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As 2015 trudges damply to its close, we've been reflecting here at the food

programme on the piles of books showered on us by publishers this year. Some that out

in shopping land have sold like hot cakes, some not.

So has virtue, quality, imagination and good writing been rewarded? And what does this sheer quantity

of books about food tell us about what, how and why we cook and about our relationship with food?

We'll see. We'll be talking about a new food Bible and its 31-year-old author, a book so epic in its ambition

that it doubled in size during its creation.

It was only predicted to be half the amount of words 150,000 and it ended up being 260,000 because it was just so much that we couldn't leave out.

And joining me today are three people who are all experts and enthusiasts in the art and

mystery of food writing and publishing. Food writer and journalist Alex Renton,

B Wilson, author of Consider the Fork, and the about to be published First

Bite How We Learn to Eat.

And Tom Tifnan features editor at the Trade magazine, the bookseller, who in another life was a restaurant reviewer in Scotland.

All of you, what makes a cookbook truly interesting and valuable Alex?

The proof is in the reading, isn't it? If it excites me, if it takes

me somewhere that Google can't take me, and if it sends me running to the stove

ultimately, that's a good co-book. B. Well none of us needs another recipe. We have thousands of

them on our shelves already, but for me it's something that keeps me company in

the kitchen and somehow makes me yearn to turn the pages so much that I feel that yes I do need all of these

extra recipes in my life and I am going to cook some one day if not now.

Tom?

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