Bookin' It to My Cookbook Club 'Meeting'
Digital cookbook clubs are an interesting concept. Some are more exclusive than others, with a membership fee and book discounts through Amazon and the publisher, while others use the term "club" loosely. Since location doesn't really matter—anyone can pick up the same cookbook—websites have popped up all over. Personally, I'm partial to our Cook the Book series but chatted with Suzanne Simon of D.C.-based Loulies.com about her "Cook the Book Club," her full-time gig with friend Bettina Stern.
Ten years ago, the two ladies met at a cocktail party and after a best friend–sealing conversation (You love food and discovering new cookbooks and sampling esoteric foods too?) and rounded up some galfriends to form a cookbook club, fondly referred to as "Boiling Point." Like any traditional book club, they chose a book, but in this case, discussed the recipes and cooked together. One thing led to another, and now they have a resourceful website that waxes about cocktail party ideas, Trader Joes quick meal finds and of course, the cookbook club, which rotates books every month or two.
"It all depends on the book's popularity," Simon said.
For example, right now they're on Alice Waters's recently released The Art of Simple Food and the response has been huge. "She's just so popular," Simon said. But last month Santa Monica Farmers' Market Cookbook didn't have quite the same reaction. "It's a fabulous book, but some people don't identify with California or that specific market."
Loulie.com's Cook the Book Club now has members in St. Louis, Chicago, California, and all over. Like Serious Eats, they don't charge a membership fee or hold physical meetings. They just want aspiring bakers to scribble down notes in cookbook margins and compare baking flaws, measurement changes, and "how delicious" stories. Long gone are the days of "book club" strictly insinuating carpool moms analyzing As I Lay Dying. Now it can mean carpool mothers dying over an intense gianduja gelato recipe. Anyone belong to a digital cookbook club?
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1 Comment:
Thanks for the mention of Loulies and our book club. Check out Nov. 2007 issue of Vogue article "Top Chef" about a husband who decided to perfect his culinary skills via books. You really do become a better cook (other issues aside) and finding a few friends to cook the book with is a lot of fun. We have seven in our group.
ssimon at 12:14PM on 11/06/07