The recently launched The Edible Series by Reaktion Books has two major things against it from the outset: first, that each book is part of a series, and second, that the series is comprised of slim, single subject volumes with one word titles such as Hot Dog, Spices, or Pie. Series tend to favor the big picture over individual texts, and often contain a volume or two that is just there to bulk up the list of titles without any real thought put into it. Single subject food books, especially those of the 'History with a few recipes' variety can be dry and overly serious—these volumes tend to be authored by people passionate about their subject, but that passion can be tricky to nail down on paper.

This is not to say that The Edible Series is beset by all of these issues, but merely that such factors may lead one to assume that some volumes will be too brief, overly-simplified, and perhaps even boring as compared to the others, given the variety of titles and simplistic nature of the theme. Can there be as much to say about pies, delicious and storied though they be, as there is about spices?

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