22 Best Cookbook Publishers (How to Pitch Your Book)

Many large publishing houses release a cookbook here and there. But in this list, you’ll find companies that specialize in the cookbook genre, hosting hundreds of deliciously designed books in their vast catalogs.

If you’re working on a cookbook of your own, this guide shows you which food publishers read proposals directly from authors, which ones work only through literary agents, and where to send your pitch. Most cookbook publishers want a proposal, not a finished manuscript: an overview, a table of contents, sample recipes, a few photos, and a clear case for why you’re the right person to write the book. After this, I’d be honored if you delved into my 2,000+ publishers directory.

Submission policies change without notice, so check the publisher’s own page before you send anything, and never pay a reading fee. Last verified: October 2, 2026.

Here’s a list of the top cookbook publishers:

1. Grub Street Publishing

Grub Street, an independent London publisher named International Cookbook Publisher of the Year, celebrates food writing over celebrity-chef culture, with titles by culinary greats such as Elizabeth David, Claudia Roden, and Pierre Hermé. It publishes only two subjects, cookery and military aviation, and it accepts unsolicited manuscripts from first-time and established authors. Email your cookery submission to its food editor, or post it with a stamped addressed envelope if you want it back. Grub Street can’t acknowledge receipt, so don’t ask for one. Submission guidelines.

2. Kitchen Press

Established in 2011 in Dundee, Kitchen Press is Scotland’s specialist food and drink publisher, producing award-winning cookbooks with chefs, food writers, and restaurants across the UK. Its list runs from Seasonal Snacks to Tomorrow’s Kitchen, a graphic novel cookbook. Kitchen Press accepts submissions: send a brief outline of your proposal through the form on its contact page. Contact page.

3. Union Square & Co.

Union Square & Co., based in New York City, publishes books and gift products with a point of view, including cookbooks such as Drink What You Want, Sugarless, and Bake Your Heart Out. It is now an imprint of Hachette Book Group, and Union Square & Co. does not accept unsolicited manuscripts or queries, so you’ll need a literary agent. Hachette submission FAQ.

4. Whitecap Publishing

Founded in Vancouver in 1977, Whitecap Books grew from photographic books about British Columbia into one of Canada’s foremost publishers of cookbooks and regional titles, with Taste Canada and IBPA Benjamin Franklin award finalists on its list. Whitecap does not accept unsolicited manuscripts until further notice, so watch its submissions page for a change. Submissions notice.

5. Melbourne Books

Melbourne Books, an Australian independent publisher founded in 2000 by David Tenenbaum, publishes memoir, history, literary fiction, and cookbooks such as Sweet Greek, Moroccan Soup Bar, and Tulum: Modern Turkish Cuisine. It accepts submissions: download its manuscript form and email it with a section of your manuscript. Know the three possible answers before you send. Melbourne Books may offer to publish, decline, or offer a paid editorial assessment with no promise of publication. It also warns about a scam company using a similar name. Submission guidelines.

6. Agate Surrey

Agate Surrey, the food imprint of Chicago’s independent Agate Publishing, has sold more than a million cookbooks by Food Network personalities, James Beard Award winners, and food journalists, from Instant Pot Indian to The Oyster Book and My Creole-Cali Kitchen. Agate accepts submissions in food, cooking, and nutrition-related nonfiction for Surrey; follow the proposal guidelines on its About page. Submission guidelines.

7. Tuttle Publishing

Tuttle Publishing, based in Vermont, has published books on Asia for more than 70 years, and its cookbook list includes The Art and Science of Sushi, The Korean K-Drama Cookbook, Gyoza, and Real Thai Cooking. Tuttle accepts unsolicited submissions directly from authors as well as through agents, as long as the book is about an Asia-related topic such as Asian cuisine. Email a cover letter, an annotated table of contents, one or two sample chapters, and notes on your platform. It replies within two months if interested. Submission guidelines.

8. Artisan Books (Hachette Book Group)

Artisan Books publishes richly illustrated cookbooks and lifestyle titles, including Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry Cookbook and The Noma Guide to Fermentation. It is part of Hachette’s Workman division, and Artisan does not accept unsolicited submissions, so you’ll need an agent. If your book is a practical guide to cooking, preserving, or homesteading, Storey Publishing in the same division reviews proposals sent directly by authors. Workman submissions page.

9. Gibbs Smith

Gibbs Smith began in the early 1970s, when Gibbs and Catherine Smith shipped their first Utah history textbook from a barn, and today publishes practical, home-cook-friendly titles such as 101 Things to Do with an Air Fryer and Kevin Belton’s Big Flavors of New Orleans. Cookbooks are one of its main areas, and Gibbs Smith accepts unsolicited proposals by email: a description, a market analysis, your qualifications, a promotion plan, an outline, and sample writing and photos. It replies only if interested. Submission guidelines.

10. Quarto Publishing Group

Founded in London in 1976 and now based in the US, The Quarto Group publishes illustrated books across dozens of imprints, with cookbooks such as Vegan Vietnamese, Party Drinks, and the Super Easy Tortilla and Taco Cookbook. Quarto is open to submissions: pick the category that fits your book, then email a complete proposal with its signed submission agreement to that category’s address. It contacts you only if it wants to discuss the idea. Submission guidelines.

11. Hardie Grant Publishing

Hardie Grant Publishing, headquartered in Melbourne with a large London team, is known for original nonfiction and a large food and drink list, from Sandwich People and Made in Bangladesh to Dinner with Jane Austen. Hardie Grant accepts submissions through an online form: send a brief overview of your project with any supporting material. It gets in touch only if it wants to pursue your book. Submission form.

12. Square One Publishers

Square One Publishers was founded in 2000 by former Avery Publishing Group president Rudy Shur. It publishes books on alternative health, cooking, parenting, personal finance, self-help, and memoir, and its first memoir, Taking Woodstock, became an Ang Lee film. Square One is now an imprint of Globe Pequot, and its old address forwards to the imprint’s page there. Its own submissions page is gone, so check Globe Pequot’s site for how it takes proposals today.

13. Cider Mill Press

Cider Mill Press makes giftable cookbooks, drinks guides, and children’s books under imprints such as Applesauce Press. Its food list includes The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook, The Sunday Brunch Cookbook, and The Christmas Cookie Cookbook. Cider Mill doesn’t post a submission policy on its site, so contact the publisher before you send a proposal.

14. Countryman Press (W. W. Norton & Company)

Founded in Taftsville, Vermont, in 1973, Countryman Press is a W. W. Norton imprint that publishes illustrated books on cooking, health, lifestyle, travel, nature, gardening, parenting, and pets. Its cookbooks include Gesine Bullock-Prado’s My Vermont Table and The King Arthur Baking School. Norton’s site doesn’t publish a submission policy for Countryman, so a literary agent is the most reliable route in.

15. Chronicle Books

Chronicle Books, an independent publisher in San Francisco since 1967, is known for design-led books and gift products, including cookbooks such as 100 Morning Treats and Hand-Crafted Candy Bars. Chronicle has an open submissions policy and accepts unagented submissions of projects that suit its list. Cookbooks go to the adult trade team by email, and it doesn’t acquire adult fiction. Submission guidelines.

16. Pelican Publishing Company

Founded in New Orleans in 1926, Pelican Publishing celebrates its 100th year in 2026 with Southern cookbooks, history, and children’s books, from 100 Greatest Cajun Recipes to A Louisiana Christmas. Pelican has been an imprint of Arcadia Publishing since 2012, and pelicanpub.com now opens Pelican’s page on the Arcadia site. Pelican doesn’t post a separate submission policy there, so check with Arcadia before you pitch a Southern cookbook.

17. Morris Press Cookbooks

Morris Press Cookbooks, a family business since 1933, is the place to go if you want to print a cookbook yourself. It isn’t a traditional publisher: churches, schools, families, and businesses pay it to print fundraising, keepsake, and promotional cookbooks. A free cookbook kit, an online cookbook builder, and full-color page options let you design the book, and you keep the profits from every copy you sell.

18. Hatherleigh Press

Hatherleigh Press, based in Hobart, New York, and distributed by Penguin Random House, publishes health and wellness, fitness, self-help, and sustainable-living books, with cookbooks such as Appalachian Appetite and Adirondack Appetite. Hatherleigh accepts submissions by email or post. Send a synopsis, a table of contents, two or three sample chapters, and a market analysis; for a cookbook, add the number of recipes and whether you’ll supply photos. It doesn’t publish fiction. Submission guidelines.

19. Kyle Books (Hachette Book Group UK)

Kyle Books, part of Octopus Publishing Group within Hachette UK, publishes food and drink, gardening, health, and craft books by experts and brands, with James Beard Foundation and IACP honors for titles such as Samarkand and Olives, Lemons & Za’atar. Octopus takes agented work only, so Kyle Books does not accept unsolicited material and you’ll need a literary agent.

20. Mascot Books

Mascot Books is a hybrid publisher: you invest in your book’s production and keep your rights and a higher royalty, while Mascot handles editing, design, and distribution. Its cookbooks include Plant-Based Cooking Made Easy and Bake Away. Mascot accepts submissions of a synopsis, outline, or full manuscript through its online form or by email, and reviews every one. Ask for a full cost breakdown before you sign. Submit a book idea.

21. Stone Pier Press

Stone Pier Press, a San Francisco nonprofit, publishes books about sustainable food, from growing it to cooking it to keeping it out of the landfill, with titles such as Tiny Victory Gardens and Growing Good Food. Stone Pier accepts submissions by email: send a cover letter about you and your book plus its first two chapters. Submission guidelines.

22. Harvard Common Press (The Quarto Group)

Harvard Common Press, a Quarto imprint with several IACP and James Beard award-winning cookbooks, specializes in barbecue and grilling, baking, regional and international cooking, single-subject, and appliance cookbooks, including Global Smoke and Mediterranean Small Plates. Harvard Common Press is open to submissions in cookery and pregnancy and childbirth, through Quarto’s submission guidelines. Its old quartoknows.com address now forwards to the quarto.com site. Submission guidelines.

Names you may be looking for

Lake Isle Press

Lake Isle Press, the New York cookbook publisher that launched Rachael Ray’s 30-Minute Meals books, was acquired by Globe Pequot in 2026, and its old website is offline.

Great American Publishers

Great American Publishers, the Mississippi house behind the State Hometown and Church Suppers cookbook series, still sells its books, but its old web address now shows unrelated spam, so it isn’t linked here.

Burford Books

Burford Books, the Ithaca publisher of outdoor, food, and wine books, has stopped taking proposals for new projects, though its backlist stays in print.

Conclusion

Cookbook authors still have plenty of direct routes in. Right now Grub Street, Kitchen Press, Melbourne Books, Agate Surrey, Tuttle (for Asian cuisine), Gibbs Smith, Quarto, Hardie Grant, Chronicle, Hatherleigh, Stone Pier, and Harvard Common Press read proposals without an agent, and Mascot offers a paid hybrid route. Union Square, Artisan, Kyle Books, and Whitecap are closed to unsolicited work, so they’re agent territory for now. If you’d rather keep full control, you can also self-publish. Next up, you may want to explore a guide on self-publishing cookbook companies.