I actually fall on the other side of the argument! I totally understand where your coming from, but I think the middle ground for the average home cook is illustrations. Books like Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat or Mastering the Art of French Cooking thread that needle of showing you how to do it, without making you feel like a failure if it doesn't look perfect. As a cookbook collector, I also think that food photography is more likely to look dated quicker than illustrations. I have some amazing cookbooks about wild/foraged foods from the 1970s with awesome recipes that have THE WORST photography by our standards/preferences today.
That being said, though, there are definitely times where photography is probably the best option, particularly for cookbooks geared towards beginners! Or if you're trying to capture a particular moment/place in time, for example Bethlehem (Fadi Kattan). But overall, I think illustration has more longevity and use case than photography.
Love this conversation and your important points. I particularly agree with your mention of photographs for the beginner, but I would even go further than that. I'm a pretty experienced cook and I always appreciate photographs that can help me with plating ideas or visually describe the "cook" of a new dish or ingredient. If we as cooking authors and writers, can highlight in our text that sometimes "perfection is the enemy of progress", I think it would go a long way to alleviating the pressures of trying to meet those perfect plating standards.
Great comments! I'm going to follow your Substack for more!
I love this! I very much agree that a book helps someone being like “that looks good I should try it!” If ingredients or techniques are new to me, it’s nice to know what my end goal is
Exactly! The bell curve for cooking skills is a big one and cookbooks are such a beautiful way to help inspire new and seasoned cooks. Thank you for reading! I hope you'll subscribe too!
I actually fall on the other side of the argument! I totally understand where your coming from, but I think the middle ground for the average home cook is illustrations. Books like Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat or Mastering the Art of French Cooking thread that needle of showing you how to do it, without making you feel like a failure if it doesn't look perfect. As a cookbook collector, I also think that food photography is more likely to look dated quicker than illustrations. I have some amazing cookbooks about wild/foraged foods from the 1970s with awesome recipes that have THE WORST photography by our standards/preferences today.
That being said, though, there are definitely times where photography is probably the best option, particularly for cookbooks geared towards beginners! Or if you're trying to capture a particular moment/place in time, for example Bethlehem (Fadi Kattan). But overall, I think illustration has more longevity and use case than photography.
But again, I totally see your point as well!
Love this conversation and your important points. I particularly agree with your mention of photographs for the beginner, but I would even go further than that. I'm a pretty experienced cook and I always appreciate photographs that can help me with plating ideas or visually describe the "cook" of a new dish or ingredient. If we as cooking authors and writers, can highlight in our text that sometimes "perfection is the enemy of progress", I think it would go a long way to alleviating the pressures of trying to meet those perfect plating standards.
Great comments! I'm going to follow your Substack for more!
Cheers
I love this! I very much agree that a book helps someone being like “that looks good I should try it!” If ingredients or techniques are new to me, it’s nice to know what my end goal is
Exactly! The bell curve for cooking skills is a big one and cookbooks are such a beautiful way to help inspire new and seasoned cooks. Thank you for reading! I hope you'll subscribe too!