My First Cookbook - What was yours?

Tuesday 27 August 2013
In my about me page I state that Santa brought me a Brownie Cookbook and the rest is history. That is indeed the case but alas I no longer have said cookbook. My story is that my Mum must have got rid of it however she categorically states that I did. Either way it obviously went to a jumble sale at some point. Not sure exactly what prompted me but a couple of weeks ago I was browsing Amazon and had a search for Brownie Cookbook. Lots of results including some fab looking books for the modern Brownie. Right at the end of the list was my book. The Brownie Cook-Book by Verily Anderson. Priced at only slightly more than its original £2.20 price tag I splashed out and ordered myself a replacement copy.

Much excitement when it arrived. The memories really came flooding back and I totally remembered so many of the illustrations. I must have poured over it and read it from cover to cover on numerous occasions. Some of the text is hilariously earnest (and downright sexist!) in retrospect but at the time I poured over every word and took it as gospel.
I shared my excitement on my Facebook page and Twitter which led to lots of reminiscing about first cookbooks and sharing of photographs. Only one person recalled also having "The Brownie Cookbook" but was clearly a big fan as apparently Verily Anderson wrote lots of Brownie books which Kelly collected.
The BeRo book was a popular first, accompanied for many with a BeRo man. Keep Calm and Fanny On (still treasure and use it a lot) Melanie ( I was always helping my mum cook and could make a mean cheese sauce by the time I was 7) and Craig (came with the BeRo man I got fae Suntie). By this point I was feeling a wee bit deprived that I never had my own BeRo man, although I do remember that my friend Wendy had one. Apparently "You could use his head as a bowl and his bowler hat was a sieve".
Katie still uses her Ladybird "We Can Cook" which was also owned by Elaine, Christine, and Lynne (contains the best fruit cake recipe ever)
Katie still has her "Pooh Cook Book" which caused some sniggering with certain childish people who were not very sure about a "Pooh" cookbook...
Elaine's favourite was the "Mr Men Cookbook" but she fears it was a victim during a house move. Stephanie still has her copy and shared the fantastic list of recipes from the contents page. 
It was only when Stephanie messaged me with a photo of her beloved "Blue Peter Book of Gorgeous Grub" that I remembered that I had this one too. If I recall correctly it was a collection of recipes that viewers had submitted for one of the infamous Blue Peter Competitions. Alas I no longer have my copy.
Victoria Sponge Pease Pudding was always intrigued by the Hungarian entry of Cold Cherry Soup in her "Kids Around the World Cookbook".
Two food bloggers (Chocolate Log Blog and Janice at Farmers Girl Kitchen) both started off their foodie journey with a copy of "My Learn To Cook Book".
Laura hopes that her "Fun to Cook Book" is still at her Mums. I have told her to go and retrieve it along with her copy of "Fun To Sew".
Rachel Gillon received Good Housekeeping's New Picture Cookery as a 3rd year Food and Nutrition Prize in 1975. Its been well used over the years and is still referred to.
I must admit that I had a wee snigger at Briony from The Glasgow Food Blog's "Step-By-Step Kids Microwave Cookbook" when she commented "if I remember correctly, we didn't actually have a microwave either" I guess its the thought that counts.
The Glasgow Cookery Book belonged to both Anna and Karen at Blow your own crumpet (Was also my Mum's. V old. No jacket. 'Lovely' cooking for invalids section. Great book)
Donna rescued her copy of Ladybird Learnabout Cooking from her Mum's house when they moved. Camilla at Fab Food 4 All had it too and Lynne summed it up well "Fab fab fab. Somehow kid's cookbooks today don't have the same appeal as those 70s ones" In addition to Leanabout... Janet also had the Piccolo Picture Cookbook. That looks like some party feast on the cover.
My Mum initially thought that hers was the "Aberdeen Cookery Book" but realised that she had told a lie. "Just remembered that in my last year at the Academy I won a prize in Domestic Science and could choose a book so I chose "Better Cookery" by Aileen King. It is dated 1962 (written inside the cover) the year I went to College." Alas my Sister clearly suffered from second child syndrome and cant recall ever having a cookbook of her own.
Kate still has her copy of "Cooking is a Game you Can Eat". Love the name and the look of this one in Puffin Paperback.
Diane added a third Ladybird book to the collection "Cooking With Mother" Especially liking the retro hedgehog on the cover of this one.
The Hamylin all colour cookbook! Had a picture for every dish! Oh and Supercook, a weekly series that came out in the 70's

Sharon 
Mine was my mums handwritten, contained all the recipes she tried and liked, unfortunately it is no more , however I have started one of my own and it has many recipes from you all that have been shared and enjoyed. I have tried to put the name or source beside each recipe to give credit where it's due. Hope that eventually my granddaughter might like it. 

The Moosewood Cookbook by @MollieKatzen I got it for my Batmitzvah 15 yrs ago, it is still one of my favourites 

Gosh, I have no idea. I think it was probably Delia's Complete Collection. 

My Mum's old jotter from her Home Ec at school. I still use the truffle recipe. No other one matches up. 

Its long gone now, but my first cookbook was The Wombles. 

Love the sound of this. Would be great to see what Madame Chollet cooked up in the burrow. I was a big Wombles fan and had all their albums but no cookbook. Alas despite extensive Googling I can't even find mention of one. Anyone else remember one? Please don't let a Wombles cookbook be a figment of Kate's imagination! 

I have absolutely loved hearing about and seeing everyone's first cookery books. Its been a real trip down memory lane and so great to hear of many books still being used and inspiring life long passions for cooking. I'm sure there are many others out there with tales behind them. Please do leave me a comment below telling me about yours. For the bloggers I've created a Linky. If you'd like to do a blog post about your first cookery book I'd love if you linked up and shared your memories. Happy for you to link up any existing posts but please add a link back to this one and share the #firstcookerybook love.

22 comments

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    1. Can you sneak in a blog post about your BeRo book? I'm sure Fanny would approve.

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    2. I think I've done it, fingers crossed!

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  2. Enjoyed reading about everyone else's first cookbooks. Still use the peppermint cream recipe from the Piccolo book!

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    1. I suspect Peppermint Creams make an appearance in lots of first cook books. I certainly made ones from the Brownie Cook Book.

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  3. Oh, I must have been away on holiday when you first shared this so I missed it. But very appropriate that I just read your post, as we have just finished eating a dish I regularly make from my first ever cook book, The Peacock Cookery Book which I got in 1968 and still

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    1. Fantastic. Spooky about the timing. Hope you can find the time to blog about your Peacock Cookery Book and link up.

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    2. It's taken me a while to get round to it, things have been pretty hectic here, but I've blogged and linked up now

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  4. My first cookbook was the 1977 Ladybird "Learnabout...Cooking". I can remember the first thing I chose to make was flapjacks. Very trusting of my mum to let her five year old loose on the stove with hot butter and syrup! They were great and I've been hooked on cooking ever since! Vohn xx

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    1. Seems to have been a very popular first cookbook. I wonder how many were published? As for the flapjacks, I guess its important to learn about not burning yourself at an early age.

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    2. My copy has been lost in the mists of time. Your post has inspired me to buy a "new" copy from ebay! Vohn x

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  5. Lovely post:-) As well as owning the Ladybird Learnabout Cooking book I also still have my Blue Peter Book of Gorgeous Grub and can still remember the presenters baking a large scone from it. I remember making the flapjacks from the Ladybird book as a child and that's why I had a trip down memory lane recently and gave them a bit of a makeover in the post I have linked below:-)

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    1. Thanks for linking up and sharing your first cookbook memories. Think I might need to track down a copy of Gorgeous Grub. Your Chocolate Drizzle Flapjack looks great.

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  6. Fantastic idea. And in case I don't get round to doing a post on the subject, my own first book was Delia Smith's Cookery Course circa 1984 when I went to uni. A gift from my mother.
    But her book - The Cookery Year from 1973 with pictures of exotic fruit and veg I could only imagine.

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    1. I LOVE The Cookery year and used to pour over mum Mum's copy. It's a total classic. I blogged a wee bit about it here http://foodiequine.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/let-them-eat-biscuits.html
      Was really chuffed to find a copy in a Charity shop so now have my own as Mum was not for passing it on.

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    2. ooh I've got that one too! I bought it about 1979 when I started working.

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  7. I loved this round up, reminded of so many books we had at home when I was young. Although we had the Blue Peter book, various Bero books and the My Learn to Cook Book (plus one with a recipe for a biscuit person/animal with chocolate buttons for feet, can anyone remember this?), which I think had all been my brothers and sisters; my first cookbook was Topsy and Tim's Chocolate Cookbook, I loved looking at the chocolate recipes which were always a bit too decadent to make!! I'm off to have a look if I can find a copy on Amazon! Just shows what effect books can have on the young :)

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  8. What a trip down memory lane! I inherited my love of cookbooks from my granny, I used to sit at her big kitchen table and read her books from cover to cover. The ones that I remember reading were The Hamlyn all colour cookbook and The Good Housekeeping cookbook, which belonged to my great granny and was published in 1954! I have this book now, it's falling apart and missing a few pages but I could never part with it :-)

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    1. My mum has that Good Housekeeping cookbook, I used to love to look at the pictures.

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  9. I was sure I'd commented here before to say thank you for including a link to my post. The wonders of blogger, I keep getting messages like this from other people. Anyway, I have just posted about the book again for this event - it's all so nostalgic.

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  10. I've just seen this round-up, and sorry I'm too late to enter! What a fab idea. My first cookbook was We Can Cook too, and I've only just re-purchased an old copy of it after somehow losing my own somewhere or other. It was a truly treasured book that I've no idea quite how many hours I must have whittled away drooling over. I was planning on using it again soon with my kids. Such happy memories!

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  11. This literally made my tummy flip! I had completely forgotten I had one of those too...now I NEED ANOTHER ONE RIGHT NOW! Haha, wow what a memory

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