For Hardie Grant and Quadrille, longtime publishers of food and lifestyle titles, celebrating cultures and traditions through cuisine is a fundamental part of our shared global community. With teams based in the U.S., U.K., and Australia, Hardie Grant easily brings a world perspective to the food and cooking space.
“Our readers want an element of discovery and learning as they cook,” says Julie Pinkham, group managing director for Hardie Grant (HG). The publisher’s bestselling Pasta Grannies: The Official Cookbook by Vicky Bennison, creator of the popular YouTube channel of the same name, is a case in point. Readers and viewers alike relate to the authenticity of the Italian way of life and relative ease of the recipes. The author’s next cookbook, Pasta Grannies: Comfort Cooking, will be published by Hardie Grant this fall, adding a new title to what the HG team calls “the ultimate guides to cooking delicious, soulful food, made with love.”
Karan Gokani’s Hoppers: The Cookbook—Recipes, Memories and Inspiration from Sri Lankan Homes is another example of an HG cookbook that marries the spirit of community, love, and memory with the art of homegrown cooking. “Cookbooks tap into the promise and escape inherent in a good recipe,” says Jenny Wapner, Hardie Grant's publisher in North America. “It all starts with an author who has something of value to say and a set of experiences to share.”
For cooks with a desire to reconnect with their own family’s food traditions or for those looking to expand their culinary palette, HG cookbooks are the place to turn. “Bringing a diverse range of cultures to market is something we’ve always done. It’s part of who we are as publishers,” says Stephen King, managing director at Hardie Grant London. “We’re very proud of it. And our success has shown there’s a demand for it.”
At Hardie Grant, creating beautiful, inspiring, and edifying cookbooks begins with the unique visions of knowledgeable chefs and authors. The publisher searches worldwide for such talent, using its global staff to make ready connections and discover new trends. "I think that the best publishing comes from perceptions and observations of editors as they follow their interests identifying talent and subjects they see emerging,” Pinkham says.
Every book in the Hardie Grant/Quadrille portfolio is unique, and each is approached with care, innovation, and an appreciation for its distinctive qualities. “Our bespoke approach to making books is rooted in seeing each book as singular,” Pinkham says. “We are not a machine churning out books.”
The proof, so to speak, is in the proverbial pudding. Countless quick and easy recipes are available to consumers online, and yet readers reach again and again for strikingly designed, photograph-filled, physical cookbooks that become dog-eared and crumb-filled over years—and even generations—of use.
“Holding in your hands a beautifully bound book, printed on thick, toothy paper, and with gorgeous photos, makes anything seem possible,” Wapner says. “Even a simple book, if well done, gives us knowledge and inspiration, and in aggregate, a collection of recipes offers a self-contained world for the reader to temporarily live in and return to.”
Current and upcoming titles that exemplify this include Pierogi: Over 50 Recipes to Create Perfect Polish Dumplings by Zuza Zak and Simply Chinese: Recipes from a Chinese Home Kitchen by Suzie Lee. Many of the recipes in these international cookbooks are vegan or gluten-free, and HG is publishing several new titles to specifically address this growing global trend, including Easy Speedy Vegan: 100 Quick Plant-Based Recipes by Katy Beskow and Quick and Easy Gluten Free: Over 100 Fuss-Free Recipes for Lazy Cooking by Becky Excell.
With a world of food as diverse as the cooks who occupy it, Hardie Grant and Quadrille are there to continue to empower and inspire readers. Even foragers, harvesters, and hunters will find much to learn in Wild Meat: The Complete Guide to Hunting and Cooking Game by Ross O’Meara. Ultimately, preparing and sharing a meal with family and community is about so much more than food—a sentiment at the core of HG’s extensive line of cooking titles. In the words of Jenny Wapner, the best cookbooks “are an expression of our best cooking selves.”
