title: Cookbook Book
author: Annahita Kamali and Florian Böhm

publication date: November 3, 2014
publisher: Phaidon Press

Recipes in a great cookbook…are the recommendations of one real person that compiled his secrets into a single book…Like a great story, a cookbook is your companion and your friend that will stay by your side.
— Florian Böhm and Annahita Kamali (Cookbook Book)

From the Amazon blurb: “Compiled by a panel of experts in the fields of art, design, food and photography, Cookbook Book is an opus celebrating cookbooks of all shapes, sizes, languages and culinary traditions. From tried‐and‐true classics such as Larousse Gastronomique and Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child to surprising quirky choices such as The Mafia Cookbook and The Hawaiian Cookbook, each of these cookbooks has shaped, influenced or revolutionized home‐cooking in its own way. Includes translations and full recipes. The book features stand out, gorgeous photography and is essential for any collector of vintage cookbooks or for those that love food history.”

Dr. Oetker Schulkochbuch (Dr. Oetker School Cookbook) by Dr. August Oetker

As soon as I saw this book, it went on my wishlist – how could a person who collects cookbooks resist a book about cookbooks?

It took me a while to decide whether to file this under ‘cookbook review’ or ‘book review. Since this book does include a recipe from every cookbook featured, and you CAN cook from it easily, I filed it under cookbooks, although I haven’t cooked from this book yet. For me, this was more of a food history book, rather than a book I would be cooking from. You’ll notice that this ‘cookbook review’ is missing a lot of the elements I usually include in a review, since some of them aren’t applicable.

the first nibble:

Phaidon, which is well known for its gorgeous photography books, has now given the same treatment to cookbooks – from classic to contemporary. Included are many cookbooks that I recognize, a few that I own and more than several that I had never heard of before.

There are the classics (The Joy of Cooking and Larousse Gastronomique), the foreign language (1080 Recetas de Cocina and Kogebog for Hvermand), the odd (DC Super Heroes Super Healthy Cookbook and White Trash Cooking) and the modern (The French Laundry Book, Momofuku and Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals), with recipes ranging from 1885 to the present.

Housewife’s Friend (author unknown)

This is basically a chronicling of cookbooks through history. While not completely comprehensive, it gives the reader a nice, visual journey through many of the world’s most popular, and enduring, cookbooks.

the nitty-gritty:

number of recipes (as stated by book): 125 cookbooks featured (with at least once recipe from each book)

recipe list? No, but there is an Recipe Index at the back of the book

table of contents:

photography:  This is a Phaidon book, so it goes without saying that the photography is a strong point. Each cookbook featured is given a two-page spread and the way the book is laid out, it looks as if you’re flipping into the cookbook itself (see my photos to get a better feel for what I’m trying to describe).

The cookbooks themselves are the star of the photography, NOT the food. So if you were hoping for a book filled with food-porn photos, you’d be sorely disappointed.

Besides the introductions and the chapter headings, there is pretty much no text in the book (not including the text seen in the cookbook photos).

There are two separate indices in the book – a traditional index (listing recipes, cookbooks and authors) and an A-Z Book List (listing all the cookbooks included in the book).

Thai Food by David Thompson

the last bite:

Although this isn’t primarily a cookbook, there are a huge variety of recipes included since there are so many different cookbooks featured. You can find recipes for everything from Bouillabaisse to Haschich Fudge, from Baked Alaska to Curried Bird Seed and from Mac n Cheese Pancakes to Carbonara Sauce – it’s all in here.

Personally, I’m probably never going to cook out of this book (although I might attempt some of the more historical recipes, just for laughs), but it’s definitely fun looking at all the different recipes and how cookbooks have evolved through the years. This is a great ‘cookbook history’ book.

Visual Recipes: A Cookbook for Non-Readers by Tabitha Orth

This is a lovely book to have in your collection if you are into collecting cookbooks or food history in general (like I am). However, at this higher price point, it’s probably not something that the average homecook needs to have on their bookshelves. As I mentioned previously in this review, I’m pretty sure I’m never going to actually cook from this ‘cookbook’, but I am glad that I added it to my collection for the food reference/history value.

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