POSH AND BOOKS
NEWS COPY - WITH PICTURES - by Megan White
Sales of an obscure grilling cookbook have skyrocketed after it was chosen to be taken on a desert island - by David Beckham.
The football star included cookbook Mallmann On Fire, by Francis Mallmann, as one of his picks on the BBC Radio 4 show Desert Island Discs on Sunday.
Francis Mallmann, labelled an 'expert on cooking with fire', explores open-fire cooking in remote locations - perfect for Becks' remote getaway.
Becks said: "One of my passions, On Fire by Francis Mallmann.
"It teaches you to cook anywhere, so if I was stuck on an island, I could rustle up something."
And now sales have shot through the roof, selling out on Amazon and leaving other retailers scrambling to restock - pushing it into the top 0.1 per cent of sales on the massive bookseller.
The book is currently 1,300th on the Amazon bestseller list - out of 1.5 million books.
Rob Richardson, spokesman for UK distributor Melia Publishing Services, said: "After the broadcast, we were contacted by Amazon to say that they had experienced high demand for the book, and we immediately went out of stock within a couple of days.
"Luckily, by chance - as we had obviously had no idea that this was going to happen - we had a reprint on its way to us, so the book will be back in stock next week.
"We expect to see a continued surge in sales due to the ‘Beckham boost’ as we are calling it."
Mallmann On Fire is a sequel to the Argentinian chef's 2013 book Seven Fires, which claims to 'maximise flavour with wood-fired cooking'.
Amazon reviewers praised the 'amazing' book, calling it a must-have for food lovers.
Ilana Netiv said: "Beautiful book, exceeds expectations.
"Nice recipes and the whole look and feel transport you to the beautiful outdoors, just like Mallmann intended."
Jason Kavanagh added: "Great book, it's just as much about Francis as it is about the food.
"Makes you want to go to middle of nowhere, build a fire and cook."
But not all readers were so enamoured with the 'ego-driven lifestyle book'.
Reviewer Wendy said: "This is a picture book, an ego-driven "lifestyle" book, with over forty pictures of Mallmann in romantic locations, poses and costumes.
"Then there are South American landscapes, a double-page spread of sea-lions sunbathing, another of Mallmann stroking horses - and oh, sure, some recipes too.
"The recipes are very simple, (sometimes even crude,) but many are interesting and well-written.
"I do ask myself who wrote them though, since I've never known a professional cook to use cups and ounces."
ENDS