese, Indonesian, Turkish, Moroccan, Vietnamese, Polish and other influences.’
Also read 2016 in cookbooks.
Image from: Patisserie, Hidde de Brabander, published by VBK Media.
