How are we cooking? Well, mostly local, if cookbook sales are any indication – 14 of the top 20 cookbooks for the year are from New Zealand – but No 1 was Australian, Nagi Maehashi’s RecipeTin Eats: Dinner. It’s no great surprise, given it’s also hugely popular across the Ditch – it was the highest-selling title by a debut Australian author when it was released in late-2022, and for good reason.
Maehashi is a self-taught cook who launched her website a decade ago but the pandemic turbocharged her following. Born in Japan, Sydney-raised, the former auditor at PWC offers 150 recipes for dinner, from comfort food to weeknight quickies, Asian noodle dishes and soups, Mexican meals and substantial salads. The food looks delicious and no doubt tastes it (her kitchen staples are garlic, butter, colby cheese, chardonnay and gochujang, a spicy, savoury Korean paste), and you can even QR-code the videos of her cooking dishes.
As has been the case for several years now, delicious and achievable is the mantra. Many cooks have already built a substantial social media presence before writing a cookbook. One is Philippa Cameron, whose Winter Warmers is close behind Maehashi’s. The top-selling author of A High Country Life, Cameron offers more stories in the book about life on a high-country station in North Otago and throws in 70 more hearty recipes.
Of course, the UK’s Jamie Oliver and Yotam Ottolenghi appear in the top 20, as do a few more Australians, but local cooks have taken over. Vanya Insull, Nadia Lim and Rosa and Margo Flanagan each boast two titles; Christall Lowe’s award-winning Kai makes the cut; and Naomi Toilalo, Cherie Metcalfe and Al Brown round out the list.
However cooks sell it – simple, fast or one-pan – we’re busy and we want real, flavoursome food quickly. In the list, there are no air fryers to be seen, fewer strictly vegetarian titles and only one keto cookbook.
All up, nearly 37,000 cookbooks were sold here this year. This may seem an awful lot, but Nielsen BookScan reckons the food and drink category is down about 20% on last year – little wonder given more difficult economic times and soaring interesting rates.
Top 20 Cookbooks
RecipeTin Eats: Dinner by Nagi Maehashi (Macmillan)
Winter Warmers by Philippa Cameron (A&U)
One: Simple One-Pan Wonders by Jamie Oliver (Michael Joseph)
Summer Favourites by Vanya Insull (A&U)
The Fast 800 Keto Recipe Book by Clare Bailey & Dr Michael Mosley (Hachette)
The Fast Five by Donna Hay (HarperCollins)
Simple Fancy by Margo & Rosa Flanagan (A&U)
Salad by Margo & Rosa Flanagan (A&U)
Yum! By Nadia Lim (Nude Food)
Edmonds Cookery Book (Hachette)
The Everyday Herbalist by Jane Wrigglesworth (A&U)
Kai by Christall Lowe (David Bateman)
Everyday Favourites by Vanya Insull (A&U)
Edmonds Classics (Hachette)
Together: Food for Sharing by Cherie Metcalfe (A&U)
Eat Up New Zealand: The Bach Edition by Al Brown (A&U)
WhĀnaukai by Naomi Toilalo (HarperCollins)
Vegful by Nadia Lim (Nude Food)
5 Ingredients Mediterranean by Jamie Oliver (Michael Joseph)
Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Extra Good Things by Yotam Ottolenghi & Noor Murad (Ebury)
