Still Using a Cookbook?

What influences the type of cookbooks that are published these days and are cookbooks still a popular item? The type of cookbooks that are flourishing now are eco friendly, they deal with recipes for local produce, health consciousness, quick and easy recipes, cooking as a hobby, careers in cooking, and who is the latest celebrity authoring a cookbook.  Did you know that Ina Garten is considered the food mega star?

Most cookbooks are now published in book format and as a e-book. Many enjoy using their i-pad in the kitchen to show them the recipe.  People still like to checkout a cookbook at the library so they can try something different without the cost of purchasing.  Cookbooks trending right now deal with recipes without gluten, vegetarian or vegan, low acid, paleo (caveman diet), super foods (chia, kale, coconut), farm to table, and the most popular ethnic food - Italian.

You wouldn't think of this, but current popularity of certain types of cookware also influence the cookbooks being written. Right now the slow cooker, pressure cooker, waffle irons and cast iron are creating a demand for new recipes and cookbooks.

Magazines also have some sway in how cookbooks are written. Magazines started including heart healthy and nutrition information with their recipes and now cookbooks do too.

Popular blogs are also turned into cookbooks - one of the most popular is the Smitten Kitten  http://smittenkitchen.com/  and the Pioneer Woman http://thepioneerwoman.com/ among tons of others.

Do you have a favorite cookbook or website you visit? Do you prefer the actual book or looking recipes up on the Internet? Share some of your favorites with us!

Susan

Cookery at the Library

Hard to imagine, at hot as it is, that July is a pretty busy month for food. It is National ice cream, baked bean and hot dog month. Today is Fried Chicken day, tomorrow is Chocolate and Strawberry Sundae Day, Saturday is Sugar Cookie Day - July 12th brings Pecan Pie Day, the 15th is Tapioca Pudding Day, the 17th is Ice Cream Day, the 19th is Raspberry Cake Day, the 21st is Junk food day, the 23rd is Hot Dog and Vanilla Ice Cream Day, July 28th is Milk Chocolate Day, July 29th is Lasagna Day, and July 30th is Cheesecake day.

These hot summer days are a good time to barbecue and make salads you can throw together without cooking. Thinking of food made me wonder a bit about our cookbooks - do people use cookbooks like they used to? Is it easier to use the Internet for recipes than a cookbook? Many patrons once came in to ask for help finding a recipe in a cookbook. Now they type it into the computer and come up with hundreds of recipes right at their fingertips. When do you use a cookbook and when do you use the Internet to find a recipe?

Cooking is a very popular subject right now - tons of cooking shows, food magazines, and always new cookbooks. Do you like browsing through a cookbook? Will they always be a popular item at the library or would you rather read them on your Nook or Kindle? It seems hundreds of cookbooks are published each year and it always hard to pick which ones to buy on a limited budget. What type of cookbooks do you like the library to buy? Gourmet? Quick and Easy? Healthy? Ethnic? Preserving? Baking? I'd be interested to know.

Susan

No internet and the cookbook section

All the computers are down and the circulating system is barely trying to function. Most of my every day work has to be done on the computer so I can’t do much. I notice some of the shelves are a little full in the cooking section so I decided to see if I could fix that by taking a few books out of the collection that aren’t circulating much.

It is interesting to see how the library population of Brigham City feels about their cuisine by the cookbooks they check out. If the low or non-circulating books are any indication then the people of Brigham City aren’t much into seafood recipes – well, who can blame them? How fresh is the seafood we purchase in Brigham City? It seems that people don't want to try the time-consuming, gourmet recipes by some famous chef either – even if the book was on the NYT best seller list. For example, Mario Batali (he’s an Iron chef), Paul Wolfert, Jonathan Waxman, Charlie Trotter, Jaques Pepin aren’t moving very well.

The books that do move the best are the make-a-mix or make-ahead cookbooks, homestyle, meals-in-minutes, anything made easy, slow cooker, easy Mexican, essential Mormon, cookies, desserts, and weight-watcher cookbooks. Brigham City patrons want their food easy, quick, and low-cal!

Susan