If you’ve been on social media recently, you’ve likely been treated to at least a few photos of your friends' and loved ones' adventures in the kitchen over the past few weeks — perhaps you’ve even engaged in some #foodstagram of your own!
As we learned in our study of Canadian readers during COVID-19, 56% of Canadians say they are cooking more now than they were prior to physical distancing. So we thought it was time to see if all this culinary action was being reflected in print book sales as well.
Sales of Non-Fiction / Cooking books from Feb. 16, 2020 to May 10, 2020
While there was an initial decline in sales through late March as stores closed, sales of cookbooks — all BISACs in the Non-Fiction / Cooking family — have steadily increased since early April. But while cookbook sales overall are still recovering from a physical distancing blow, some of the more granular cooking BISACs have experienced new-found popularity.
Bread, in particular, is on the rise. Whether you’re spending your time cozying up with The Great Canadian Baking Show and longing to become star baker, coddling a sourdough starter, or kneading on the kitchen counter, it seems like everyone’s hoping to get back to basics and bake up a loaf of their own.
Google Trends graph of Canadians' search interest in “bread” from Feb. 12, 2020 to May 9, 2020
The Google trends graph mirrors sales activity on books about bread (Non-Fiction / Cooking / Courses & Dishes / Bread - CKB009000) over a similar period. We see rising sales of bread-making titles around March 15, just around the time search interest for the term “bread” started to grow. Interestingly, Google Trends shows Canadians' search interest in “bread” peaked around April 11, while sales of books about bread-making peaked closer to the end of the month.
Sales of books in the Bread subcategory from Feb. 16, 2020 to May 10, 2020
Bread books aren’t the only books in the cooking category experiencing a surge in popularity despite the downturn in cookbook sales generally. We compared the average weekly sales in the eight weeks pre-physical distancing (Jan. 26, 2020 to March 15, 2020) to the eight weeks post-physical distancing (March 22, 2020 to May 10, 2020), and, bread aside, a few other cooking subcategories experienced surprising growth in our physically-distant present.
Cooking subcategories that experienced growth post-physical distancing
Books in the Coffee & Tea subcategory (Non-Fiction / Cooking / Beverages / Coffee & Tea - CKB019000) saw average weekly sales increase by 50% as (we assume) Canadian readers studied up to become their own baristas. Sales of Bread titles saw an average weekly increase of 69%, and titles in the Entertaining subcategory (Non-Fiction / Cooking / Entertaining - CKB029000) increased a staggering 278%. Clearly some Canadians are really treating ourselves during those videoconference dinner parties. (Or planning a real showstopper for when we’re all ready to host guests again!)
Looking for more data on what Canadians are reading, borrowing, and buying?
For more on how Canadian readers use social media, check out our #AmReading series of studies.
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