Sense and Sensibility : A study of the visual communication in cookbooks from the early 90's and late 00's

The interest for food and cooking has probably never engaged the people of Sweden as much as it does today. Especially cookbooks are selling better than ever which has been a quite constant trend since the mid 90's. This study explores the connection between visual communication in Swedish cookbooks and the post-modern values which have influenced the market climate and the visual culture. I have used a theoretical framework as reference consisting of theories of semiotics, visual rhetoric, marketing communications and postmodernism. I have been studying six cookbooks, three from the late 00's and three from the early 90's, from the two separate angles of their graphic design and photographic material. The survey has been conducted by using both qualitative and quantitative methods to make it possible to both gather information about the impression of the visual communication as well as statistics of space given to text and images as well as main motives in the photography. In my essay I discuss the meaning of the differences between the cooking books of the separate time periods along with the above mentioned angles with the theoretical framework in mind. I also discuss the question about what in fact makes a cooking book have costumer value. As a conclusion I state that cookbooks by updating their image of what a cookbook is supposed to be, succeeded to reach new markets with post-modern influenced preferences by making cooking part of an experience in the mind of the consumer