Despite all the hype about celebrity chefs - whether they're on TV or simply known because they're good at what they do - and their cookbooks, the best selling ones are still the same type of cookbooks that have always been popular: basic, all-around cookbooks with tried-and-true recipes. But how could books from Phyllis Pellman Good's Fix it and Forget it series outsell books from the likes of Rachael Ray, whose name alone is definitely a household word?
The answer is simple and lies just underneath the surface of current cooking trends. Right now, both slow food and "30-minute meals" are popular, as are organic ingredients, exotic flavors and learning to cook as a pastime, the premise that reinvented the Food Network. The fact is that, no matter what the trends are, most people already know how to cook something and have been cooking longer than the Food Network has been telling them how to do it. Recipes were passed around and improved over time. It may not have been organic or gourmet, but food had to be cooked and whatever it was usually tasted pretty good to everyone in the family.
Recipes from books in this genre are generally classified as American "regional food," which is a misleading term because it sounds like the dishes, like those in the 7-million copies of the Fix It and Forget It books in homes across the country, are only popular in a few places. More accurately, they are popular in most places because they are simple, tasty and fad-free. Not everyone can or wants to devote a large chunk of their time learning how to make chicken masala or prepare ramps at home. Dishes in these books are more likely to be met with "Thanks Mom/Dad. That was good." than with "Thomas Keller has some serious competition now!" - and isn't that what most people are looking for?
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