a patchwork of colors and flavors
October 22, 2015 1:25 AM   Subscribe

The idea behind Cookbook Club is a simple one—a group of friends all make recipes from the same book and gather to share the results, a crowdsourced feast. But there's a bit of magic to Cookbook Club that I didn't anticipate when I attended my first meeting, walking into an unfamiliar house clutching a bowl of pumpkin seed dip from Diana Kennedy's The Essential Cuisines of Mexico.
posted by divabat (11 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
This sounds like a wonderful idea I should adapt
posted by growabrain at 1:32 AM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


What a neat idea!
posted by tilde at 3:06 AM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


My parents were a member of something they called "Gourmet Club" for most of my life. This was very much the same thing.
posted by jefflowrey at 4:44 AM on October 22, 2015


Yeah, my in-laws used to do this back in the 80s and 90s. Frankly, it is something I would have enjoyed back when I was cooking seriously, but I have been cursed to spend my life with fussy eaters and others indifferent to cooking and food.
posted by briank at 5:47 AM on October 22, 2015


Is this just a pot-luck, with a rule or two thrown in? Nice to read though, I like the optimism.
posted by esto-again at 5:53 AM on October 22, 2015


It's a regularly-scheduled theme pot-luck, yes. Some people find it fun. Fun is a thing that some people like to have!
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:08 AM on October 22, 2015 [6 favorites]


I've always wanted to bring to a bookclub that had potlucks based on the novels we read. This doesn't sound like a bad alternative though.
posted by congen at 7:15 AM on October 22, 2015


At my book club people regularly bring food items related to the book - last month we read Buriel Rites and someone brought an armful of Icelandic yogurt (which was delicious).

Any suggestions for books that are not cookbooks that would lend themselves to this theme?
posted by bq at 8:47 AM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


Love it! Vegans do this accidentally all the time because whenever THEE new vegan cookbook comes out -- the last big one I remember is Thug Kitchen, and before that, Salad Samurai -- everyone buys it and then our next casual potluck turns out to be an impromptu cookbook club meeting.

Also this really makes me want to start up a club on FanFare Books where a bunch of us make something mail-able (cookies? bread? canned jam? spice blends? 'just add water' soup mixes?) from the same book and then swap it through the mail. Off to search for shelf-stable recipe books!
posted by divined by radio at 11:46 AM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


> Any suggestions for books that are not cookbooks that would lend themselves to this theme?

Yes! Books in Brian Jacques' Redwall series always have very long, mouthwatering descriptions of food at feasts. The MaddAddam trilogy focuses a lot on food, especially in the last two books - the weird fast food, the cult food, the surviving-after-the-disaster food. The characters in Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward get very excited about treats from home. I think the Wind Up Bird Chronicle has some interesting food themes as well - I remember in particular a dish the narrator had made over and over for his wife without realizing that she hated it. That could be a fun theme - make the equivalent dish in your life!
posted by congen at 2:42 PM on October 22, 2015


I like this idea a lot. Mefi meetup idea?
posted by Fig at 4:05 PM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


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