Imagine this: Dragon’s Den, but rather than business prospects, it’s cookbook proposals. Pioneered by TV chef Jamie Oliver, and joined by Louise Moore, MD at publisher Micheal Joseph, The Great Cookbook Challenge was broadcast on Channel 4 at the start of this year. In it, we watched eighteen budding cookbook authors being put to the cooking tests, all to prove themselves worthy of winning their own cookbook publishing deal. On discovering this show randomly one evening, it was like all my Christmases had come at once. Wholesome cooking content with a publishing perspective? Be still my beating stomach.
The proud publisher behind Jamie Oliver himself, as well as Nadiya Hussain, Mrs Hinch, Jeremy Clarkson and Marian Keyes to name just a few, Michael Joseph found its winner. Spoilers ahead – it was Dominique Woolf. Her book was released on 9 June, is endorsed by Jamie himself and is already a bestseller. 224 pages strong, the
