[Michlib-l] Cookbook Clubs

[Andrea Ingmire]

We’ve run a Cookbook Book Group for several decades. Ours is called Tasty Reads. It’s very popular!

Tasty Reads runs from Sept – May and we meet monthly at noon. Our meetings take at least 90 minutes, as the food bit adds time to the discussion. The library provides the room, tables, plates, silverware etc. We ask folks to bring in their own – as it cuts down on waste, but many just rely on our supplies.

We choose our books over the summer and put the list out early so that folks have lots of time to get copies. We always try to have several copies of the books available in our collection, especially if it’s a title that doesn’t have many copies in our resource sharing libraries.

We maintain an email listing for this book group and about a week leading up to the meeting most folks will send an email with what they are planning to make. It’s not 100% as several members NEVER email about what they are bringing…lol. But, it does help to keep duplicates to a minimum.

Our book group discusses cookbooks, memoirs, fiction about cooking/restaurants/chefs, etc. It’s nice to have some variety, and our best discussions have been around memoirs and fiction! If it’s a book without many recipes we encourage folks to bring in items that are inspired by the book.

Timeline:
Attendees bring in their food and set it up in our meeting room. We go around the table and everyone describes what they brought to eat (quickly). Then everyone fills their plates and we then take turns talking about what we liked, didn’t like etc from the book.

We’ve tried to ask folks to bring in copies of their recipes, but that’s not always successful. 😊 There is often an email or two after the meeting where folks send out their recipes.

I always try to find additional information about the author, chef, etc to put out to the group early. Some books have more additional information than others, but for the most part this information just adds to the discussion we have.

I encourage you to give this type of program a shot. It’s really fun, and for those of us who are foodies by nature, it’s not much work! The trickiest bit for me is planning food that can sit at work with me for several hours prior to our meeting. The Instant Pot has been a real lifesaver in that regard!

If you have any questions, just let me know.

Andrea

From: Michlib-l <michlib-l-bounces at mcls.org> On Behalf Of Anna Merritt via Michlib-l
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2023 10:38 AM
To: Michigan Libraries List Serve <michlib-l at mcls.org>
Subject: [Michlib-l] Cookbook Clubs


Hello All,



For those who run Cookbook Clubs at their libraries- how do you structure it?



Do you have everyone sign up for what recipes they are going to make?



Do you check out copies of the actual cook book or just make photo copies of the recipes?



When you meet up, do you just talk about the recipes? Do you offer information and discussion based on the theme of the cookbook?



Any feedback on how you organize this type of book club would be most helpful!


Anna Merritt
Assistant Director
Richland Community Library
8951 Park Street
Richland, MI 49083
(269) 629-9085
https://www.richlandlibrary.org/

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