Are Cookbooks Still Relevant?

In today’s digital age, where recipes are just a click away on websites, apps and social media platforms, the question arises: Are cookbooks still relevant? Just ask Jamie Oliver.

 

While it may seem that the convenience of online resources could make physical cookbooks obsolete, for many they remain a beloved tool in kitchens around the world, continue to have a place in modern cooking culture and still matter in an era dominated by technology.

 

I have many wonderful old cookbooks in my kitchen from which I will never part.

 

Some cookbooks often focus on a specific cuisine, technique or dietary preference which  allows for a deeper dive into a particular food culture or cooking method, something that can be more time consuming to achieve through generic search results online.

 

Cookbooks can also be a way to develop culinary skills, learning techniques that go beyond basic recipe-following. Many chefs and food writers share their expertise on topics like knife skills, seasoning techniques, flavour pairings, shortcuts and alternative ingredients which can elevate a cook’s ability and confidence in the kitchen.

Not everyone is convinced though. We asked a number of chefs, including several from Capsicum Culinary Studio, if cookbooks are still relevant, and here’s what they said.

Chef Charl Botha, Capsicum Culinary Studio, Cape Town campus: Yes, even if they become digital we will always have a need for a recipe book; it just makes it easier when a lot of your favourites are grouped together in one book.

Chef Karsen Govender, Capsicum Culinary Studio, Durban campus:  I don’t think cookbooks are relevant these days as most recipes are available online and via YouTube guided videos.

Jenny Morris (aka the Giggling Gourmet): For me cookbooks will always be relevant. I love the themes and stories and collections of recipes between the covers of a book.

 

Chef Melissa Collop, Capsicum Culinary Studio, Cape Town campus: Cookbooks allow readers to dive into cooking traditions and cultures and educate them at the same time. One of my first cookbooks was Cape Malay Cookbook by Faldela Williams, which I still use to this day.

 

 

Chef Lebo Mamabolo, Capsicum Culinary Studio, Pretoria campus: Even in the digital age cookbooks are still inspirational, relevant and useful. One of my first cookbooks was The Art of Bread Making by Jacques Pépin. I still have the book and use it every time I need to make a loaf of bread. I’m also a fan of Jamie Oliver’s 30 Minute Meals as I am a ‘let’s get in the kitchen and cook with love and get it done with’ kinda girl, and his 30 minute meals are my favourite.

 

Last word from Hilary Biller, cookbook author and Sunday Times food editor: Definitely! You just have to look at sales of cookbooks, especially those written by the popular big chefs. And why would publishers keep on producing them if the market wasn’t hungry?

 

 

Did you Know?

 

The oldest cookbook in English is The Forme of Cury, a medieval collection of recipes compiled around 1390 by the master cooks of King Richard II. The title translates to The Method of Cookery in modern English, and contains recipes for dishes such as Makerouns, a cheese and pasta casserole (and precursor to macaroni cheese); Tart in Ymber Day, an onion and egg tart; Compost, a stew, or preserved mixture of cooked fruit or veg; Payn Puff, a pastry made with cream; Frumenty, a thick, boiled porridge and the self-explanatory Gingerbrede.

 

Recipe example:

Egurdouce. Take connynges or kydde and smyte hem on pecys rawe and fry hem in white grece. Take raysouns of coraunce and fry hem. Take oynouns, perboile hem and hewe them small and fry hem. Take rede wyne and a lytel vynegur, sugur with powdour of pepr, of ginger, of canel, salt and cast þerto, and lat it seeþ with a gode quantite of white grece, and serve it forth.

 

Translation: Take young rabbits or kid and cut them into pieces and fry them in lard. Take raisins or currants and fry them. Take onions, parboil them, and chop them small and fry them. Take red wine and a little vinegar, sugar and powdered pepper, ginger, cinnamon, salt and add them, and let it simmer gently with a good quantity of white lard and serve.