BOOK REVIEW POLICY

About 50% of the books reviewed are sent gratis by the publisher some unsolicited and some requested, the other 50% purchased because they are not mainstream books or mainstream publishers. A love of food history and travel drives many of those purchases often selected from reading reviews in foreign newspapers and magazines, particularly Saveur and Spain Gourmetour. Written by reviewers who share similar interests they have writing skills that are humbling for their wonderful use of language.
Some publishers wisely ask for review copy requests allowing the reviewer to explore their interests, other publishers build a relationship with the reviewer and understand and feed their interests. Unsolicited books have come to fall into new categories. Modern desktop publishing has led to the reinstitution of self-publishing with all the respect it had in the18th century. Some of the best books reviewed in the last two years have been self published and arrived on the doorstep completely unsolicited from their author publishers determined to make their risky venture of self-publishing at least pay for itself. Books like Pietro Demaio’s PRESERVING THE ITALIAN WAY and Pamela Moriarty’s SHARING SWEET SECRETS an absolutely brilliant book for anyone with celiac disease and very interesting for chefs dealing with more and more requests for gluten free items on their menus. Even though it is important to be mindful that not everyone wants complication and history unsolicited books are frequently not reviewed and often it is hard to imagine how they found a publisher. Sometimes the book design, especially those with lovely illustrations like Larissa Bertonasco’s LA NONNA LA CUCINA LA VITA are particularly endearing, but every book has to have something special and as a reviewer there is a responsibility not to direct readers to a books that will fail on many counts. There are some people whose recipes always work, chefs like Philip Johnson from Brisbane’s Ecco Bistro. His last book CLASSIC ECCO, a deluxe paperback $44.95 is a clear indication not just the depth of his enduring passion for his craft but his generosity when it comes to sharing his knowledge. Unknown chefs and recipe writers deserve close scrutiny and we attempt to try at least three recipes at random, especially if they look like they don’t work which is not uncommon. The days of every recipe being painstakingly kitchen tested, with the exception of The Australian Women’s Weekly and the books of Paul Prudhomme have long since gone. Publisher will admit the number of recipes used in a book averages at around three. Generosity and good recipe writing generally go together but it would be wrong to dismiss the new, investigating that is after all as important as recording and revisiting the old.

Ann Oliver
Food Editor

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