America's Largest Cookbook Collection

Fun Food Factory by Nanette Newman
c. 1976

   

 Date bait,the younger set's picture cookbook
    Robert H. Loeb, 1962
Weird--wouldn't a pictorial recipe be
designed for the pre-dating set?  

Yesterday I had the privilege of taking a trip through the stacks of the Food & Cookery Collection at Fales Library at NYU.   The collection has approximately 50,000 volumes, 26,000 of which have been catalogued.  I had the privilege of rummaging through the stacks of children's cookbooks on a tour led by the most gracious librarian Marvin Taylor, who oversees this awesome resource and is himself an incredible resource for food and cookery literature.

I got a sneak peek of 101 Classic Cookbooks, edited by the Fales Library, with Mr. Taylor at its helm.  The editors compiled cookbook favorites by such notables as Florence Fabricant, Judith Jones (Julia Child's editor), and Alice Waters.  Taylor launches his introduction with a description of his childhood food memory of onions sauteeing in butter in his grandmother's kitchen.  I can't wait to get my hands on this book!

Coming in October 2012

What is a “Family” Cookbook?

I have been trying to answer this question.  As the keeper of the CCD cooking collection for New York City, I am in charge of acquiring and maintaining the City’s premiere collection of children’s cookbooks.  Each year, we receive x dollars to augment the collection, to keep it current and growing.  I am considering the genre of so-called “family cookbooks” to round out the collection (the collection also contains literature related to growing food and nutrition).  The fact that this year we will receive an increase in funding for this collection.  That combined with the fact that the production of children’s cookbooks is relatively limited, I am considering what to fill my shopping cart with, while keeping our collection focused and useful for our community.  My own personal children have always happily partook of the food that was prepared for them, be it an improvised dish or prepared from a standard cookbook for our entire family or guests. Why a family cookbook? Our library serves grades prekindergarten through fifth, so our cooking collection is really designed for the students and their families.  So, the question is, what defines a “family” cookbook?  Is it portion size?  Is it “kid-friendly” food (whatever that means)?