“It’s your cookbook”© Family Cookbooks
by Dale Pool
What memory of a family gathering doesn’t include food? As we look back, our fondest memories of time together with loved ones always revolve around food. Aunt Maggie’s fabulous divinity … Grandmother Brewer’s Walnut Cake … that miraculous way mom made biscuits with no recipe.
In my family, it is always about FOOD! My maternal grandmother Jesse was a wonderful cook. My paternal grandmother Maude was a stern woman who did not cook but considered herself a great organizer. Mother had a drawer where all Jesse’s recipes resided. Then, Maude decided the drawer was too messy and threw out Jesse’s recipes! All gone forever. If only …
Recipes are like many questions we regret having not asked after our loved ones are gone. I will never have Jesse’s Walnut Cake recipe and no recipe I’ve tried has measured up. This little disaster, while not quite causing a family feud, did make me decide to organize my family’s favorite recipes. My cookbook contained not only the recipes, but our family’s Ten Commandments of Cooking, one of which is “Any recipe not containing sugar, must contain garlic.” Graphics, funny stories and cooking hints were also included.
To prevent other families from suffering the loss of precious family favorites, I started Recipe Traditions, a small publishing company dedicated to turning your family’s recipe traditions into family heirlooms. My It’s Your Cookbook @ Family Cookbooks contain family recipes, stories, traditions and pictures. The cookbooks make excellent fundraisers for reunions, because everyone wants their cooking secrets preserved. The family’s collected recipes and traditions make a unique wedding gift for younger members or dear family friends. What’s true in my family, is true in yours: it’s all about FOOD!
For information, contact Dale Pool, 601-955-9066, who says no order is ever too small, all orders are important and we give free estimates
Cookbook tips
Joan Airey, Manitoba, Canada, reported that one Airey Family Reunion fundraising project was a cookbook and she shared these cookbook hints.
• Set the deadline a month before you really need recipes because some people will put it off to the last minute.
• Our cookbooks were professionally printed, which several of us paid for and were repaid when books sold.
• You could also pre-sell cookbooks for money to print them.
• Our 250 cookbooks sold out before the reunion was over.
Call for family reunion recipes and stories
The Corlyn Family is compiling a book of family reunion stories and recipes. The reunion is a time when we often over do it at the picnic table or at the catered tables laden with so many goodies. Stay alert to stories and anecdotes about eating to fulfillment and send funny stories and culprit recipes (those recipes you couldn’t stop eating). And what about Uncle Harry and Cousin Jim Bob, or Aunt Louise? Sitting on the sidelines, too pooped to pop? Reported by Strella Jasper
