Vegan MoFo, Day 6: Want To See My Collection?

Am I considered a "foodie" if I collect cookbooks? Perhaps. There's certainly more to it than that, but that's definitely a stepping stone.

I've been collecting older vegetarian cookbooks this past year. Some are pretty cool, like this one from the 1930s/40s that I blogged about recently.

Admittedly, recipes are going to be duplicated until the end of time. Everyone's made a chocolate chip cookie or a dish of alfredo, and a person can go bonkers trying to figure out who all made it before and published it. Cookbooks are cool because they give us inspiration. You can either prepare a dish exactly as written in the recipe, or you can go crazy with it (add some extra spices! maybe a little Vegenaise! coconut milk instead of soy milk! yay fun!). Plus, seeing how recipes change over time and what we now think of as appetizing is interesting. Case in point:

{god, I feel for the poor suckers who

had to gulp this crap down at a dinner party. feed this to friends

you DON'T want to stick around}

My own collection has grown since I posted about it during Vegan MoFo 2010. We moved, and I finally got the chance to consolidate my collection into one shelving unit located in the kitchen (yay for quick reference!). I have a whole 3-shelf just for my cookbooks.

I definitely have my faves (I can make jae steele's Chipotle Black Bean Soup with my eyes closed, that's how many times I've devoured that glorious concoction). And then there are some that I just haven't gotten around to cooking out of very much.

{my newest acquisition, Vegan Desserts by Hannah Kaminsky.

GORGEOUS photos, can't wait to try some recipes out!}

{the binders on the bottom are full of about a

year's worth each of magazine recipe clippings}

{magazines. I recently culled the ones I'd gone through when we moved}

{such a photo hog haha}

What cookbooks/'zines are you loving lately? You should post your collection! :D

Jes