Square Peg signs MasterChef winner

22.11.13 | Sarah Shaffi - The Bookseller

Square Peg has acquired a new cookery book by a former Masterchef winner Tim Anderson.
Rowan Yapp, senior editor at the Penguin Random House imprint, acquired world rights for Nanban: Japanese Soul Food from Rosemary Scoular at United Agents.
Anderson was the youngest winner of MasterChef when he took the crown in 2011 aged 26.

The book, published in September 2014, will be an exploration of southern Japanese cookery focussing on authentic yet easy-to-follow recipes. Anderson will open his first restaurant, also called Nanban, in east London in spring next year.

He said: "I'm very excited to be releasing Nanban with Square Peg as part of their increasingly impressive line-up of cookery books. This will be a new kind of Japanese cookbook, one that focuses on punchy dishes from a specific region – the deep south. Expect exciting recipes for ramen, fried chicken, tofu, soft serve ice cream, and plenty of cocktails."

Yapp said: "Japanese soul food has exploded on the restaurant scene but this will be the first book to take it into home kitchens. Tim brilliantly shows how gutsy dishes like gyoza and ramen are easily made by anyone. Tim is a true original – he was dubbed "the nutty professor" on MasterChef, and this book captures all that creative flair and unique voice."

Square Peg's 2014 cookery list also includes a new book from award-winning food blogger Ms Marmite Lover, the pen name of Kerstin Rogers, who won the Guild of Food Writers award 2013 for her blog The English Can Cook.

Commissioned by Square Peg editor Caroline McArthur, Ms Marmite Lover's Secret Tea Party will take a fun and very creative yet seriously foodie approach to the delights of afternoon tea.
McArthur also recently commissioned In the Charcuterie for 2014, by husband-and-wife team Taylor Boetticher and Toponia Miller from San Francisco's Fatted Calf Charcuterie. The book is a comprehensive guide to butchery and charcuterie techniques for budding professionals and home cooks.

Square Peg will also publish a fully illustrated updated 25th anniversary edition of Claudia Roden's classic cookbook Food of Italy in March.

Photo credit: Paul Winch-Furness