Back in the day before I started my culinary book obsession I used to have a couple of magazine subscriptions - one to Vegetarian Good Food and the other to delicious. Every month I would scour these magazines and then happily rip the recipes I fancied from them to put in my folder or recipe card file.
That was before it became easier to buy cookery books and my recipe file still lives on to this day! Then when I stopped work to have and raise our family, my life included buying cookery books on how to feed babies and toddlers, along with the addition of some of my earliest and most loved cookery books. Delia Smith's Summer and Winter books, anything by Rose Elliot and also Rick Stein's Fruits of the Sea and Seafood books. This was a time when I was in my late 20s, early 30s and we started to grow our own produce, keep hens and were pescatarian (only ate vegetarian food or fish).
A move abroad to live in Calgary, Canada with a restricted weight limit saw the first 'cull' of my precious cookery books. It seemed sensible to only take 10 with me......
That quickly backfired as I discovered the joys of Indigo and Chapters bookstores complete with their massive cookery sections! The long cold Calgary winters meant weekend trips to the bookstores with the kids for coffee, book readings in the kids section and the chance to roam the bookshelves ourselves. I moved back to Scotland with over 30 cookery books, and being able to watch BBC Canada meant the first time I watched Nigella Lawson or Jamie Oliver was over there and it was the ultimate comfort to living abroad watching British cooks and chefs on TV. PBS also showed Two Fat Ladies and a friend sent me a box set of River Cottage dvds. The 4 years abroad saw me not only develop as a home cook but also plan my herb garden, veg plot and start dreaming about keeping our own hens again.
I digress! At the moment we are completing the final touches to the redecoration of our kitchen/dining and family room (repainted in Blue Grey from Farrow and Ball - I love it!). The last parts to be completed are the built in shelves that house part of my cookery book collection and therefore these books are now on the floor waiting for me to sort them out.
For a book lover and keen cook like myself this is not an easy task, therefore I have decided to try and categorise my collection into the following;
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| Waiting to be sorted! |
Old Favourites
These are the cookery books that are on the shelves (custom made by Paul for me) next to my fridge. These old friends have sticky pages and notes written over them. I also have a couple of books which used to belong to my Mum and I will never part with them.
Specialist
Recipe books from a particular genre, be it vegetarian, organic, meat, Aga cookery, fish, preserving produce, etc whatever! I may not cook from them often but they are a really good reference.
Aspirational
These are books which inspire me to cook, either been recommended to me or I have read about them or watched something on television about them. Again I probably don't cook from them that often but I do enjoy them.
Seasonal
I do seem to have rather a lot of Christmas Cookbooks! I love Christmas and all the preparation and planning, again I have my favourites including one book which I have been making the Christmas cake recipe from for the last 15 years (never fails!). We also have some outdoor cooking books, for BBQing although these sadly don't get used as often as I'd like living in the North of Scotland.
Travel inspired
I have a small amount of cookery books which I have purchased when returning from trips abroad. These books almost become like bedtime reading as I re-live my trip by browsing through the recipes. My favourite of these right now is Rick Stein's Long Weekends book, made even more wonderful by the fact that I visited two of the same locations as Rick in 2016!
Gift books
I am very lucky in that I have received cookery books as gifts from family and friends over the years. I love these very much and always feel very connected to the person who thought of me when they bought me that book.
Alas I must now return to the hard task of trying to reduce my collection. After all I do need to have some space on my shelves for the books I have yet to buy!
The books I am reading, cooking from and enjoying right now are;
Rick Stein's Long Weekends
Sarah Raven - Good Good Food
Donna Hay - Life in Balance
Trine Hahnemann - Scandinavian Comfort Food
If you lose me in a book store you will always find me in the cookery section!
Ali
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