True Confessions of a Cookbook Junkie

If the Betty Ford Center ever offered treatment for cookbook addictions, I’d be the first in line.

At one point in my life, I owned close to 400 cookbooks — old, new, regional, international, individually themed (i.e., mushrooms, risotto, apples, etc.), chef- or restaurant-driven.

Why so many? Well, some people love novels and biographies. I happen to love the stories behind recipes. I read a cookbook like a novel telling the story about a protagonist, their family and life.

I am a culinary voyeur.

I can’t pinpoint when this compulsion started. Maybe when I got married back in the ‘80s. I don’t remember cookbooks during my life as a single, although I always liked to cook. At that time, I was replicating — as best as I could — my mother’s recipes.

I don’t remember my first cookbook. I do know it wasn’t by Julia Child, although I did eventually own autographed copies of her books.

There were times when there were too many books to fit on my shelves. I’d make an Excel spread sheet listing all the cookbooks available for purchase, send it to my friends who were also cookbook junkies and sell my excess cookbooks from $1 to $4 each. I needed to make room for new additions.

And believe me, there were always new additions.

When the internet was in its infancy, there was a cookbook specialty retailer called Jessica’s Biscuit (other cookbook collectors will recognize that name). I’d peruse, highlight and order from every catalog. If a cookbook received an award from the James Beard Foundation or the International Association of Culinary Professionals, I had to have it.

Alas, there is no longer Jessica’s Biscuit, but there is a website for all cookbook junkies (eatyourbooks.com). If you’re addicted like me, you need to check out this site.

Having a husband whose weekends were often spent checking out flea markets and yard sales taxed my burgeoning cookbook shelves. Tom would call while out traipsing through other people’s discards, “Do you have this book?” If the answer was no, it soon turned to yes.

More than 25 years ago, I connected with Carrie Bachman, then a publicist for HarperCollins/William Morrow, at the Baltimore Book Festival’s cookbook tent. That meeting opened the door to my career in food styling and media escort business.

Through Carrie, I had the opportunity to create special events for cookbook authors with the then-Baltimore chapter of the American Institute of Wine and Food. (you guessed it — more cookbooks!).

Carrie sent press releases about new cookbooks so I could write about them in my columns and blog. A highly regarded freelance cookbook publicist, she currently feeds my habit with authors for my weekly Jmore Facebook Live show, “The Food Enthusiast.”

Downsizing and moving from a home of 37 years meant that much of my collection of cookbooks needed to go. First, I offered my collection to the culinary school at Stratford University, but they didn’t want it. Surprisingly, I was contacted by a restaurateur who wanted the entire collection. I wasn’t quite ready for that — it was like the ripping off of the proverbial Band-Aid.

The eventual deal was that I sold him all but 10 of my books. I kept the ones with special personal meaning or bearing personal inscriptions. I kept “The Art of Jewish Cooking” by Jennie Grossinger (my mother’s cookbook), “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking” by Marcella Hazan, “Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America” by José Andrés, “Lidia’s Italian Table” by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and “The Modern Baker” by Nick Malgieri.

The restaurateur paid $2 per book. I remember it was a rainy evening, which seemed apropos for how sad I felt watching my collection disappear into the dark, damp night.

Since then, my collection has grown again. I’ve given aways some cookbooks to cooking and baking friends, but I must have at least another 25 now.

Over the years, I’ve made bagels from Cathy Barrow’s “Bagels, Schmears, and a Nice Piece of Fish,” chocolate babka from Beth A. Lee’s “The Essential Jewish Baking Cookbook,” and sheet pan orange olive oil challah with raisins from Molly Gilbert’s “Sheet Pan Sweets” — all with great success because these authors took the time and energy to make sure we had all the tools required for success.

Sorry, but online recipes have no soul. Cookbooks do.

A veteran local food writer, Dara Bunjon is host of “The Food Enthusiast,” which airs every Thursday afternoon at 1 at facebook.com/jmoreliving.