Is using cookbook a by-gone thing now? I mean, recipes can be found in an instant with a quick Google search. Need a meal you can cook in 15 minutes with ground beef, Ramen noodles, and yogurt? It is out there!
So, what is the future of the cookbook? Will there be a permanent shift to digital? Is the cookbook dead? If they are dead, why are printed cookbooks still out there in the market? Or do cookbooks have more value than just as a reference.
Back in the day, recipes started out as handwritten. Then, after modern printing, you could cut and paste desired recipes and keep on cards or in binders. Many publishers designed cookbooks as such; making it dynamic content. The internet is just another step in that direction. You can now have a digital collection of recipes. This allows for links and videos. A digital collection makes it super easy to search for a recipe. I have my Pinterest board of recipes.
But I love the use of writing and print as it relates to cookbooks. My mother was a fantastic cook and baker. She loved reading through a cookbook and finding a recipe to try. She would often make notes in the cookbook, or on the recipe card, as to whether it was good, easy, less salt, more garlic, etc. She would always share the recipes or cookbooks with me, which started my love of cooking and of cookbooks. She and I would have coffee and read through a couple of cookbooks finding the perfect recipes to try that evening or simply to set up our weekly meal plans.
While switching out bookcases in my studio, I just went through all my cookbooks. I had a wonderful day going through all of them. Of course, anything with her handwriting on it, I set aside. And she helped publish a couple of cookbooks while a member of a homemaker’s group, so those were set aside also. And then she had her favorite cookbooks, which I use often, so they stayed in the keep pile. Then I went through and tossed the cookbooks that I never used. I also set aside a few for my daughter who loves to bake herself. She took a bread making book. Then I changed out the bookcase and reassembled the collection. I love it!
I know that recipes are easily found on the internet with a quick Google, but something is special about using a written recipe to cook with. It is even more so with your mother’s writing.
Cookbooks will never go extinct for me. They will always be a wonderful and memorable connection and history with my mother.
