About the Project

This website aims to catalogue the recipes of my personal collection of community cookbooks, which are generally acquired from secondhand stores or little free libraries. This is not a comprehensive guide, nor is it intended to be; but I think the items on this site give a unique insight into local history, especially though not exclusively women's history and the domestic sphere.

I define "community cookbook" as a cookbook composed of recipes collected from members of any kind of community: a club, a school, an organization, a workplace, or any other cohesive group of people. They are often but not always created as fundraisers. Similarly, they are often but not always published by the writers or by a publishing house dedicated to community cookbooks.

You can find recipes by category, by book, by contributor, by publisher, or by using the search bar.

Recipes that appear identical across multiple books have been given a single page, with each contributor and book credited. Recipes that are very similar but not identical are listed separately. Different recipes with identical titles are distinguished with a number (e.g. Air Buns 1 and Air Buns 2).

All names and recipes are attributed exactly as they appear in the original text.

Important Note: Recipes are presented as they appear. They have not been tested for safety. Please use appropriate caution and do your research when using unfamiliar recipes, especially with canning recipes.