The Best Selling Cookbook...Ever

September 12, 2012

While checking out a list of the current bestselling cookbooks, I had to wonder how many of these books would still be selling a few years from now. Will people still be interested in The Paleo Diet Cookbook or The Wheat Belly Cookbook? And, just what IS the bestselling cookbook of all time?

At first I was sure it must be Joy of Cooking, a book that was self-published in 1931 by Irma Rombauer, a homemaker from St. Louis, MO. After all, it has been in print continuously since 1936.

Or maybe, it could be Betty Crocker’s Cookbook, which was a staple in my mother’s kitchen. Mom received a copy as a wedding present and referred to it often while I was growing up. In fact, I still have that very well-worn copy.

Then I thought about In the Kitchen with Rosie: Oprah’s Favorite Recipes by Rosie Daley. I worked in a book store at the time it was released, and it stayed on the bestseller list forever. Any book that was endorsed by Oprah was an instant bestseller. Could this more recent cookbook give the old standards a run for their money? I had to find out.

After a little searching, I came up with this list from The Daily Meal web site.

1. Betty Crocker’s Cookbook (originally called Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book) (1950) – Sold about 65 million copies
2. Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (1930) – 40 million copies
3. Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer (1931) – 18 million
4. The American Woman’s Cookbook by Ruth Berolzheimer (1939) – 8 million
5. In the Kitchen with Rosie: Oprah’s Favorite Recipes by Rosie Daley (1994) – 8 million

Keith A.
Blue Springs South Branch