Cookbook chronicles : Visual feasts and flavor adventures

Hello there! I'm here today with another topic to share. Following my confession in a previous post, I thought it was time to reveal another secret of mine – my deep love for cookbooks!

Many of my friends in the bookish circle, especially on Bookstagram, aren't aware that I'm also a food blogger. I've been one since 2008, and that blog has played a significant role in my life.

After much thought and deliberation, I named it - Seduce Your Tastebuds and launched it in January 2008, just a month before my daughter was born. My goal was to keep it simple and post a recipe every week, focusing on family recipes and using it as a repository for recipes and the memories associated with them.

It has now grown into a place that houses 2600 recipes and all the memories that are associated with each and every recipe written.

However, my passion for cooking and documenting recipes started long before 2008.

During my college days, I used to gaze at the glossy cookbooks in the reference section of the library, even jotting down some recipes to try out. While most of these were imported books, I was well aware that many of the ingredients might not be readily available, so I looked for recipes that could be made with common ingredients.

Gradually, I began collecting cookbooks, starting with Tarla Dalal's books, and expanded my collection slowly. Finding vegetarian cookbooks was a bit challenging, but I persisted and added more to my collection.

Here is a tiny section of my collection...

Meanwhile, I maintained several notebooks and diaries filled with handwritten recipes gathered from various newspapers and magazines.I even have my mom's diary, the one that she used to jot down her own recipes. In hindsight, I think I inherited this habit from her.

Back in the day, The Hindu newspaper and The Indian Express newspaper used to have a special cookery section every Sunday. I diligently cut out those articles and created a scrapbook. It's one of my favorites!

In addition to my collection of cookbooks, I have some books that I won in recipe contests or through blog posts. I cherish them deeply as prized possessions.

I brought back a very old but popular cookbook, "Samaipadhu Eppadi" a Lifco Publication, from my grandmother's home. My grandmother had it with her, and she couldn't remember how it came into her possession. She was a highly skilled cook and probably didn't need cookbooks for her daily cooking, but I treasure it nonetheless.

I even have some Chinese cookbooks that I got at some book fairs while we lived in China! I had one of our friends translate it for me and she always used to find my obsession with cookbooks fascinating!

Knowing my love for books and cookbooks, my friends gifted me whenever they visited me.

Here are a few...

Cookbooks in regional language as well...

Some cookbooks that came in for review....

My passion doesn't stop at merely collecting cookbooks. I've tried numerous recipes and shared them on my food blog. The "Cooking from Cookbook" section of the blog features many recipes that I've tested from my collection.

While I've stopped buying cookbooks for now, my collection encompasses everything from baking to various courses of a meal, Indian to international recipes, and some with intriguing background stories and anecdotes.

Nevertheless, if I come across one that piques my interest and I believe it would be a valuable addition to my collection, I wouldn't hesitate for a second to acquire it.

So this my story for the Blogchatter Half Marathon. I intend to post more content along similar lines in the coming days. I hope you will return to read them too.

Until then...