This stylish trio of titles from Gill & Macmillan share several things – designers, photographers, publisher, stylists, prop providers, and so on.
But what they have in common is actually more profound then just a talented crew who have made three handsome books.
What unites Ms Kemp, Ms Fulvio and Ms Morris is that they are three smart women who run successful businesses – Sophie Morris started Kooky Dough; Catherine Fulvio runs Ballyknocken House and its cookery school, Domini Kemp runs the hugely successful itsabagel company as well as several more restaurants.
These are working women, and their careers mean that their books are informed by a working life in food and food businesses, lives that are as much about management, personnel, marketing, domestic management, accounting and work-life balance as they are about crafting recipes for your latest title.
Their working lives means that the book are REAL, in the very best sense – they are realistic, not grandstanding; they are personal, not hagiographic; they are professional, not dilettantish. These books are meant to be used, they are meant to get covered in kitchen splashes, they are meant to be loaned, they are meant to be your friend in the kitchen.
In a world of media-driven food titles that are little more than product, this makes them especially valuable. Indeed, Domini Kemp’s droll, self-deprecating style of writing – “There are plenty of times when I cook some really boring grub at home, especially if I end up shopping in a grim supermarket...”, Sophie Morris’s excellent Kookspeak – “I don’t believe in fussing in the kitchen... the point is not to worry about these things – and Catherine Fulvio’s cultural savvy – “In order to eat like an Italian, we need to recondition ourselves to live like Italians” – give the three books that rare element – a true voice.
Catherine Fulvio, Eat Like An Italian
Domini Kemp, Domini at Home
Sophie Morris, Sophie Kooks
All published by Gill & Macmillan
