Food
Collecting old cookbooks
Food
Collecting old cookbooks
I have this thing for old cookbooks; partly it's the smell. Partly it's the archaeology of finding the most chocolate-or-butter-smeared page in the book (that's where ALL the best recipes are found). But mostly it's for the cooking inspiration and history lesson I get, all in one fell swoop. I've found two of the best places in the world to pick up fabulous old cookbooks are church flea markets and college/university book sales. The first, because that's where you'll find the real homey treasures that women have shared between themselves for generations. And the second, because that's where so many folks end up donating their piles of books when dear Aunt Esther passes away. A local university here (Toronto) puts on a huge sale every November, and it's literally one of the highlights of my year (I'm such a cookbook geek!). Here's my haul from this year:
- The Home Cook Book by Ladies Of Toronto *
- Breakfast cookbook: Favorite recipes from America's bed & breakfast inns by Phyllis Winters
- Thomas Jefferson's Cook Book by Marie Goebel Kimball (1949 edition)
- Apples to Oysters: A Food Lover's Tour of Canadian Farms by Margaret Webb *
- More Food That Really Schmecks by Edna Staebler *
- The Encyclopedia of Homemade Preserves by Myra Street
- The White House Family Cookbook by Henry Haller
- Notes from a Country Kitchen: A Back-To-homemade Cookbook by Jocasta Innes *
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