he Frankfurt Book Fair has been a big boost to the Publishers business and happiness. It was helped by exceptional weather all over Europe from October 6 to 10. Again Gourmand has been the anchor stand with its 140 sqm in the Gourmet Gallery.

 

It is obvious that there is a need for a concentration of food and wine books within the fair.  Exactly as there is a need for a specialized Food and Wine books fair. The interest of international publishers for next year’s Paris Cookbook Fair was very strong.

Edouard Cointreau: “The Paris Cookbook Fair is totally established and most welcome, with sell out demand. It is obvious now that a very focused food and wine book fair is most efficient for trade and pleasure, for foreign rights and new projects.”

 

 “Modernist Cuisine, the Art and Science of Cooking” was the most talked about cookbook at the fair, with several meetings at the Gourmand stand. The book will be launched in the US in the second week of March 2011, with a 625 US Dollars price for its 5 volumes. Author Nahum Myhrvold is the previous Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft.

 

The Star chefs of the year at the Fair were Chakall (Germany/Argentina/Portugal), Lea Linster (Luxembourg), Annabel Langbein (New Zealand), Suzanne Husseini (Dubai) and Andrés Madrigal (Spain).

 

Argentina was the Guest of Honour. During the Annual Gourmand Meting at the Villa Bonn a Spanish publisher offered to an Argentinian publisher to buy his company. The Argentinian said “I was invited to a party, and I come out as a millionaire”. The Spanish believe that there is growth in Latin America, certainly more than in their country.

 

The international visitors had strong interest for wine books. Actually for the first time it was a wine book that was stolen this year, “The Asian Palate”, by Master of Wine Jeannie Cho Lee from Hong Kong. Every year, in spite of tight security, one book may be stolen, usually the key book of the year, such as El Bulli 1998-2002, Alain Ducasse, Thierry Marx or “God’s Cook Book”. Other exhibitors have the same experience with their books, such as Grub Street from the UK, a veteran of 28 years at Frankfurt Book Fair.

 

The top Russian, French and Spanish cookbook publishers organized private meetings with the Chinese who will come to Paris Cookbook Fair, to develop their business with the leading growth market in the world. The Chinese are now very interested in high end cookbooks and wine books.

 

An amazing number of small publishers are entering the cookbook sector in Germany and other countries. Seven out of ten publishers in the paid directory at the end of the “Essen und Trinken” supplement of Buchreport Magazin 10-2010 were new. Most did not have stands at the Frankfurt Book Fair, as they visit to learn. Many already registered for “Paris Cookbook Fair”.

Numerous big and small suppliers of digital technologies try to demonstrate, and sell the future. Their offer is more and more fragmented, with high costs. The demand for digital information is great, but the sales are still very limited.

           

For international big publishers, the fair was over after 3 days of intense meetings for the corporate, foreign rights, and sales teams. As a rule the editorial teams did not come. There are fewer and fewer middle level  executives, who run operations.

 

This was Gourmands  22nd Frankfurt Book Fair, with the best weather ever, and the best business climate in the past few years.