Why That Cookbook Didn’t Work for You—And How to Think About the Next One

If you’ve ever bought a cookbook and a week later you’re thinking, this book sucks! Well, it could be that you bought the wrong kind of book.

I don’t mean that you wanted a book on making tacos and instead you got a muffin cookbook. I’m talking about something I’ve learned in selling books for nearly 35 years: different authors try to do very different things for their readers. It’s not really the subject matter that’s important—it’s what the author is promising to do for you, the person who picks up their book.

Now you may be thinking: it’s a cookbook. It should give me recipes that work so that I can make food. Don’t make this fancy! 

But people actually write and buy cookbooks for different reasons, and if you keep that in mind, you’re much more likely to end up with a book that helps you do what you want it to do.

As you’re contemplating buying a cookbook, or any kind of food and drink book, it helps to think about how the book fits into four broad types. These are not rigid, hard-and-fast, mutually exclusive categories. Some books do fall neatly into one, but many combine aspects of several.

The Problem Solving Cookbook

This is the basic, on-its-face, most obvious type of cookbook. You decide you want to learn to bake bread, or cook dinner really quickly on a busy night. Maybe you’d like to make better cocktails or you’ve decided to go vegan. You need to do something well and you want help.

These books address those problems or goals straight on. They are often pretty simple, but some may be more advanced. These books are driven by recipes and corresponding techniques, which may be demonstrated with step-by-step photo sequences.

They often have titles which explicitly tell you what they’re promising, like Dinner in One Pot, Mastering Pizza, or Vegetable Simple. The author might be a home cook or a seasoned professional, but in either case, it’s worth considering whether their background gives them appropriate experience and perspective.

The Souvenir Cookbook

You buy this kind of book because you really admire the person who wrote it. It could be written by someone who is a famous cook, whether on TV or social media. Or it could be someone who’s not famous as a cook but you just think they’re a great person and it seems like they ought to know what they’re talking about when it comes to food.  

This could even be someone or some group that isn’t nationally well-known, but they’re important in your community, like recipes from a church group or a PTA.

Owning a souvenir book is a little bit of waving a flag and saying, this is my tribe.  

Souvenir cookbooks are really common as gifts. Someone knows you love Dolly Parton so they give you one of Dolly’s cookbooks; ditto for books by influencers or tied to tv shows. You may never actually cook from them, but they feel right on your shelf.

The Cultural Cookbook

Cultural cookbooks introduce you to or immerse you in the food of other countries, ethnic groups, or even regions. 

You might think that these are problem solving cookbooks because, after all, you might start out not being able to make curries or poutine. But cultural cookbooks want to do more than just give you recipes. 

They want to help you understand how people within these cultures think about food: what makes a typical meal? What types of ingredients and flavors are central? Why is a particular dish or holiday important to people in that culture? The best cultural cookbooks will provide you with history and a sense of place.

Again, it’s really worth paying attention to an author’s background when considering these sorts of books. They don’t necessarily have to be an insider—outsider perspectives can be very illuminating—but consider the source of their claim to authority.

The Inspirational or Aspirational Cookbook

Some cookbooks are really about ideas. They’re almost the ultimate in show, don’t tell: these tend to have lots and lots of really attractive photographs, and the recipes may seem like an afterthought.  

Many restaurant books fall into this category: there will be a full-page photo of a meticulously styled and plated dish, and the recipe will be at the back of the book with instructions along the lines of “poach the salmon. Serve it in a reduction of lingonberries and whiskey and garnish with candied kelp.”  

The books often assume you know how to do all these things and they don’t explain any more. Home cooks might go bonkers given a recipe like that and feel cheated. But professional cooks are more likely to nod and think, “okay, I can do that.” 

And their next thought might be, “But I could do it with skate instead, swap out the lingonberries for lemon, and skip the kelp.”  They're buying these books to spark their imagination.

Inspirational or aspirational cookbooks are not solely for professional cooks, though. Lifestyle cookbooks are often in the same mode. 

If you see an elaborately decorated table for Thanksgiving dinner for 30 people on the terrace, or a brunch spread in someone’s garden in Majorca, then the book is offering you fuel for ambition.

If it skips over the details of acquiring the necessary generational wealth for these displays, it’s much the same as when a chef’s book skips over telling you how to break down a whole salmon. The assumption is that you can handle that part on your own. 

Finding the Right Fit Between Book and Cook

What a cookbook can do for you comes down to the meeting point between your interests and the author’s intentions. There’s no single “right” kind of book—only the book that’s right for you right now. Some books will guide you step-by-step through unfamiliar territory; others will offer ideas to adapt, or simply something to dream about as you plan your next meal.

When we write about books for this site, our goal is to help you see where a title sits on that spectrum—whether it’s simple or ambitious, introductory or immersive, practical or more about inspiration. We know that everyone comes to the kitchen with different skills, tastes, time, and curiosity.

If you’re ever unsure about a book or just want to talk it through, we’re here to help. The pleasure of cooking and reading about food comes not just from the dishes you make, but from finding the books that speak to you.