I have long said that I read cookbooks like novels. I shamelessly buy them all - it is a big obsession - and I take them to bed at night to read. I love getting lost in the pages of a new cookbook.
Recently I came across an article written by Bee Wilson (author of the magnificent "First Bite: How We Learn to Eat") and the opening paragraph sums it up better than I ever could. She writes,
“Recipe readers are always talking about how cookbooks are like novels, and there’s a clue here to how we actually read them. Like a short story, a good recipe can put us in a delightful trance. The Oxford English Dictionary defines fiction as literature “concerned with the narration of imaginary events.” This is what recipes are: stories of pretend meals. Don’t be fooled by the fact that they are written in the imperative tense (pick the basil leaves, peel the onion). Yes, you might do that tomorrow, but right now, you are doing something else. As you read, your head drowsily on the pillow, there is no onion, but you watch yourself peel it in your mind’s eye, tugging off the papery skin and noting with satisfaction that you have not damaged the layers underneath.”
My husband gently says to me, "but why do you keep buying cookbooks if you then just look recipes up on the internet?" I'm not sure I have a logical answer for that. Perhaps it's that the internet is a tool, but the books are a pleasure. In the same way that I prefer real books to the Kindle, I want to drool over the pages of a good cookbook. (You can see some of my very favourites over in the WE LOVE section of this web site).
I was wondering if there were others that feel the way that I do. (Do you?) And then I found the mother of all good ideas - a cookbook club! I am already a member of a book club (I have written about my book club sisters without whom I would perish) but a cookbook club?!?!?! If you think you know people who you could organise this with then please have a read of this article on how to set on up: https://food52.com/blog/17364-10-tips-for-starting-your-own-cookbook-club?utm_campaign=Social&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=Facebook
I'm currently on a road trip in the US so of course I'll be heading to the closest bookshop to see what might be published here that's harder to get in the UK. This is why I brought along an extra empty suitcase! Big smile. Enjoy your week, everyone,
