It is no longer enough to teach to cook. In times of infinity scroll and 15 second video recipes, gastronomy books fight offering permanence, sense and voice. They seek to tell a story, convey a philosophy, build an identity. Today the publishers not only edit recipes; They publish affective stories, aesthetic objects and small personal or cultural manifestos.
In this eclectic panorama they live Books that function as visual and emotional guidesothers that bet on design and trends and also those that support the most classic value of the recipe book. Different approaches join in the same goal: to accompany those who cook, think, feel or collect.
Buenos Aires identity
“Buenos Aires cuisine is more alive than ever,” they say Cayetana Vidal and Silvina Reusmann, authors of “non -definitive guide of the Morfi Buenos Aires” (monoblock)a brand new book that was born from nostalgia but ended up becoming an affective and contemporary map of what we eat in Buenos Aires. From the beginning, both knew that they wanted to make a fragmentary, enlightened and multiple levels of reading book, which could be opened anywhere and always made sense. The illustrations of Milagros Brascó (daughter of Miguel Brascópioneer of gastronomic journalism with Fernando Vidal BuzziCayetana’s father) add a symbolic layer to the project: a recipe book that condenses much more than recipes; It is a portrait of customs, an emotional catalog of dishes, flavors and stories that build identity.
Initially conceived as a final encyclopedia of the Buenos Aires table, the project mutó along the way. Pandemia, the rise of neobodegons and the growing fusion of cultures pushed the authors to rethink the focus. Thus, the book became more a guide of dishes than of places, From the roast of Don Julio to the gnocchi with stew of Evelia and the Deconstructed Rogel of Menganojust to name some of the infallible “Buenos Aires menu” that both authors recreated.
“Before the kitchen books were utilitaries, today they are aesthetic objects,” says Vidal. “We were interested in making a book that would tell stories,” Reusmann adds. And at that cross between the visual, the emotional and the narrative one appears one of the keys of the new editorial paradigm, where the recipe book works as an excuse – or rather as a bridge – to say something else. To preserve a memory, draw an identity, invite to look with other eyes what is put on the plate.
Navigate between trends
But not all cookbooks are slowly. Some publishers bet on design, commercial intuition and a sharp look on trends. This is the case of Catapultwhere they take advantage of the artillery they already have to produce children’s books and also put it at the service of the gastronomic. Here the commitment to kitchen titles starts from a differential approach: take advantage of that experience to create objects that are highlighted at tables, kitchens and libraries. That look is transferred to all aspects of the process, from photography and the selection of recipes to the construction of the content. “We seek to make books that work inside and outside the kitchen. As a source of inspiration for those who want to cook, but also as decoration objects,” says Chloe Pok, editor in charge of the gastronomic books section.
The catalog combines usual themes with bets that read the pulse of the moment. “Milanese, bread, pasta, are classics that last over time and on which there is always interest, ”says Poak. Christian Petersen’s book, “Milanesas”, is a clear example fresh out of the oven, as is “field”, by Pía Fendrik and Ángela Copello. And there is also space for the new or unexpected. Oriental cuisine, for example, is imposed as a current trend, although it is not known how long it will last. The same happened at the time with the phenomenon of the mother mass. The key, for the publishing house, is to find the balance between the timeless and the contemporary, to detect when an issue becomes a book and not only in fashion.
And in times when chefs are present in networks and usually share their recipes, the differential is to rest in curatorship, cohesion and permanence offered by a book. “There is a specific content selection criterion that, once written, remains forever. Each page is thought of as a unit that composes a universe, which in turn represents the cook or cook,” explains Pok. And in that gesture of narrating, ordering and opening the story to the reader, the possibility of appropriating an experience appears.
A vital tool
And not everything is trends, illustrations or design. For Editorial Planeta, the kitchen book remains, above all, a tool. “We make books for people who cook”summarizes Mariano Valerio, editor of the house in charge of these books with Tomás Linch. Its approach is based on the premise that the value is in utility. And for that, first of all, the important thing is that the recipes work. “Our priority is that books provide a long -term service, that readers have available all the necessary and orderly information, so that the recipes come out in the best possible way,” he describes.
That does not mean to put aside the visual (the photos, the design, the tone), but to use it as an ally of the above. The first commitment is with the tested and solid content. It is what makes many of their titles become classics of consultation. Some examples are “The ABC of the pastry shop” by Osvaldo Gross; “Eat and have fun,” from Narda Lepes; “Mealprep”, from Paulina Cuisine; or “hello came”, of Agustina de Alba. Books that do not expire, because their base is clear: good recipes, well explained and with the voice of an author who knows what he does.
Although they recognize that healthy eating became a transverse axis, especially in the last 20 years, and that there are books that address the gastronomic from multiple disciplines (such as “Ñam ñam” by Narda Lepeswhich crosses kitchen with nutrition, anthropology and psychology), on Planet the book continues to occupy a place of authority against the vertigo of the networks. “Have you ever tried to find a recipe in the feed of a chef? Or among the stored posts?” Lanza Valerio. “The book offers quantity, order, authority and detailed explanation. No one makes all the recipes of a book, but it does mark three or four that always returns. And it only needs an index. Neither electric current nor Internet connection. A little natural light,” he encourages.
That is why it is not surprising that here the kitchen books continue to edit (unlike other editorial houses where they have taken their foot from the accelerator due to the high costs they usually insume). Among the last releases can be found “Verdurísima”, from Paulina Kitchen; “LETTER PASTRY”, by Pedro Lambertini; “Atlas del Café”, by Nicolás Artusi and “Buenos Aires Kitchen: 170 recipes from the notable bar of Buenos Aires Los Galos”, by Julián Díaz and Rodolfo Reich.
Although their formats, tones and approaches vary, the kitchen books continue to occupy a particular place in the reader imaginary. They are manual, but also daily; They are consulted, used and inherited. Some come to preserve what is known, others to challenge what is known. But all, deep down, talk about the most human and fundamental: how we live, remember and share.
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