Cooking the Books: the past, present and future of cookbooks

Cooking the Books: The past, present and future of cookbooks

The cookbook has long occupied an important cultural position in British society. As an early printed book, it was a prized heirloom treasured across generations, and in more recent times it has appeared in diverse forms to accommodate a range of eating preferences and cultural interests. The contents of a recipe book have been moulded to significant historical events, including as frugal cookbooks in wartime, and compiled to celebrate important events in the cultural calendar. Cookbook writers have recorded social change, most notably during the 19th Century, and some cookbook writers have, through extensive media exposure, become modern day celebrities.

Increasingly, however, with the turn to the online world, we question whether this traditional collection of recipes is in danger of being replaced by easily-available single recipe internet searches. But with sales of cookbooks continuing to rise, why do cookbooks remain such a publishing boom and does it even matter if we don’t even cook from them anymore?

Join us for a lively panel debate where we will consider all of this and more - the history of the cookbook, its cultural proliferation and significance, and its future. 

Host: Angela Clutton

Angela Clutton is a food writer, cook and presenter.

She is the author of three cookbooks. Her debut book, The Vinegar Cupboard, won the Jane Grigson Trust Award, two awards at the Guild of Food Writers Awards and won ‘Debut Cookery Book’ at the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards. Her second book, Borough Market: The Knowledge, was shortlisted at the Guild of Food Writers Awards. Her latest cookbook published in March 2024 is Seasoning - How To Cook and Celebrate The Seasons.

Angela is Co-Director of the British Library’s ‘Food Season’ programme, curating and presenting talks and events across food issues, culture and writing. She has worked extensively with Borough Market as a feature writer, recipe developer, demonstration cook, host of the hugely popular Cookbook Club and the Borough Talks podcast series featuring Melissa Hemsley, Kimberley Wilson, Tim Lang, Tom Parker-Bowles and more.

She has written on food and drink for publications such as the Daily Telegraph, Independent and Country Life. Broadcast work includes the Channel 5 ‘Inside…’ series.

Panellist: Diane Purkiss

Diane Purkiss is a professor of English at the University of Oxford, and a fellow of Keble College. Her most recent book is English food: a People's history (Collins, 2022) which won the Guild of Food writers award for best book. She has published books on witchcraft and on the English Civil War. She is now working on two further projects: a history of the English at sea, and a study of execution in Tudor and Stuart England.

Panellist: Mark Riddaway

Mark Riddaway is a writer, editor, publisher and food historian. For more than a decade, he edited and published Borough Market’s award-winning food magazine, Market Life, which included his popular column on the history of food and cooking. His book Borough Market: Edible Histories, which explores the epic stories of 15 everyday ingredients sold at the market, was shortlisted in the debut book category at the 2021 Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards.

Panellist: Stephanie Jackson

Stephanie Jackson, Publishing Director at DK, has more than 30 years' experience in publishing – and a particular passion for cookbooks. She has commissioned, acquired, developed, edited and published dozens of cookbooks over the years, and worked with many notable chefs, institutions, restaurants and food writers including Marco Pierre White, Pierre Koffmann, Monica Galetti, The Ritz London, Claridge's, The Pig, Larousse, Foodpairing NV, Le Pain Quotidien, Pitt Cue Co., The Palomar, Sabrina Ghayour, Diana Henry, Olia Hercules, Kate Humble and Tom Parker Bowles.

Tickets for the event will include drinks and three canapes, themed to the evening. Tickets cost £35pp.