What is a cookbook club?

Earlier this year my girl MJ texted us in a group chat and said do you want to be a part of a cookbook club? What is that? She explained it’s like a book club where you pick a book monthly and read it but instead of us reading we cook a dish. As a cook I was like sign me the hell up. It took us a few months to get schedules together but we pulled it off and it was spectacular! What is a cookbook club? A group of people picking a book a month and gathering to discuss the book, the dishes, and bring back community around the table.

So how do you start one?

Find you some friends that can follow directions. You don’t have to know how to cook but of course if you want your dish to be the best *side eye* it would help but nah I’m joking all you have to do is know how to read and follow directions. Pick a group of friends who are willing to keep up with the club and start planning. I would pick the group of folks first and if you are the person putting it together pick the book but make sure each person in the group has a chance at picking the book of the month.

You don’t have to do it every month. Folks are busy pick times that work for you and your crew. It could be monthly, every other month, maybe every quarter. Every quarter is a stretch I would prefer doing it every other month to give people time to get their calendars together. Pick a date but also do a backup date in case life comes up.

Once you pick your friend group, the date, and the time then pick your book. Whoever is hosting should be allowed to pick the book. Host the club at different homes to give variety you don’t always have to gather at the same house. If it’s 5 girls in the group …use all 5 houses if you can. An airbnb can work too if you all pitch in and help with the funds.

So a few weeks ago we did our first one. We picked the book Jubilee. I had already owned the book and cooked a few dishes out of it. I will give the book a 7 out of 10. Some dishes remind me of my hometown Charleston, SC and other dishes I had to add my own spin to it. I cooked the sweet potato caserole out of the book. It turned out good but it wasn’t how I normally cook mine. (BTW I can cook….from scratch. I’m not an air fryer cook)

Everyone’s dishes turned out perfect and I absolutely loved it. We had wine (I didn’t because I don’t drink), caught up with life thangs, talked about these teens, and laughed the night away.

Choose how to do your club: Do you want people to pick the dishes themeselves or will you assign dishes to everyone.

Select people who get along. I would say 5 or 6 folks is more than enough. You can even start with 3 people and have everyone do two dishes. Make sure you have a variety so you can have an appetizer, a main course, dessert, and even a drink.

Set rules: Don’t be all strict like Blue Ivy but set the tone. Who will host? Who will pick the book? Who will bring what? (plates, cups, etc) Who will clean?

Don’t be judgy: Not everyone can cook. Dishes might not look like the book. Pick people you know you will want to eat from so you will know if the cat was in the sink or not. (was that judgy…yep it was)

You will learn so much when doing this club and the main thing is you get to have fun.

Will you start a cookbook club?

A few pics from ours. We made one an AI pic lol.

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