When we were talking about cookbooks last week, not one of you mentioned the most popular cookbook author
The current list of best-selling cookbooks is dominated by authors with good looks, television contracts, chic recipes and food empires.
Phyllis Pellman Good, though, appears on no culinary show; nor does she own a catering company, restaurant or magazine. A slight, 57-year-old Mennonite with round glasses, Ms. Good has created books full of instruction for dishes like ham loaf and cheeseburger soup based on recipes from women around the country. But her books have sold more in the United States than the combined works of the popular Food Network hosts Ina Garten, Giada De Laurentiis and Jamie Oliver.
You blue-state snobs never heard of her, right? Yeah, go back to your brie.
"What we learned is that there are people out there who have always cooked," said Christopher Kimball, the founding editor of Cook's Illustrated, who two years ago introduced Cook's Country, a magazine with emphasis on dishes like deviled eggs and grasshopper pie. "They are not 'discovering' cooking; they've been cooking every day. This might not be true in New York or San Francisco, but it is true for huge sections of the country."
"I think the food media has been responsible for creating this whole world of faux food, and this is a media largely consumed by people who eat out six times a week," he added. "We are not all served by thinking of food as a special-occasion product."
In honor of Ms. Good, I made a stunning meal tonight: Sabbrett's hotdogs with the option of mustard or ketchup, Shop Rite's finest potato salad, and a melange of frozen vegetables sauted in butter and salt.
