Try It Out: Start a Cookbook Club

2
cookbook party

My favorite items from my wedding registry were my cookbooks. Each cookbook represents something I wanted to accomplish in my marriage.

Oh, did I have plans for those books! I would be the spouse that cooked almost every night and the mom whose kids’ tastes were so evolved that they would eat anything served to them. After six years, I expected each book’s spine to be broken and their pages soiled with flying ingredients.

I was wrong.

cookbook clubCooking takes time and planning. When you’re working and juggling a family, this doesn’t exit. My preschoolers are kids who survive mostly on pizza, chicken nuggets, and macaroni and cheese. They fear the word “spicy.”

That brings us to today where high up above the refrigerator are the cookbooks, collecting dust.

That is, until I received an interesting proposition in my Facebook feed. An acquaintance was looking to start a cookbook club. Intrigued, I signed up and showed up to a really fun event.

Bringing my go-to Three Ingredient Gluten Free Cookies, I met with women who went far beyond with their homemade foods. There were stuffed peppers, chicken salads, and strawberry rhubarb crumbles. One woman shared stories about her husband’s meat smoking passion as she served pork stuffed hatch chili peppers.

We bonded over our appreciation of PBS’s local food review show, Check Please! Arizona and dished about our favorite restaurants. It was such an easy way to get to know other women.

I can’t recommend enough starting your own club.

How do I start a Cookbook Club?

  1. Get together! It can be with four or fourteen people in your life. Ask people in your life if they’re interested. Make a commitment to carve out some time out of your busy life to make this club happen.
  2. Find a theme. One way to do it is divvying up a cookbook and creating a full tasting menu. Or it could be giving it a theme like “Picnic” and bringing your favorite easy summer item.
  3. Dig into your cookbook. You can choose the paper kind, the Pinterest kind, or, if you’re lucky, the family kind that’s passed down through the generations. Find something that speaks to you, challenges you, or brings up happy memories.
  4. Host it. Set up your home with tables made for discussion. Clear a buffet area where friends can drop off their dishes and then set out labels with ingredients for people with food sensitivities.
  5. Watch the conversation flow. Food really unites people and from restaurant reviews, television cooking shows, and family stories you will find yourself in very interesting and relevant discussions.
  6. Plan again. Leave the event with a set date, theme, and eagerness to put your kitchen to work.

A cookbook club is a fantastic way to really get to know people in your life and a little more about yourself in the process. I am excited each month to brush the dust off each book jacket and get cooking!

2 COMMENTS

  1. I really love this idea. Food alone can hold so much power and connection, it’s why the kitchen is one of the most important rooms in the home! Thanks for sharing. Love giving a good cookbook as a housewarming gift.

  2. This sounds so fun! There is something about sharing a meal that is so incredibly special!

Comments are closed.