I love cookbooks. I’ll admit it. It’s been going on for longer than I care to admit. Gone are the days of just buying a book for 1 recipe. I have gotten much smarter over the years with buying only the new ones that offer something truly different whether it’s recipes, techniques, history, or just good food stories. My purchasing of cook books has slowed down a little because now I spend an amazing amount of time reading recipes on the computer. I know that a lot of great recipes are “free” on the internet, but it is not the same thing. I still find myself craving books! I want to hold them, read them, cook from them, and most importantly share them.

I love paging through ones that belonged to my mom. Seeing her handwriting makes me miss her even more. I like trying to find that one recipe in an old book on my shelves that I haven’t looked at in a while. Opening it up, I can tell which recipe pages were more well-loved and it brings back warm memories of a certain time and place.

What’s really cool is that I just so happen to work with a bunch of people who have the same problem. In fact, our last staff meeting we had a potluck of our favorite “vintage” recipes. Needless to say, we had a ball! I am not sure we will ever be able to compete with Amazon in selling books, but the one thing we can do is use our passion to help you find some true gems.

We’ve put together a curated cookbook selection at the Culinary Center. Some are the most popular and trending new releases, others are tried and true favorites that offer something special, and a few are obscure gems that we would love to share with you. One thing is certain, all of them have a good reason for being there and taking up shelf space.

Come visit us at the Culinary Center–we can geek out over cookbooks together!