Meme-a-Palooza, Pt. 1: Five Favourite Books

Fannie Farmer (left) with Martha Hayes Ludden, one of her students at the Boston Cooking School.

I was lucky enough to be tagged for this meme by lovely Reid from 'onokinegrindz, but still took my sweet time getting some answers together. Without further ado:

Total number of cookbooks owned?
An apparently measly forty-five. I did donate 40 books to our local library last year, though.

Last cookbook(s) bought?
'Indian Cookery'  by E.P. Veerasawmy, 'The Tassajara Bread Book' by Edward Espe Brown, and 'Mrs. Beaton's All About Cookery' (how could I live in the U.K. and not have this one?)- all for 30p each at a boot sale. God, I love boot sales.

Last cookbook read?
'The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook', by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but there are quite a few that sound good.

Five books that mean a lot to me?
The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, The French Chef, Beard on Bread, Feeding the Healthy Vegetarian Family, Falling Cloudberries.

My mother cooks and bakes predominantly from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, as the book that was full of her own mother's handwritten recipes was lost during a hurricane which demolished our summer house. My very earliest food-related memories- Anadama bread, pot roast, chicken pie- came from this still stellar cookbook. I'm not particularly fond of the later editions; my favourite is the one my mother still uses, which I think is from the 1940s. Yes, some of the recipes are dated, but the majority still hold up as tried-and-true, classic favourites, and you can't beat the instruction that it offers beginners and accomplished cooks alike.

Which five to pass this to?
Is there actually anyone left? I'll have to research it and update this post at a later date.

Comments

[Ana]

Moira, To find out who is left to tag, please see my blog at: http://pumpkinpiebungalow.blogspot.com/2005/06/history-of-5-cookbook-meme.html

[Reid]

Hi Moira,

Thanks for playing along! =) I'm glad that you finally found the time to complete this, especially with your busy schedule and all!

[Moira]

Hi Ana...thanks for the link!

Hi Reid...dang, I forgot to send you a trackback! Sorry about that, my friend. Thanks for tagging me!

[keiko]

Hi Moira - such great posts as always, I love both of the pictures. I can imagine your mother is a great cook too...

[Moira]

Hi Miss Keiko...ah, you are so kind, in addition to being so incredibly talented! Thank you- yes, my mum is a very good cook. =)

[Melissa]

Hola Moira, I love your stories :) also, the photo @ your previous post (tartaletas de limon) in Spanish is fantastic :)

[Moira]

Hi Melissa...thank you for stopping by and leaving such lovely comments! I'm so glad you enjoy my posts.