Like any self-respecting wannabe foodie, I have a tidy collection of cookbooks. I adore nothing more than to sit down with a pile, pore over the pages, create mental dinner menus and grow very hungry. Yet, the frugalista in me also enjoys rummaging in the freezer, pulling out some random Kassler chops and a bag of peas, and asking Google (on my phone) what’s for dinner. Voila! Minty pea soup with pancetta.

These days, many of our favourite recipes come in virtual guises. Will there still be a place for the humble cookbook in the future?

Yes: Cookbooks are so last century

Recipes: any time, anywhere
No more pinning down the cookbook pages with an orange. The new breed of recipe machine is sleek and compact, sits prettily on your counter and goes by the name of iPad, Kindle, Nook or Demy. It can ‘talk’ you through the steps or you can touch-screen your way to millions of online recipe books, blogs and how-to videos. You can see what’s interesting on Pinterest or use apps to find seasonal or local ingredients or course-specific recipes – complete with a built-in kitchen timer and shopping list tool. The possibilities are endless.

Meat-free meatballs?
?When you have to cook for a vegan, find a substitute for mascarpone or make magic with five random ingredients, who are you gonna call? Google, of course. Last year, the search engine reported 10 million recipe searches a day. The most searched item? Cookies! The search engine has even launched its own food-only portal, Foodily, which scans the likes of Bon Appetit and The Kitchn and allows you to post faves straight onto Facebook.

Sharing is caring
Ever cooked something that turned out a bit on the gloopy side? That’s the great thing about ratings and comments: fellow cooks love to share advice and tips on portion sizes, substitutions and more. Cookbooks might triple-test their recipes, but online you’re hearing from people like you, who might not have all the fancy ingredients to hand or time to follow every instruction to the tee. “These recipes are by regular people, who talk to regular people, and those are valuable, relevant conversations,” explains blogger and Bitten author, Sarah Graham. 

The era of eye candy
Yes, cookbooks have beautiful photography, but these days we want so much more. “I enjoy downloading food mags on the iPad as the images are even yummier than in print!” says Eat Out editor Abigail Donnelly. We want step-by-steps, we want ideas for healthy comfort food, how to make pasta without fancy equipment, and videos on how to glaze a ham. We want to like, pin and share! We want to Brunchstagram our poached eggs.

Cookbooks look good 
Be honest. Do you collect cookbooks to use, or to show off in your kitchen? How many do you actually use? Says food and wine commentator, Michael Olivier: “I use mine for the old classics but most are just ‘vir die mooigeit’” (to look pretty).

No: Long live the cookbook

Pure blissful escapism
“I own about 900 cookbooks and 30 food novels,” admits Abigail. “They are pure escapism and my ultimate luxury.” Whether we use them for armchair travel or inspiration, a screen can never compete with the joy of turning pages, breathing in that delicious new-book smell and making notes in the margins. As one foodie puts it: “Pixels are pragmatic. Paper is provocative.”

The net fuels cookbooks
A quick peek on Amazon tells us that there seems to be no end to the ingenuity of the cookbook market. Think the Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook and The Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking. E-books often end up being published in paper form as well as on blogs. “I think blogs have a huge role to play in content today because there are endless fresh and interesting ideas being added to the bloggosphere every day,” says Sarah.

Struik Publisher Linda de Villiers echoes the blogger-turns-author trend: “This month we released Scrumptious Food for Family and Friends by blogger Jane-Anne Hobbs and we're publishing another food blogger's book next year.”

Eating in is the new eating out
When the economy is suffering, often the first thing that people cut out is eating out. Instead, they are making dining at home an event, investing in good cookbooks, quality ingredients (sourced from markets  and delis) and good company instead. However, the new trend seems to be for more accessible recipes. As Linda points out, even the ‘cheffy’ chefs are publishing books on home cooking.

Exclusive Books’s Rene Brophy agrees: “One of our favourite local cookbooks recently has been A Week in the Kitchen” by The Kitchen owner, Karen Dudley. “And, with shows like Masterchef,” says Rene, “every South African has realised that cooking doesn’t necessarily require a professional qualification.”

What would Julia do?
Foodie movies like Julie & Julia makes one yearn for a cooking holiday – finding exotic ingredients, cooking your way through intricate dishes and skipping off to local markets. You can’t really see someone doing the eat part of Eat, Pray, Love off a Kindle, can you? Cookbooks are old school and cool. “My books are my friends in the kitchen, companions of convenience that cannot be totally replaced by electronic versions,” admits Sarah.

Local is lekker
We might love our Kindle and look abroad for cooking inspiration but South Africans are still fiercely loyal to local ingredients and dishes. “Last year, we had phenomenal success with Springbok Kitchen, which sold in excess of 40 000 copies in English and Afrikaans,” says Linda. “And Help! There's a Stove in my Kitchen by Annabel Frere is in its third reprint”. It’s clear that many of us still adore our cookbooks.

Are you content to let your imagination wander from the pages of your cookbooks, or do you enjoy the endless inspiration gained from surfing online? Add your comments below or join the discussion on our Facebook page. We’d love to hear from you. ?

By Johannie van As

Photograph: Ginnerobot