‘It isn’t only about the cooking’: why cookbooks are still being devoured by readers in the digital age when recipes are a click away

What role does a physical cookbook play today, when we can google all the recipes we need or subscribe to cookery channels? We asked industry insiders

To chefs they offer inspiration, and reminders of a journey; for publishers they serve as windows into the culture of a place and tell bigger stories

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Michael Lui Ka-chun at Word by Word, Hong Kong’s first food-themed bookstore in Wan Chai. He and other food industry insiders share their thoughts on the value of food books. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Wilson Fok

Published: 1:15pm, 12 Mar 2023Updated: 4:35pm, 10 Apr 2023

Corrected [4:34pm, 10 Apr, 2023]

[4:34pm, 10 Apr, 2023]
Adele Wong did not write Tea is for Everyone, but did publish it through Man Mo Media.

Glossy pages of evocative writing, highly styled photographs of ingredients and dishes, and mouthwatering recipes are only part of the allure of cookbooks. They can also document history and the stories of the people behind it.

But what role does a physical cookbook play today, when recipes are merely a click away? And how do these culinary volumes help us to understand more about food, and ourselves?

At restaurants, food books are often on display, reflecting both the personality and discipline of the chef.

At The Chairman in Central on Hong Kong Island, the dining room is anchored around an impressive collection of such books; the selection of works is a collaboration between proprietor Danny Yip Kwok-cheung and food critic Chua Lam, who donated several Chinese-language titles.

Danny Yip Kwok-cheung, founder of The Chairman, at his restaurant in Central. The dining room is anchored around an impressive collection of books. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Books line the shelves, from tomes on Chiu Chow cuisine to writings on the greatest restaurants of our time – El Bulli, Noma and so on. Also on display are rare, out-of-print volumes that illustrate the richness and history of Chinese gastronomy; despite the fact they are irreplaceable, guests are free to flip through the pages.

Similarly, at modern German restaurant Heimat by Peter Find, a colour-coded display of food books welcomes diners at the entrance. All are from chef Find’s personal collection, and represent only a fraction of the hundreds of books – in multiple languages – that he keeps at his homes in both Hong Kong and Germany, including volumes about Aboriginal cooking and seafood preparation as told by the Alaskan Inuit.