February 5, 2014

Cookbooks Again


Food.  Middle of California veggie fields.  2010.

We are low on cookbooks at work.  They always sell, and we don’t even have half a shelf left to sell.  I went through my own cookbook shelves yesterday neatening and organizing, and deleting as I went. 

My own recipes and the most used volumes like the new Joy, are all together on one shelf.   Other books are grouped by like and kind.  All the old Joy of Cooking together for instance.  I don’t have the oldest of these, but I have a wide range of years.  Cooking has changed so very much since Fannie Merritt Farmer brought out her first Boston Cooking School Cookbook. 

I’m off to work, but I wish I had time to write more about cooking and cookbooks.  Much of our cultural identity and history is reflected in these volumes.

7 comments:

  1. My cultural identity is contained in toasted bagels and baked ziti. My two specialties.

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  2. dinneYes, cookbooks have a tale to tell. I have one of moms old southern cookbooks. Definitely not PC and the recipes are for food that can kill.

    Re Edsel, yes,he repeats, but it assists my memory. He is an editor with US News and World, I think. And a relief from some of the history I read. I am reading Saving Italy. Have only browsed MM. I bet the film will use material from both.

    Dianne

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  3. A good project. I would love to read you views and research on the history of cookbooks and cooking. Sometimes I look at an old cookbook and realize how bland it is. I wonder if your cookbooks that are purchased are actually used or if people just buy them for artifacts?

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  4. The breadth and depth of your passions amazes me, as does ypur investment of time and energy. That said, my stroke sister, you blaze a "can do" path for me to aspire to.

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  5. Love cookbooks. I have many old and new, like the ones with color photos very much.

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  6. They are snap shots from an era.

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  7. I do have way more cookbooks than I possibly need. I didn't realize people like them. Perhaps I'll just donate some of them. Actually, I did donate a whole bunch when we moved to Hawaii.

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