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Press Release – December 1,2004

COOKBOOK TRENDS

2001 - 2004

The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards receive so many books that trends can be measured worldwide. Cookbooks are now a global market, with the same concepts being used in most cultures. The speed of the trends varies country by country, but the concepts are the same, with minor local differences.

We differentiate between long term and short term trends. Long term is four years, because cookbooks have a cycle of life of about 4 years now. A new factor is that cookbooks become old fashioned in appearance in 4 to 6 years, with rapid changes in photography, design, packaging and style worldwide. Short term trends are 1 year to 18 months, the time it takes to make a good cookbook. The cookbook year centers on Décember, when 25% of the sales of cookbooks take place.

The following tables measure more the spread of the interest on one subject around the world than its strength in specific countries or markets. Its use is most important for publishers, who want to measure international distribution potentials for different subjects. For instance Italian or Vegetarian may be very strong in some markets, but globally they are decreasing as a world wide trend, Fish is increasing globally as a long term trend, and Meat as a short term trend.

1.- The Current Worldwide Ranking of Cookbook Subjects

The Top Eight:

Easy Recipes

Single Subjects

Desserts

Chefs Books

Health and Nutrition Cookbooks

Culinary History and Food Literature

Local and Regional

Foreign Cuisines

Ranking of the foreign cuisines books (books published on a cuisine foreign to the publisher)

The Top Four:

Mediterranean

French

Asian

Italian

2.- Long Term Trends – 2001/2004

Going Up :

Technical aspects now rule. Immediate visual perception by the potential reader has become crucial. The visual impact and the price become the key factors. Photography, design and innovative packaging have the first impact, followed by the price, and then the authors name, with some exceptions.

The subjects that have increased the most worldwide, in declining order:

Desserts

Food Literature and Culinary History

Health and Nutrition

Fish and Seafood

Barbecue

Bread

Children Books

Going Down:

Vegetarian

Entertaining

3.- Short Term Cookbook Trends Worldwide – 2004/2003

Going Up :

Food Literature and History

Desserts

Easy Recipes

Asian

French

Moslem Countries

Food Meat

Going Down:

Vegetarian

Italian

Entertaining

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