Family cookbooks

Cheesecake recipe from a family cookbook

Family cookbooks are books which contain a variety of recipes collected by specific families. Whilst these cookbooks are sometimes later published, the concept is of a commonplace book where useful recipes are retained and passed on to later generations. ^[1]

The recipes can be developed by the family or collated from other sources – and may be so familiar to the family that the origin is forgotten or not acknowledged. ^[1]

Family cookbooks as memory

Whilst the primary function of a family cookbook is as a scrapbook to collect recipes for various types of meals and cooking techniques, an important function is also to provide context and promote familial memory. ^[2]

Scholars use these kinds of collected manuscripts to give insights into family history in the era when they were written, such as about gender roles, household environments, and women's emancipation. ^[3]

Commercial family cookbooks

Celebrities, chefs, and notable families write and market family cookbooks which share their family recipes. ^{[4] [5] [6] [7]}

See also

• Family traditions

References

1. Mayyasi, Alex (2018). "The Dirty Secret of 'Secret Family Recipes'". Atlas Obscura: Gastro Obscura. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
2. Sava, Eleonora (8 July 2021). "Family Cookbooks – Objects of Family Memory". Metacritic Journal for Comparative Studies and Theory. 7 (1): 98–115. doi: 10.24193/mjcst.2021.11.06 . eISSN   2457-8827.
3. Lakhtikova, Anastasia (2017). "Emancipation and Domesticity: Decoding Personal Manuscript Cookbooks from the Soviet Union". Gastronomica. 17 (4): 111–126. doi:10.1525/gfc.2017.17.4.111. eISSN   1533-8622. ISSN   1529-3262.
4. "Al Roker's New Cookbook Connects Food and Family". Food & Wine. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
5. Meinert, Kendra. "New cookbook in memory of Cherry Starr features favorite recipes from her kitchen and from families of Packers players, coaches". Green Bay Press-Gazette. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
6. O'Neal, Shaquille (5 April 2022). Shaq's Family Style: Championship Recipes for Feeding Family and Friends [A Cookbook]. Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed. ISBN   978-1-9848-6006-4.
7. "The Cash and Carter Family Cookbook". Central Oregon Daily. 1 February 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2025.