Annual Cookbook Issue : Investment Picks

Anyone interested in cookbooks knows enough to hang on to anything written by M.F.K. Fisher or Elizabeth David. Their works are already considered classics. Books by the late Helen Evans Brown, Jane Grigson, Waverly Root, James Beard and Vincent Price are also very collectible. (Price’s books aren’t just wanted for his celebrity name, but for his recipes--they actually work.)

We asked cookbook dealers to speculate which contemporary food writers might one day become classic. The following list, in no particular order, was compiled from their responses.

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Julia Child

Jacqueline Higuera McMahan

Richard Olney

Paula Wolfert

Marcella Hazan

Alice Waters

Diana Kennedy

Jean-George Vongerichten

Jane and Michael Stern

Calvin Trillen

Edna Lewis

Carol Field

Marion Cunningham

Nancy Silverton

Dean Fearing

Perla Meyers

James Peterson

Claudia Roden

Copeland Marks

Nancy Harmon Jenkins

Alan Davidson