I’ve always had this weird relationship with cookbooks. As soon as I walk into a bookstore I make a beeline for the cookbook section and can lose hours of my life as I peruse individual titles. It feels like certain books call out to me; they glimmer on the shelf and catch my eye. They beg me to bring them home and I’m always tempted even though I know I can find a much cheaper price online. Usually temptation wins. I love the smell of a brand new cookbook; the shiny crisp new pages filled with bright beautiful food photos and incredible sounding recipes. I love the instant gratification of a book store. When I know I want a particular cookbook it becomes like an obsession. I must have it.
So as you may have guessed, I’ve built up a pretty sizable collection of cookbooks. But here’s the thing. When I’m looking for a recipe, I rarely turn to these gems I’ve spent so much time collecting. Why? You probably know; the internet is so much faster. I mean talk about instant gratification. When I need a recipe for banana bread I can type it into Google and voila! I have hundreds of options, often rated by users, within seconds. How can you beat that? So I use my internet recipe while my poor neglected cookbooks remain on their shelves, lonely and longing for attention.
At least, that’s how things were a few months ago. Everything has changed now. A few months ago I was driving home from an appointment while listening to NPR (my standard driving music these days). I can’t remember what show I was listening to but they were discussing cookbooks. Someone called in to the show to ask if anyone on the panel had tried a website called Eat Your Books. I’d never heard of it and listened with curiosity.
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