Marcela Cabello and Stuart M. Butler discuss the importance of public libraries as community hubs in this article. They state that public libraries are shifting their focus from book collection to providing community services for various groups in their community. As the library becomes a place where individuals go to participate in activities, the library becomes more than just a book repository. As a part of Library Week 2018, Robert James looks at how public libraries are seen as “communal institutions that offer access, not just to literature and information, but the company of other people.”

One of the most common ways that communities build relationships is through the breaking of bread, or communal eating.  In this article, R. I. M. Dunbar refers to communal eating as a universal human experience where more than one person shares food with another.  Dunbar’s article points out that these social experiences have always been present in human societies and that they increase endorphin production in participants and correlate to a greater sense of well-being.  Since public libraries act as a community hub where individuals feel safe and come for social connection, it makes sense that public libraries would be a place where communal eating and cooking might occur.

Interested in starting a food program at your library? Here are some links to more information.

Adult Cooking Programs in the Library – Make it Happen (floridalibrarywebinars.org. Webinar, July, 2019).

Cooking the Books – Libraries Embrace Culinary Programming (Perspectives on Reading, by Stacy Alesi, October, 2019).

Library Kitchens and Cooking Programs – Webjunction (by Jennifer Peterson, March 3, 2016).

Culinary Literacy: A Recipe for Cooking Up Literacy and Community (Webinar, Webjunction – December, 2016).

Cooking Classes Without a Kitchen – NNLM (National Network of Libraries of Medicine – Video of Past Webinar).

A Recipe for Reading: Culinary Literacy at Your Library(Programming Librarian – Recording of Past Webinar).

The post Cooking at the Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Start your Recipe Club with a theme; gather recipes that pertain to that theme and make copies to be handed out at your first meeting. For example, start with lemons. Search for recipes that contain lemon, and it doesn’t just have to be desserts. Just googling Lemon Recipes, I found several places to go for reliable recipes. Braised Chicken with Artichokes, Olives, and Lemon  is from Martha Stewart. Basil Shrimp is from allrecipes.  And of course, my favorite, Lemon Bars from Ree Drummond at The Food Network. As a courtesy, I also like to print out information on the ingredient featured, like how it is grown, any unusual features about it, where you can get it if it is a more difficult to find ingredient, and the nutritional value. But the best way to showcase a food is to bring samples of it for members to taste.

Graduate to a Recipe Cookbook Club, where you can pick out a popular cookbook, bring copies in from other libraries for your members to check out, and create some of the recipes featured. Be sure pick a cookbook that you can get copies for. Many times, good cookbooks aren’t always the popular cookbooks and other libraries don’t stock them as much as they do the ones in high demand. Keep a list of cookbooks that you can get readily so you don’t have to hunt for them every month.

When you have a constant attendance of regulars, think about starting your own recipe cookbook. A community recipe cookbook is always sought after by locals and tourists. You can make your cookbook into a fundraiser for your library’s friends group or for the club itself. One thing I’ve always wanted to do was to invest in bakeware that patrons can check out. For our cookbook, we went with the Morris Press Cookbook company. There are other places out therethat you can investigate too, but this one had the best prices for the amount of books we wanted.

And as always, Happy Eating!

The post Recipe Club: The Most Delicious Library Group first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Make sure your “kitchen” has the necessary tools for a successful class: measuring cups and spoons, bowls-small and large, sharp knife, cutting board, spoons, forks, plates, napkins, cups, wax paper, baggies, and towels. Any small appliances you may need like a blender, food processor, grill press or slow cooker you can find at almost any thrift store for a fraction of what a new one would cost. Remember, you aren’t going to be using them daily like at home.

Somethings will need to be prepared for class. Make sure everything is chopped, peeled and ready to use so you don’t have to waste time during class. Have everything, as the chefs on the FoodNetwork say, mis en place (in it’s place).

A lot of items I usually just bring from my home kitchen because buying even a small jar of mayo can be wasteful if you only need a few tablespoons for a recipe. Buying non perishable items, however, can be worth it, especially when you have classes on a regular basis. These items include olive oil, salt and pepper, vinegar and other spices. You’ll be able to plan other classes around items you already have on hand.

Sometimes buying packaged food can be costly, check with the deli if they have any sales going on that you can take advantage of and plan your class around. You don’t need to advertise precisely what you plan to make, but rather list your theme and create your menu around the ingredients you can get. And you don’t have to make three course meals. A smaller scale version of your menu is fine, because people aren’t going to be eating plates of food, but they will want a taste. Talk to your local grocer and ask if they would be willing to donate a small amount from the deli to your class in exchange for a free advertisement with your patrons.

Always have some recipe books on hand, too, for your patrons to checkout.

And always encourage tasting. My tag line is: Come Hungry. Tasting is Mandatory.

The post Adult Programming: How to Have Cooking Demos Without Cooking first appeared on Public Libraries Online.