Book Talk is a new feature where I talk about non-book review bookish things.

Today is all about cookbooks!  I really like to cook and bake (but I prefer baking), and I feel like I’m always talking about the cookbooks I buy when I do my currently obsessed feature.  It just seems like the perfect time to talk about what I look for in a cookbook and why I’m so drawn to them.

I definitely like simplicity as far as cookbooks go- I like ingredients that I can get at one of the several grocery stores near my house.  I definitely like recipes that are simple and easy to make, and not overly complicated, with a lot of steps or ingredients.  I also look at how much certain ingredients are used- mostly spices, oils and vinegars- because if I’m going to buy cardamom or champagne vinegar or coconut oil, I really want to make sure it’s something I’m going to be using quite a bit.  I just don’t want a random assortment of spices that I only used that one time because it definitely takes away from the space I could be using for things I actually use on a regular basis.

While I’m a big fan of e-books and audiobooks, I actually prefer my cookbooks in print.  I have no problem setting up my laptop on a counter with a recipe I found on a blog or on pinterest.  But it does make me nervous, because I tend to be messy when I’m cooking (much more than normal cooking messes) and knowing me, I’d spill or splatter something all over my laptop.  I don’t mind as much if food splatters over the pages of a cookbook, but I’m really hesitant to have my computer right next to the stove.

And with print, I love pouring over every single recipe to see what I want to make- I just love marking which things I want to make, and adding notes when I do make things.  Things like if I’d make it again, if I made it at all, and any notes I have about the recipe, and why I would or wouldn’t make a recipe again.  I could do these things with a digital copy, but for whatever reason, I’d rather do this with a print copy.

Actually, now I’m curious if a majority of cookbooks are even available as e-books.  I’m sure some are, but it’s not something I’d even think to look at.  For some reason, I can’t see cookbooks being a big thing in terms of e-books.  And cookbooks are pretty visual, which is why I can’t see a lot of them being an e-book.  There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, and if it’s what someone prefers, that’s cool with me.

I feel like cookbooks say a lot about people- what they like to cook and eat, and cookbooks definitely say a lot about the people behind them too.  I’ve never really thought about what my cookbook collection says about me- and going off of that, you’d get that I really like to cook, but not that I love to bake.  But other than that…I’m not really sure.  I may have to think about this.

And I’ve never thought about this before, but cookbooks do tell a story- certain smells and foods bring up certain memories, and they’re such a good peek into a certain place and time.  Like, I love seeing recipes from the 1800’s or some other time period.  It’s just so interesting to me to get a peek into a time and place where people ate something completely different than I do, and it’s cool to see how much has changed.

I know I’ve rambled a lot but I can’t help but love cookbooks!  Have a happy Thursday!