New Zealand’s ongoing love affair with food, cooking and cook books, including a growing interest in our own culinary history, continues with the recent release of the ABC of Kiwi Food – Afghans, Barbecues and Chocolate Fish ($30, Hodder Moa Beckett).

This is not so much a recipe book as a snap-shot of New Zealand history that many of today’s foodies and food critics (unless they are fans of feijoa jam, ginger crunch and Belgian biscuits) may prefer to forget.

But it’s a fascinating read, delving into the history of well-known brands like Vogel’s, Marmite and Weet-bix and destroying some of the myths attached to old-fashioned treats like lamingtons and neenish tarts.

It also looks at traditional Maori cuisine, and traces the contributions of immigrants to our national cuisine.

The author, Jane Hingston, has spent 10 years working in book publishing and has worked, she says, on “more cook books than she cares to remember”.

No wonder then she can reel off some fascinating facts, including that Kiwis eat seven million servings of hot chips per week and consume nearly two million jelly tip ice creams each year.

ABC looks set to take its place with other Kiwi-inspired books, including Cooking Times by Kate Fraser ($45 HarperCollins) and a range of titles from the ever-popular New Zealand author Annabel Langbein.

But will Hingston, Fraser, Langbein or other Kiwi cook book authors ever knock the Edmonds Cook Book off its perch?

With three million Edmonds Cook Books sold, all of them still have a long way to go.