![](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.kirstyfrancewrites.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Guest-blog-header-Matt-Glover-1024x535.png)
Why the F* would I write a cookbook?
I had this food photography idea pre-pandemic and had just ordered ‘the’ dining table (to photograph on) when lockdown hit; so, I don’t even have that as an excuse! Looking back, it seems quite a strange thing to do. I wasn’t a food photographer, food writer or a chef; I just loved food. I do recall I was very open to finding something creative that was for myself. Being a wedding, event and commercial photographer, I found very enjoyable, however where did I really fit into it? I was always aware my creative soul needed more, and I needed to find myself somewhere in my creative practice.
A significant part of my photography workflow was sharing my client images on social media. I love my own work and quite simply wanted to show it off. I would share funny stories about working with clients and took the writing of this very seriously. Over years and years, I was writing more and more as it was also a valuable part of my marketing. I approached a lot of work with good humour to make my posts a little more personal, engaging and fun to read. I always felt social media needed livening up a little.
The cookbook
When I started taking and sharing snaps of my food with my phone, I utilised my writing skills that I hadn’t really acknowledged I had. I saw it as a fun thing that I did, but the idea that I could be considered a ‘writer’ was a totally alien concept. I literally just grabbed by book and sat it next to me now to remind myself that I did actually write a book. My name is Matt, I wrote a cookbook, and I am a food writer. I spent a good while in the 4.5 years it took me to publish the book to own ‘food writer’, and annoyingly; I am still a little detached from it. Please don’t shoot the messenger, I am just conveying the tedious facts!
Over the course of this project, my approach became:
- Obsess over the recipe. This could be hours, days, months or years.
- Make a mental plan of action to ensure that the outcome was pleasing (I’d say I had a 90-95% success rate. The 5-10% miss days were not very pleasing).
- Cook the food.
- Set the scene to photograph usually on my dining table but could be anywhere. This mainly involved ceramics, boards, and vintage cutlery.
- Style the food.
- Obsessively photograph the food.
- Eat the food (which was always secondary, so often it blew my mind how incredible a cook I had become).
- Sit down comfortably and reflect on the whole mad and sweaty but joyous experience and tell the story with delicious words.
![Matt with his gorgeous cookbook!](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.kirstyfrancewrites.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Matt-Glover.png)
Getting the cookbook out there
The bringing together of the project to publish came with challenge after challenge. The design element I found utterly excruciating, but now is not the time to delve any further into that subject. If I am totally honest, I didn’t think I could pull it off. I genuinely wanted to see how deep in myself I was willing to dig. I sold the idea to myself (and subsequently the Kickstarter campaign) in the form of ‘is it worth following your dreams?’. Being a romantic at heart, I knew that I would NEVER say no to that question. If the answer is no, what is the point in being? I basically tricked myself into pulling the impossible out of a hat.
In the months before I launched my Kickstarter campaign, I was at the doctors with severe anxiety and as if by magic, ADHD landed hard on my lap. It totally blew my mind and explained a lot, but certainly didn’t put me off. I needed to get this book over the finish line no matter the cost. In my new neurodiverse world, this project had become a wild, yet nourishing hyperfocus.
In hindsight, would I do this project again? One hundred percent I would! Would I recommend others doing such a thing? I’m not sure I would like that on my conscience to be honest.
Finally, I dare you to ask yourself: ‘Is it worth following your dreams?’
‘Where the F* is my Dining Table?’ – available at https://mattgloverphotography.co.uk/cookbook/