Cookbook Launch Day

What the day is

Cookbook Launch Day is observed on October 12. It is a small, unofficial observance built around a familiar kind of project: a school, church, club or neighborhood asks its members for favorite recipes, collects them into a book and sells copies to raise money.

The day works as a nudge to start one. A cookbook is one of the easier fundraising ideas to pull off, because everyone already has a dish they are known for and most people are happy to be asked for it.

Origin and background

The specific origin of the day is not documented. The tradition it points to is much better known. Community cookbooks have been compiled in the United States since the 1860s, when women's committees collected recipes to raise money during the Civil War, and the form never really went away. Churches, parent-teacher groups, fire departments and garden clubs have been putting them together ever since, often with spiral bindings and handwritten family names beside each recipe.

Those books are valued by historians and collectors for a reason beyond the food. They record what ordinary households actually cooked, including regional dishes and recipes that never appeared in a professional publication, and they preserve names and local history alongside the ingredients. Many families treasure a copy because a grandparent's recipe is in it.

How to take part

• Start a cookbook with a group you belong to. Ask each person for one recipe and the story behind it.
• Test every recipe before it goes in. A cookbook is only as trustworthy as its least-checked recipe.
• Look for a community cookbook at a thrift store or library sale and cook something from it.
• Write down a family recipe that exists only in someone's head, and save it somewhere safe.
• Buy a new cookbook, or give one to a friend who likes to cook.