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Cookbooks – How Many Do You Own? (Part 2)

JAZ

By JAZ
in Cookbooks & References

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Alex

Alex

Posted
Posted
I must preface this post by stating my current living situation.  I am a 21 year old college student who still lives at home.  All of my cookbooks are on my bookshelves in my room (along with my Le Cruseut Cookware, which my family is not allowed to touch).

Not including all of my mother's cookbooks, which I occasionally use, I have approx. 76 cookbooks (with one on the way: "The New York Times Passover Cookbook".

Shannon

Welcome to eGullet, Shannon_Elise!

Seventy-six cookbooks by age 21 and not yet in your own place? Now that's impressive. Think of all the room you'll eventually have to acquire and store hundreds (thousands?) more.

In my first year living apart from my family I acquired three cookbooks, having owned exactly none when I moved out (also at 21): Fannie Farmer, The Joy of Cooking, and The New York Times International Cookbook.

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

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maggiethecat

maggiethecat

Posted
Posted

61,661.

Welcome indeed, Shannon_Elise.

Seventy-six cookbooks by age 21 and not yet in your own place? Now that's impressive
I'm with Alex.

Seth, rant on, my friend. As a matter of fact, I agree with you on several points. But I found at least four really, really excellent recipes in this book, and that made it worth the thirty-five bucks.

Margaret McArthur

"Take it easy, but take it."

Studs Terkel

1912-2008

A sensational tennis blog from freakyfrites

margaretmcarthur.com

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heyjude

heyjude

Posted
Posted (edited)

Four more cookbooks for me including Baking illustrated and a Canadian magazine book. I think I'm getting the hang of being both a grandmother and cookbook obsessed. I just get an equal number of books for Iris. Edit to add: Shannon we love you, already. Stick around.

Edited by heyjude (log)

Judy Amster

Cookbook Specialist and Consultant

amsterjudy@gmail.com

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bigwino

bigwino

Posted
Posted

Add nine more for me.

From the Williams-Sonoma Savoring series:

Spain & Portugal

Tuscany

Mexico

China

The Oxford Companion to Food

A New Way to Cook by Schneider

The Whole Beast

Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating

Are You Really Going to Eat that by Walsh

Is anyone else a fan of the Savoring books from Williams-Sonoma? I've had dishes from several of the books and they've been home runs every time. They're a bit of a pain because of their size, but I love them so far.

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YKL

YKL

Posted
Posted
Add nine more for me. 

From the Williams-Sonoma Savoring series:

    Spain & Portugal

    Tuscany

    Mexico

    China

The Oxford Companion to Food

A New Way to Cook by Schneider

The Whole Beast

Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating

Are You Really Going to Eat that by Walsh

Is anyone else a fan of the Savoring books from Williams-Sonoma?  I've had dishes from several of the books and they've been home runs every time.  They're a bit of a pain because of their size, but I love them so far.

It almost seems a shame that a weighty tome like Alan Davidson's Oxford Companion to Food only counts as one book!

Maggie - have bought another 3 books recently, and would have been four were it not for some superhuman feat of self restraint that stopped me from buying one of the best titled books I have ever seen - called "Everything Tastes Better with Bacon"

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balmagowry

balmagowry

Posted
Posted
It almost seems a shame that a weighty tome like Alan Davidson's Oxford Companion to Food only counts as one book!

Yes, but... yes, but... remember that a tiny pamphlet like the Angustura Bitters Recipes ones also counts as one book. In the long run, they balance each other out. (OTOH, I counted both volumes of the Food Encyclopedia,and all 12 of the Mary Margaret McBride series - because a tome is a tome is a tome.)

Maggie - have bought another 3 books recently, and would have been four were it not for some superhuman feat of self restraint that stopped me from buying one of the best titled books I have ever seen - called "Everything Tastes Better with Bacon"

Sometimes restraint is not a virtue! How could you possibly resist that? :shock: Now I'll have to go out and buy it. Someone has to.

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thursdaynext

thursdaynext

Posted
Posted
(by the by, if you were to include periodicals...it would be outrageous, I imagine)

Count me in for 400- latest acquisition was Chinese Gastronomy after reading about it in another thread. :blink:

"A good dinner is of great importance to good talk. One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." Virginia Woolf

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natasha1270

natasha1270

Posted
Posted

200. Way to even a number, excuse me while I see what I can do to remedy this.

Natasha

"The main thing to remember about Italian food is that when you put your groceries in the car, the quality of your dinner has already been decided." – Mario Batali
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kelly355

kelly355

Posted
Posted

I've got 257 but I've not bought one in ages.Now every time I want a recipe,I just get one from the internet.I agree it's not the same for those of us who love to read cookbooks like novels but it's much cheaper.(and I don't have to constantly buy new bookcases & figure out where to put them.)

Every new food you try adds a year to your life.Therefore,I am immortal ;=)
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Majra

Majra

Posted
Posted

Count me in for 113 cookbooks. I haven't bought one in ages either, rather I have been relying heavily on the internet for sourcing new recipes. I can't believe, with the amount of time I spend both cooking and web surfing, that I just recently discovered eGullet.

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maggiethecat

maggiethecat

Posted
Posted
I can't believe, with the amount of time I spend both cooking and web surfing, that I just recently discovered eGullet.

Amazing, but we're so glad you all are here. Welcome.

62, 893. 11.91 miles. (Another twenty and I'll be at Trio!)

Margaret McArthur

"Take it easy, but take it."

Studs Terkel

1912-2008

A sensational tennis blog from freakyfrites

margaretmcarthur.com

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artisan02

artisan02

Posted
Posted (edited)

Okay, this is my first post here on eGullet.

I have been lurking for some time on eGullet though.

In some respects, I feel like a wimp among you all. I know it isn't a contest, but still....

I have a unique situation. I am a traveling nurse, and I had to put most of my collection in storage. I did cull through my collection and I carry my favorites around with me. I have been very careful the last year because of this, due to lack of space in which to transport my favorites. But I have bought about 30 books since I started this traveling nurse gig. I just can't resist buying cookbooks.

Okay. I have over 1000 in my collection. I don't know the exact total right now. It may be closer to 1200. But put me down for 1000 to start. And one day, whenever I settled down again and get my books out of storage, I will let you know the exact number.

My first books were the Foods of The World Series. I have the whole collection. And I think somewhere in there, I got the book Great Dinners from Life.

As far as traveling around goes, I mentioned that I culled my favorites to take with me. I couldn't cull them down to just 20 or so. Nooooooooooo....

I probably started carrying about 125 with me about a year ago. That was 3 very stuffed book boxes. Now I am up to 4 boxes: I think I have added 25 books to that collection. I just can't stop buying them, no matter what.

On this note, I have a few questions.

Do any of you, if you haven't bought a cookbook in a while, get an "itch" to buy a new one? I was reading over this thread, and I never saw anything like this mentioned. I mention it, cause I sure do. I just get the itch to get a new one every now and then. Only thing, is that sometimes I get more than just one.

The other question is this. I am traveling around the USA, and everywhere I go, I try to find a good source for cookbooks, other than the usual B&N, and Borders. Sometimes I find a specialized cookbook store, or a great used bookstore that has a wonderful collection of cookbooks.

I am wondering what your favorite places are to find cookbooks?

Right now, I am in Los Angeles, and I think I heard somewhere that there is a great cookbook store, or a great place where I can find cookbooks. I heard this a few years ago. I would like to find this place, if at all possible.

All this being said, I bought 3 new cookbooks in the past 2 weeks:

BitterSweet by Alice Medrich

The Whole Beast by Fergus Henderson (signed)

The Cheese Board Collective Works

I hope to be able to get some of the books I have read about on this forum. I now have quite a few to add to my collection. I think I will start having my books shipped to me from now on. I just can't put them in storage, as they are a comfort and joy to me.

Christine

Edited by artisan02 (log)
http://Nightstirrings.blogspot.com
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maggiethecat

maggiethecat

Posted
Posted

artisan02:

Welcome to eGullet, and we're honored that you made your debut on this thread. Yours is indeed a unique situation, and I honor your resolve in dragging those 150 cookbooks with you from move to move. I understanf it too -- if you must make a home for yourself in a new place on a regular basis, pack what counts, what you love, what makes it home. As you said, your "comfort and joy."

Do any of you, if you haven't bought a cookbook in a while, get an "itch" to buy a new one?
Yes! I am scratching myself right now, as a matter of fact. It's like shoes: many a woman knows she doesn't actually need that cute new sandal when she already has thirteen pairs, but it doesn't prevent her from wanting, or buying those cute little jobbies with the ankle straps and the Louis heels. But a new cookbook can open a new world, and I've never owned a pair of shoes that powerful!

63,893.

Margaret McArthur

"Take it easy, but take it."

Studs Terkel

1912-2008

A sensational tennis blog from freakyfrites

margaretmcarthur.com

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Alex

Alex

Posted
Posted
Do any of you, if you haven't bought a cookbook in a while, get an "itch" to buy a new one? I was reading over this thread, and I never saw anything like this mentioned.

I suspect it's never been mentioned because it's probably the norm around these here parts. My kind of folks... :cool:

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

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ronnie_suburban

ronnie_suburban

Posted
Posted (edited)
Do any of you, if you haven't bought a cookbook in a while, get an "itch" to buy a new one? I was reading over this thread, and I never saw anything like this mentioned.

I suspect it's never been mentioned because it's probably the norm around these here parts. My kind of folks... :cool:

Exactly. I think it comes with the territory. :biggrin:

I have an update too Maggie. I've added another 36 since my last report; including 17 titles from the Time-Life The Good Cook series. :smile: These books, while over 20 years old are in great condition and very current in their scope. What a pleasure it is to look through them. I found them at a used bookstore next door to a kiddie birthday party my son attended. It was the best kiddie birthday party I've ever been to. :wink::biggrin:

=R=

Edited by ronnie_suburban (log)

"Hey, hey, careful man! There's a beverage here!" --The Dude, The Big Lebowski

LTHForum.com -- The definitive Chicago-based culinary chat site

ronnie_suburban 'at' yahoo.com

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marie-louise

marie-louise

Posted
Posted
Do any of you, if you haven't bought a cookbook in a while, get an "itch" to buy a new one? I was reading over this thread, and I never saw anything like this mentioned.

I suspect it's never been mentioned because it's probably the norm around these here parts. My kind of folks... :cool:

I can quit anytime I want to. :biggrin:

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maggiethecat

maggiethecat

Posted
Posted
It was the best kiddie birthday party I've ever been too. :wink::biggrin:

=R=

I'll say! What a haul, my Friend. I agree with you about the Time- Life cookbooks of that era; those folks really did it right. I pulled out the "Preserving" volume of the Good Cook series a few weeks ago, in search of a marmelade recipe. It was right there, and I'd spent a couple of hours looking through the rest of my shelves for a recipe that called for 100% Seville oranges. It was a reminder: Always check out the T-L series, even if I hadn't looked at them for a couple of years.

63, 454. Laurie, that's 12.01 miles, within striking distance of Trio for say, ronnie_suburban, but only about a third of the way for me!

Margaret McArthur

"Take it easy, but take it."

Studs Terkel

1912-2008

A sensational tennis blog from freakyfrites

margaretmcarthur.com

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