PMJ's Moore to 'demystify' publishing as head judge on Jamie Oliver show

Penguin Michael Joseph m.d. Louise Moore will be the head judge on "The Great Cookbook Challenge with Jamie Oliver", aiming to showcase and demystify the publishing process when the series airs on Channel 4 later this month.

The show, which seeks to find "untapped new talent" and offers one unknown cook a publishing deal, is presented by Oliver, who has released cookbooks for 22 years with PMJ.  

Eighteen cooks will take part in several challenges, which will see them prepare a number of dishes and participate in tasks inspired by the publishing process. Over seven episodes, their recipes will be scrutinised and their book concepts interrogated. One winner will receive a publishing deal with PMJ at the end of the series.

Moore will be joined on the panel by Evening Standard restaurant critic Jimi Famurewa, and award-winning recipe writer and author Georgina Hayden.

“It has been an amazing opportunity to work with Jamie – a long-time friend and Penguin Michael Joseph author — as well as Jimi and Georgie, on ’The Great Cookbook Challenge’," Moore said.

"I hope the TV show will contribute further to the process begun by us all to open up our amazing, intricate and multi-talented creative industry to a much wider and more inclusive pool of employees and authors. Publishing has traditionally been famously ‘mysterious’ , both as an accessible and viable career and as a process. There is really no good reason for that, other than inertia and habit. 

"Cookery is no different, or more or less diverse, than any other publishing genre as far as I understand it. I think it is a more familiar and comfortable creative process to the great British public than other genres though, and also one of the few that lends itself to TV.

"I hope and believe that this show offers an opportunity to showcase one area of publishing to a wider audience in a positive and genuine way, that it can start to help demystify the publishing process, because it is essential and necessary now for us to drive the challenge and diversify our industry so every prospective author or employee feels they can have a place at the publishing table. I can’t wait to welcome another Penguin Michael Joseph author to the fold.”

Oliver commented: “I have been crafting cookbooks for more than 20 years and I know the dedication, skill and intuition it takes to create recipes people want to buy and try at home. Breaking into publishing is incredibly difficult – an impossible dream for so many amazing cooks out there – so I am just so excited to get out there and discover incredible new talent, new perspectives and new approaches to cooking and food. We know the talent is out there and I’m thrilled to be able to help them fulfil their potential.”

The first episode of "The Great Cookbook Challenge with Jamie Oliver" airs on Monday 31st January at 8 p.m. on Channel 4. The winner’s cookbook will be published later this year. 

Photography by Steve Ryan ©2021 Jamie Oliver Enterprises Ltd.