Stuck for ideas for dinner tonight? Gourmand Award-winning James McIntosh´s fantastic app “Whisk” is the answer to your prayers!

Gourmand Award winner James McIntosh is about to take cookbooks to the next stage. In 2008 James McIntosh won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award for his series of innovative cookbooks comprising of “mix”, “dinner”, “veg” and “cake”.

Now the home economist has taken one step further and produced an iPhone app of the books and other material and called it “Whisk”. It is based on his cook book series, contains more than 600 recipes and 200 cooking methods and some special features that make the app a stunning experience that combines information, learning and is fun to use. An app is hard to describe – it has to be discovered.

Just one thing that makes “Whisk” so different: If you don´t know what to cook you just shake your iPhone or iPad and the app will present you a proposal. The perspectives of the app are tremendous and James McIntosh has just started. “Anything is possible – the sky is the limit”, says James. “I’ve added lots of features but I was very mindful of my experience of apps. Apps that don’t allow the user to download over a phone network due to size disappoint. One has to find a WiFi network in these situations. Video will add to these issues. However I have used my social media of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blog and website as an integral part of this app. But no question: The work goes on and the app will increase in functions and features.”

The idea of transferring his award-winning cookbook series on the app came to him after he has first experienced the possibilities of the iPhone. James McIntosh: “When the iPhone came out I watched how the app culture developed and from day 1 I realised that it was the first ‘wipe clean’ device that one could cook with. So, for the past 18 months I have been researching apps, looking at technological possibilities and finding the right app developer.” The biggest challenge for him was to learn about the different expectations the user of apps have compared to readers of cookbooks. “A cookbook is single dimension”, he says. “It’s printed on paper – it may be bright and beautiful, have stunning photography and lovely text, but it is not interactive or customizable. An app is more than that. I learned quickly that content is king, but user experience is queen. And kings and queens sit together. So content, user experience, colour, organisation and social media all fitted together.”

Besides the euphoria on the opportunities the iPhone app offers him, James McIntosh will continue to write normal cookbooks. “Apps have their place, cookbooks do too, I like to have a ‘mixed bag’ of products – not everyone has an iPhone! I don’t think one can replace the printed book. Books have something about them – a comfort factor if you like that digital products just can not provide. I look at my Mothers cookbooks, she has her mothers on the shelf with cooking spills on the pages and the smells of my grandmothers kitchen”, he says.

But for now he is concentrating on the promotion of his “Whisk”-app. It will cost £2.99 – cheap for around 600 recipes. And costumers can be sure that the variety of recipes will increase in the future and they will receive an automatic update of “Whisk”. James McIntosh: “Cookbooks now have these possibilities.” The distribution is made by Apple through the iTunes App store. Their fee is 30 percent of the price plus any taxes within the sales area. A good deal, thinks James McIntosh: “Compared to a traditional publishing route this seems more attractive as global distribution, billing, storage, some marketing and the cost of international bank transfers and currency exchange. As an author of a cookbook I would love a contract that offers me 70% of sale price!”

For more details about James, the app “Whisk cooking by James McIntosh” and the cookbook series, visit www.whiskapp.com