A cook who writes or a writer who cooks?

[ruthcooks]

Hello, Amanda,

Do you make a distinction between cookbooks written from the life experiences of the author and those written by an author who "gets an idea" for a cookbook and researches and tests recipes for it?

My wakeup came while attending a writers' conference on book marketing. The emphasis there was defining your market and sales pitch, THEN writing the book to fit.

Do you consider yourself first a writer or a cook? And was this your original intention?

Thanks for your participation.

Ruth Dondanville

[Amanda]

hi ruth.

it seems to me that there is a natural distinction between the two styles of books. if i were to generalize, as a reader and user of cookbooks, i would say that i am drawn to those written from the life experiences of the author. i am a big fan of books by paula wolfert, marcella hazan and nancy jenkins.

books on single subjects like ice cream or polenta always kind of depress me because you know that they had to be produced with marketing in mind. and also because i feel badly for the author who has had to spend a year eating ice cream or polenta every day.

i consider myself both a cook and a writer because i learned to do both around the same time. when i first started out, i thought that i would like to write, but felt that i needed to learn more about cooking first.

i worked in europe for three years and while i was there, i wrote tons of letters. i didn't realize it at the time, but those letters were building a great foundation for writing.

hope that answers your questions. /a