If you would like to read well written and authoritative Greek cook books I can highly recommend Diane Kochilas.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0312087837/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_0312087837
The book cited above is a classic, but she has written a number of others.
As noted above, she also writes her own books. No ghost writer is involved.
OK I did a quick check on the Chefs books I named checked and they text is all copyrighted to them (including Ramsay). I also have a couple of the early Jamie Oliver books…and you guessed it the text is under his copyright…!
These are books I tend to like and use -so maybe I have a good nose for a trial chefs book.
I also checked a couple of the “christmas present” books I have received - which are all published by one of the big global players - and their copyright is with the publisher not the named chef on the cover…and indeed their recipes reflect that and the books have never been really used.
I know most famous French chef books are written by ghosts. In the copyright notice, only publisher copyright, no text copyrights is ever mentioned. I personally know a cookbook ghost writer who wrote for Ducasse and other famous chefs. That writer is a serious food writer and has published several quality books under his own name. Working with big chefs wasn’t easy, they could be quite hostile and did not cooperate to give the authentic restaurant recipe. They tried to talk about fancy regional ingredients that nobody would have hands on them. Recently when watching Chef Table, I was surprised that some 2 stars chefs featured in those Netflix series, they had bought those overpriced French chef books and cooked from them. These book range from 160€ to 400€, up to a recent record: an Alléno book that costs 1500€.
Funny, I just discovered that one of the Robuchon book I bought (when it was heavily discounted) was translated into French from Japanese!
I don’t know the culture of other part of the world, at least the French chefs do not pretend they are writers, many start working at the age at 14 or 15 or are school dropouts.
Personally, I don’t care if books are ghost written or not. I just care if the recipes are tested and if they are good. Point. I owned the original French version Stéphane Raymond’s “Pork and Sons” before Phaidon translated it into English. The recipes are interesting, but there was basically no proofreading, tons of errors in orthography, sentences not finishing or error in ingredients. At times, the young kids in publishing house forgot that they are not making an internet website, that you can keep correcting the errors after pushing the publish button. (N.B. Stéphane Raymond is not a celebrity chef.)
As is the copyright on the book this thread relates to.
I found this in a David Thompson’s book, he has the copyright on the text and there is this line:
“The moral right of the author has been asserted.”
What does it mean?
naf
The phrase often appears in books published in the UK. I believe it to be related to an added protection for the author so that, even when a book might be out of copyright, the text cannot be significantly altered - the author having asserted their right to be identified as the author. Google will find you a more precise definition.
In the UK “moral rights” are established in copyright law. My own publisher uses, for example, "The right of John Hartley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988.
It’ s not something I have ever fussed over.
Thank you for the explanation.
9 posts were split to a new topic: Chef training- apprenticeship vs self-taught vs vocational school
Most recipes I am interested either from specific restaurants or specific cuisines are mostly not available online
I accidently found his “5 Ingredients” show on one of our commercial channels last night. Although I will say UK shows are now heading our way very soon after broadcast - the latest Happy Valley was almost broadcast simultaneously.
And much to my surprise I thought his recipes were pretty good. He cooked a steak with mushrooms and white beans; a seared tuna with miso and sesame seeds; and an almond pastry puff.
Nothing was too complex. His techniques were good, with what I thought was good advice for the novice cook, and he used decent ingredients i.e. beans from a jar not a can.
I didn’t learn anything really new but there were some decent ideas that will probably pop up in my week night cooking.
I (we) are probably not the target audience but I suspect the target audience can get a lot out of the series.
Good to know you’re not missing out on excellent northern drama, Phil.
Drama…? I had assumed it was a documentary that chronicled the sad decline of the once cultured side of the Pennines. I blame the Mancs…! 
Me too. But then I’m a Cestrian. 
Rant entitled! To me, worse than season to perfection is “cook until done”. And continuing to share your rant, what is such a big deal of 'x number of ingredients" ? Ingredients are not the qualifying stumble block in cooking. PROCESS is. Don’t tell me to combine several cups of PEELED, CHOPPED, BLANCHED veggies. You have just co-opted 3/4 hour of my life! There is nothing wrong with that instruction but don’t include it in your “15 minute meals”. Just one example, but I’m sure you get my drift. Now if you are a Whole Foods customer who buys all your veg peeled, chopped, spiralized, et al, then qualify your recipes by calling them “15 minute meals requiring only 5 pre-prepped ingredients”. But doubt Harters would keep that book either. 
I missed this thread first time around but chiming in now. I guess as with any mass media (in this case, cookbook for the masses) the audience is not necessarily people who are zeroed in on food. But honestly, no matter the vague instructions, I love the fact that these ghost writers/authors are making an attempt to free up peoples slave-ish adherence to recipes. And as for the five ingredient gimmick, that is somewhat appealing to me especially with a preschooler and hungry mouths to feed after school / work. I know I feel less intimidated to have a smaller ingredient list, and I’m someone who likes to roll her sleeves up in the kitchen. Someone like my mom, who is older would definitely be intimidated by long ingredient lists and complicated protocols. So I feel like these books serve a purpose for certain people. I’m glad that they exist.
Caveat is I’ve never laid eyes on the JO book in question but I always enjoyed his early Naked Chef persona. Food after all should be fun!
