I always thought that anyone who said that they read cookbooks for fun was just plain crazy. Come on, it’s a reference book! It seemed like sitting down on the couch curled up with a cookbook was as ridiculous as taking a Webster’s Dictionary and reading it from cover to cover.

For me, cookbooks were about finding a single recipe that you needed at a particular moment in time, reading it, making the recipe (with a couple of tweaks), and moving on with your life. It was all very utilitarian.

My, how things change.

I’m absolutely hooked on cookbooks now. I can’t get enough of them. I am officially a collector of cookbooks. I especially love the old ones, the ones that have clearly been used and loved in kitchens before mine. I love reading recipes from countries all over the world. I love reading recipes written before many of the modern conveniences that we take for granted today.

I officially take it all back; I take back anything and everything I ever might have said about cookbooks being boring. I get it now. Cookbooks are most definitely not boring.

~Melissa