Family cookbooks
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{{Short description|Books which contain a variety of recipes collected by specific families}}{{More categories|date=March 2025}}File:Grandma Warthens cheesecake recipe.jpg
Family cookbooks are books which contain a variety of recipes collected by specific families. Whilst these cookbooks are sometimes later published, the concept is of a commonplace book where useful recipes are retained and passed on to later generations.{{Cite web |last=Mayyasi |first=Alex |date=2018 |title=The Dirty Secret of 'Secret Family Recipes' |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/secret-family-recipes-copied |access-date=10 October 2022 |website=Atlas Obscura: Gastro Obscura}}
The recipes can be developed by the family or collated from other sources – and may be so familiar to the family that the origin is forgotten or not acknowledged.
Family cookbooks as memory
Whilst the primary function of a family cookbook is as a scrapbook to collect recipes for various types of meals and cooking techniques, an important function is also to provide context and promote familial memory.{{cite journal | last1 = Sava | first1 = Eleonora | title = Family Cookbooks – Objects of Family Memory | journal = Metacritic Journal for Comparative Studies and Theory | date = 8 July 2021 | volume = 7 | issue = 1 | pages = 98–115 | eissn = 2457-8827 | doi = 10.24193/mjcst.2021.11.06 | doi-access = free }}
Scholars use these kinds of collected manuscripts to give insights into family history in the era when they were written, such as about gender roles, household environments, and women's emancipation.{{cite journal | last1 = Lakhtikova | first1 = Anastasia | title = Emancipation and Domesticity: Decoding Personal Manuscript Cookbooks from the Soviet Union | journal = Gastronomica | date = 2017 | volume = 17 | issue = 4 | pages = 111–126 | issn = 1529-3262 | eissn = 1533-8622 | doi = 10.1525/gfc.2017.17.4.111 }}
Commercial family cookbooks
Celebrities, chefs, and notable families write and market family cookbooks which share their family recipes.{{Cite web |title=Al Roker’s New Cookbook Connects Food and Family |url=https://www.foodandwine.com/al-roker-family-recipes-cookbook-8708003 |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Food & Wine |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Meinert |first=Kendra |title=New cookbook in memory of Cherry Starr features favorite recipes from her kitchen and from families of Packers players, coaches |url=https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/fans/2024/10/05/new-cherry-starr-inspired-cookbook-features-recipes-from-nfl-families/75368095007/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Green Bay Press-Gazette |language=en-US}}{{Cite book |last=O'Neal |first=Shaquille |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Shaq_s_Family_Style/coxlEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=family+cookbook+nba&printsec=frontcover |title=Shaq's Family Style: Championship Recipes for Feeding Family and Friends [A Cookbook] |date=2022-04-05 |publisher=Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed |isbn=978-1-9848-6006-4 |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2018-02-01 |title=The Cash and Carter Family Cookbook |url=https://www.centraloregondaily.com/the-cash-and-carter-family-cookbook/article_c188010b-9a54-500a-8c8b-7fd3727b9bbc.html?=/&subcategory=481%7CQuiz/Trivia+Night |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Central Oregon Daily |language=en}}