The Cookbook Junkies

The Making of a Cookbook Junkie and #giveaway

by 104 Comments

From as early as I can remember – I have had an affinity for books. Books were an escape from parents that didn’t allow me to have friends or to do anything outside the home. Gone with the Wind was the one book I owned. I read it over a hundred times.

My love of cookbooks began a little later when I was eighteen.  I was working for an oncologist and to earn extra money, started babysitting for the Doctor and his wife.  On those nights of babysitting the girls, doing my laundry (I hated the Laundromat and was in my own apartment right after high school graduation) I remember the great leftovers that could be found in their fridge. I had never eaten anything that tasted like those leftovers.

My mom wasn’t much of a cook. Never was there anything exotic in her rotation of chicken, meatloaf, spaghetti – and by no means were there any herbs or spices in those dishes. Her ingredient of choice was always Ragu and lots of salt.  I do remember she made great homemade fries….fried things were her speciality. It’s hard to not like something fried. We never went to a restaurant so I was under the impression that food was genuinely bland and flavorless.

When the doctor’s wife went through her cookbooks to thin them out – she gave me a stack.  She was my gateway to becoming a cookbook junkie. I still have one of those books – Miss Hullings’ Cookbook.  Miss Hullings’ Restaurant was a famous restaurant in St. Louis. I miss St. Louis and the Arch will always be a symbol of home. After living in Phoenix for two years and returning back home, I swore I would never leave again – but I did in 1998 for New York City and that is a story for another time.

Back to cookbooks, when I look at my shelves and shelves of nearly 3,000 cookbooks, I see a world of possibilities. I see travel to other countries, a connectivity to other cultures and people and a true love of the written word. Do these books fill our house? Yes, but I don’t see them as clutter – I see them as opportunities. Surrounded by cookbooks and things I love (like LeCreuset, tart pans, copper vessels), I feel like I belong to something. It may come from a background of being abused and being extremely poor but having these things bring me comfort. There are not stacks of newspapers or magazines lying about or herds of cats roaming the house, just shelves of books and a few stacks as well. Life is so short and if we are not surrounded by the things and people we love – what purpose is there?

I’m sharing the piece on The Cookbook Junkies from the Parker paper to explain why my little group of 35,000 cookbook lovers means so much to me. I look at Facebook statuses and see all the connections this group has made and I’m touched. The Junkies are family, dysfunctional, sometimes annoying, but always there for each other.

juliajacques

To celebrate The Cookbook Junkies – I have a giveaway.  I have a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home and I just opened a paperback copy of Voracious by Cara Nicoletti. Voracious (A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way Through Great Books) is part memoir and part book-inspired recipes and somehow fitted today’s post.

To enter the giveaway: You may leave a comment daily on this post telling me anything at all. For a second entry, please share the post and leave a comment telling me you did so. The giveaway is open to U.S. addresses only. A random winner will be chosen on August 31st. Good luck.

Random Number Generator picked #28 Leslie Comer! I had an extra copy of Voracious and #24 Judy wins that copy!
I’m leaving my social media contacts here and would appreciate a follow. I follow back.

Lastly, links to Amazon are affiliate links and the commissions from any of your purchases go to running the site, giveaways and helps with Andrew’s bills. If you buy anything from my Amazon link, I appreciate.

Recently on Cookbook Junkies

Sponsor Ad

Comments

  2. 2

    I belive I bought my first cookbook after looking at my mother’s small collection. Now I have over 1,000; thanks to Jenny Hartin and The Cookbook Junkies!

    Reply
  3. 3

    I know I can’t enter the contest, but, wanted to comment how much The Cookbook Junkies has meant to me. I have formed some wonderful friendships , learned from Jenny how to make perfectly crispy chicken skin, purchased and surrounded myself with many….read many…loved cookbooks.
    So good luck to all who enter and thank you Jenny for sharing your love and dedication with all of us Junkies.

    Reply
  6. 6

    Jenny, it sounds like you had a rough start, but thankfully, found your way to a really good place. We cookbook junkies are so fortunate that your journey took you here .

    Reply
  13. 13

    Thank you for sharing your story Jenny! I love your writing style. My favorite group is cookbook junkies, makes me feel right at home.

    Reply
  18. 18

    I love books as much as you Jenny! And it’s nice to belong to The Junkies and know I am not alone in my cookbook craziness.

    Reply
  20. 20

    I have severely culled my cookbook collection/obsession in the past few years keeping only those I use or can’t bear to part with. For some reason I’ve never indulged in Julia’s Mastering the art of French Cooking. I hope to.

    Reply
  23. 23

    I love this group too! I found you through Eat Your Books and couldn’t believe that there was a big group of people who loved cookbooks like I did too. I’m so glad that you’ve built this community and am thankful for the information that you feed us about all the cookbooks we need to be looking at. Thanks for sharing your story!

    Reply
  24. 24

    I have been collecting for 50 years and think back fondly on the first book I read. It was the paperback Dell edition of The James Beard Cookbook. Of course, I still have it.

    Jenny, thank you for sharing your story. You deserve a bookish hobby.

    Reply
  26. 26

    Thank you for the offer, however I have both. My collection started with a 12 volume collection of Women’s Day Encyclopedia of Cookery, that you purchased each week when a new copy came out AR the A &P grocery store. In 1966. Unfortunately through the years and moves I have lost one book. After that the next book was Betty Crocker “COOKING FOR TWO”. The rest is history. Thank for your touching story, mine is similar to a degree. God Bless You, Mary

    Reply
  30. 30

    I am a new empty nester and contemplating moving…..except for alllll those cookbooks….. Sigh……maybe I’ll just stay put 🙂

    Reply
  31. 31

    Jenny, thank you from the bottom of my cookbook-loving heart for starting this group and putting up with all of our craziness. We love you!

    Reply
  34. 34

    Thank you for sharing your story. I too didn’t have a stellar upbringing but managed to work my way through college and became a teacher. I loved teaching high school and taught for 36 years!!! Hopefully, I helped my kids that didn’t have the greatest lives.

    Reply
  37. 37

    Wow! I probably started collecting cookbooks, baking mostly, at about 24. My mom had very few cookbooks and we used The Joy of Cooking for almost anything new, especially sweets and candy. I don’t have either of these books…Sort of held off on Mastering for years. Probably because I don’t think I have time to take it on. But, retirement will solve that! Thanks for all you do for us junkies!

    Reply
  38. 38

    Thank you for sharing your story Jenny. I love how descriptive you are. It makes me feel like I’m there. I got my love of cooking from my maternal Grandmother. She was very special. Now I’m proud to be a Cookbook Junkie.

    Reply
  44. 44

    I can so relate to this. My mom had a lot of cookbooks and I got the collecting bug early. I remember getting my first cookbook The Peanuts Cookbook from Scholastic when I was in grade school – I still have it. It was when I was on my own, after college that I began collecting in earnest. I now have close to 2000 books, many picked up used, or at a great discount. I purchase books on my travels and love visiting local book stores. I have culled over the years, but my collection continues to grow. My dad build me a wall of bookshelves to house my collection (not that it all fits) and those bookshelves have moved with us several times. I find a place for them in every house we live in. I recently gave 2 boxes of books to my young assistant and she was thrilled. I can always make room for a few more…

    Reply
  45. 45

    Thanks, Jenny. Julia was a woman ahead of her time. Read the book “A Covert Affair” by Jennet Conant. It is about how Julia met her husband, Paul , her life abroad in the OSS in the ’50s and you see her exposure to food of other cultures. She was one tough chick who lived an interesting life, to say the least. Really enjoy the posts here.

    Reply
  50. 50

    My first cookbooks were my mother copies of the joy of cooking and Betty Crocker. Still have them. Happy Sunday!

    Reply
  51. 51

    Thinking there are 31,000 like minded people collecting cookbooks is mind blowing! It’s great that you got this going and I so enjoy dropping in for inspiration and sharing!

    Reply
  58. 58

    These will be on my Xmas wish list! Definitely would love to have these. Thank you for the chance to win them.

    Reply
  62. 62

    Over 31,000 members is huge given that some best-selling cookbooks (according to Publishers Weekly) have sold many fewer copies.. If all of us bought the same book we’d have an impact on a book’s success. What new book should it be?

    Reply
  70. 70

    I definitely learned my love for cooking and collecting recipes from my mother.
    Now, my mother-in-law and I enjoy cooking together and are extremely close.

    Reply
  92. 93

    Would love to win these :D.. while currently living in the Middle East, I surely have an address in the US. I came across the Facebook group while searching for updates on cookbooks; love what i’ve seen!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About | Contact | The Junkie Shop | Privacy