The Book Market

[herbacidal]

If you had to make an honest assessment, how much more growth do you think there is for the "story" part of the book market's cooking+restaurant sub-section?

I actually have no interest in cookbooks at all, but have continually been interested in books such as Soul of a Chef, Fourth Star, Kitchen Confidential, etc.

Is it tied directly to nothing more than the growth of the US and global population, or is tied perhaps at a much slower rate?

[Michael Ruhlman]

I don't know the answer to that. A guess? I think people are finding out that the work of cooking is about much more than cooking and food, and that's why we like to read food narratives. I don't have a lot of patience for cookbooks either. I have to go write headnotes now for the bouchon cookbook and I all but fall asleep trying to write them, but get me talking about what makes it perfect, and how to perfect it, and the kind of person who will want to perfect this or that dish, then the blood start pumping again.