The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Cookbook Club brings cooks together
The sale of physical books may have taken a hit since Kindle, Nook and other e-readers have worked their way in to everyday life, but don’t stir cookbooks in to that mix.
Cookbook sales grew 21 percent in the first half of 2018 compared to the first half of 2017, according to a July 2018 report from the NPD Group, an American market research company.
“The success of cookbooks tracks with a larger growth trend of consumers dining at home, rather than eating out,” said Allison Risbridger, books industry analyst of The NPD Group. “With more people cooking meals at home, there is renewed interest in cookbooks of all kinds, especially those that help cooks save time and eat well.”
Eastlake Public Library assistant manager MaryAnn Friedlander noted that traditionally cookbooks are popular items at the library and thus far have shown no decline in usage despite the plethora of recipes available via the Internet.
In fact, Friedlander capitalized on the genre’s hot status by initiating Cookbook Confidential, a group that meets monthly at the library to dish about cookbooks, recipes and share tasty homemade goodies.
At a recent meeting several foodies discussed why cookbooks hit the spot for their cooking needs.
“I prefer cookbooks over the Internet because there are too many interruptions with pop-up ads and videos. They can be annoying,” said Karen Fraley of Willoughby. “(Cookbooks) are fun to read and you can drool over every recipe.
“You can envision what they’re going to taste like.”
Fraley, a former cookbook editor, added that her most treasured tome
is a classic Fannie Farmer volume that holds a special recipe for simple biscuits she often uses.
Judy Artino of Eastlake proudly claims ownership of at least 100 cookbooks.
Besides using their recipes she said they sometimes provide a sense of comfort.
“My mom made recipes from cookbooks and they remind me of my childhood,” she said.
But recipes aren’t the
only thing in cookbooks. Many offer historical or personal stories, descriptions of interesting places and more.
That’s why Nina Fried of Eastlake possesses a penchant for the genre.
“I like reading books by people who are cooks,” she said. “It’s interesting to read memoirs. They’re not only recipes but stories of life.”
Authors that Fried enjoys are Ruth Reichl and Diane Mott Davidson, an American writer of mystery novels who includes several recipes within her stories.
Reasons given to purchase cookbooks instead of scrolling through recipe websites include permanence, sentimentality and discovery.
Diane Kopp of Timberlake said she uses her “cabinet full of cookbooks” as resources to come up with her own concoctions. While working on creating a new item she’ll peruse recipes from four or five books and pull together what she thinks are the best parts from each.
Beth Howard of Painesville Township said she also uses a variety of cookbooks from her vast collection to create distinctive blends.
“I love to cook and I’m not afraid to change things,” she said.
An article written by Martha C. White on www. nbcnews.com includes the following insight on the inherent value of cookbooks.
“Making food and having dinner at home is part of this idealized domestic life we’re always struggling with in the United States,” said Amy Trubek, associate professor and faculty director for the Food Systems Graduate Program at the University of Vermont. “I think people do use the Internet a lot for quick recipes, but I don’t think people aspirationally read websites.
“I think they aspirationally read beautiful, glossy cookbooks.”