Hey everyone, So excited to talk about my favorite subject — COLLECTING COOKBOOKS! — with none other than the founder of Stained Page News, one of the premiere destinations for cookbook news online: Paula Forbes! Paula and I are such cookbook geeks that this conversation sounds like it’s sped up, but it’s just us being super geeky and enthusiastic.
wasn't going to listen as I'm trying to get rid of stuff in my life but I'm so GLAD I did ! what a charming interview - it made me go back and look at my stack of old cookbooks with all the notes I wrote on the recipes -- esp the Silver Palette cookbooks and the Fanny Farmer Bake Book and my 50 year old joy of cooking that my mom gave me as a wedding present with a little inscription about a life of cooking - thanks Mom !
My most cherished cookbook is Woman’s Home Companion from my grandmother. It was published in the forties. The cover is gone and many of the pages are stained. It covers meal plans, decorating the table, plus hints like don’t have more guests than you can take care of. LOL! The recipes for the most part have stood the test of time. I have too many cookbooks to count. I often receive cookbooks as gifts. Sometimes the gifts don’t earn a place in my collection but I do find a home for them. Every week when I dust my nightstand I select a new pile of cookbooks to reacquaint myself with.
Of course I love my likely 1st edition MTAoFC I got from my boyfriend’s mother but my favorite is my mother’s Better Homes and Gardens big binder cookbook. There is an amazing archive of clippings from 50 or more years that are ready to fall in your lap when you pick it up. Recipe cards from aunts are there too. It’s family history but more importantly for me a record of my mothers cooking life. In reality she was an ambivalent cook but she had 10 kids and it was her job and a big part of her life. I like trying to resurrect food memories from the book and the decaying clippings.
BTW I liked the podcast but especially to hear someone (Paula) has a way crazier number of cookbooks than me 🙂. I just have hundreds.
i have to be honest, i keep asking for & buying cookbooks and then...never really looking at them. even though i love and appreciate them, i get most of my recipe inspiration online.
so, that said, my favorites would have to be those with sentimental value. chief among them is this promotional dole cookbook for kids that my grampa sent away for in the early 90s:
not only was my grampa (and gramma) a very important person to me, they are the reason i love to cook today, and that cookbook marked the first time i really cooked on my own. also, the apple tuna salad is actually really good! and the vegetable pasta italiano (something with ground turkey, broccoli, and cauliflower among other things if i recall) wasn't bad either. that was the first dish i cooked for my family by myself. (i would have been about 8 or 9.)
Don't forget about the public library, haha! That's where I go to check out books I want to read but am not (yet) sure I need to own...
Like Chris said, I really treasure some of my older cookbooks associated with memories: a Fannie Farmer cookbook with an inscription from my grandmother, a Moosewood cookbook with one from my hippie cousin, the Maida Heatter my sister and I cooked everything out of...Looking forward to listening to this conversation, Paula's newsletter is another favorite!
I love the new format of the podcast, Adam, and I loved this episode of you two geeking out over cookbooks! Something that I have been loving lately is looking through my mom's collection of what Paula called "community cookbooks." Where I'm from, church cookbooks with recipes from local people (usually ladies) are very popular. I dare someone to find a page that doesn't include cream of mushroom soup, Jello, or Cool Whip. One of my favorite recipes to read includes these ingredients: lemon gelatin, frozen spinach, mayonnaise, vinegar, cottage cheese, celery, chopped onion, and dill weed. One day I will make this puzzling "spinach salad."
I loved this episode! I too share a love and addiction to cookbooks. I look forward to all of the new and exciting takes in the new releases as well as the great discoveries from days gone by. Perhaps you might consider a short commentary about new book releases to your podcast...Keep up the entertaining work, I am enjoying the new podcast formulation and substack content!
wasn't going to listen as I'm trying to get rid of stuff in my life but I'm so GLAD I did ! what a charming interview - it made me go back and look at my stack of old cookbooks with all the notes I wrote on the recipes -- esp the Silver Palette cookbooks and the Fanny Farmer Bake Book and my 50 year old joy of cooking that my mom gave me as a wedding present with a little inscription about a life of cooking - thanks Mom !
My most cherished cookbook is Woman’s Home Companion from my grandmother. It was published in the forties. The cover is gone and many of the pages are stained. It covers meal plans, decorating the table, plus hints like don’t have more guests than you can take care of. LOL! The recipes for the most part have stood the test of time. I have too many cookbooks to count. I often receive cookbooks as gifts. Sometimes the gifts don’t earn a place in my collection but I do find a home for them. Every week when I dust my nightstand I select a new pile of cookbooks to reacquaint myself with.
It’s like getting a message from your dealer! I listened and then immediately ordered 3 more cookbooks to add to my stacks! 🙄
Of course I love my likely 1st edition MTAoFC I got from my boyfriend’s mother but my favorite is my mother’s Better Homes and Gardens big binder cookbook. There is an amazing archive of clippings from 50 or more years that are ready to fall in your lap when you pick it up. Recipe cards from aunts are there too. It’s family history but more importantly for me a record of my mothers cooking life. In reality she was an ambivalent cook but she had 10 kids and it was her job and a big part of her life. I like trying to resurrect food memories from the book and the decaying clippings.
BTW I liked the podcast but especially to hear someone (Paula) has a way crazier number of cookbooks than me 🙂. I just have hundreds.
i have to be honest, i keep asking for & buying cookbooks and then...never really looking at them. even though i love and appreciate them, i get most of my recipe inspiration online.
so, that said, my favorites would have to be those with sentimental value. chief among them is this promotional dole cookbook for kids that my grampa sent away for in the early 90s:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/794258836/vintage-cook-book-dole-fruit-promotional
not only was my grampa (and gramma) a very important person to me, they are the reason i love to cook today, and that cookbook marked the first time i really cooked on my own. also, the apple tuna salad is actually really good! and the vegetable pasta italiano (something with ground turkey, broccoli, and cauliflower among other things if i recall) wasn't bad either. that was the first dish i cooked for my family by myself. (i would have been about 8 or 9.)
Don't forget about the public library, haha! That's where I go to check out books I want to read but am not (yet) sure I need to own...
Like Chris said, I really treasure some of my older cookbooks associated with memories: a Fannie Farmer cookbook with an inscription from my grandmother, a Moosewood cookbook with one from my hippie cousin, the Maida Heatter my sister and I cooked everything out of...Looking forward to listening to this conversation, Paula's newsletter is another favorite!
Right now, not a 100% cookbook: Caroline Eden's "Red Sands." After that, "Falastin."
I love the new format of the podcast, Adam, and I loved this episode of you two geeking out over cookbooks! Something that I have been loving lately is looking through my mom's collection of what Paula called "community cookbooks." Where I'm from, church cookbooks with recipes from local people (usually ladies) are very popular. I dare someone to find a page that doesn't include cream of mushroom soup, Jello, or Cool Whip. One of my favorite recipes to read includes these ingredients: lemon gelatin, frozen spinach, mayonnaise, vinegar, cottage cheese, celery, chopped onion, and dill weed. One day I will make this puzzling "spinach salad."
I loved this episode! I too share a love and addiction to cookbooks. I look forward to all of the new and exciting takes in the new releases as well as the great discoveries from days gone by. Perhaps you might consider a short commentary about new book releases to your podcast...Keep up the entertaining work, I am enjoying the new podcast formulation and substack content!